numis

My gut feel after studying the available information is that the most likely to be original contemporary awarded specimens are those which have the combination of Obverse die 1 and Reverse die 3 and which are named to recipients with indigenous sounding names So far I have recorded 4 in this category . These are those awarded / named to : Piet Jan Cornelis : disc only ( lacking supension ) .Amathole Museum David Faroe : disc only ( lacking suspension ) .Was in the PE Museum in 2018 .Is it still ? Hendrick Ferara . Complete with suspension .Genadendal Museum Girt Roots : disc only ( lacking suspension) ; previously had a ( now removed ) brooch-pin suspension attached to the reverse In a private collection

OR proved to me a German Jew who migrated to S.Africa circa 1936 and who was stripped of German citizenship in 1939 on the grounds of being Jewish

The following is a quote from the C.P. Brownlee book " Reminiscences of Kafir Life and History " (page 286 2nd edition 1916 😞 "During the whole of the war , from December 1850 to March 1853 , Fundi and the twentyfour men of the police force who remained faithful to the Government , rendered valuable service .One of them was killed , two others were wounded , and in consideration of his gallant conduct HE WAS AWARDED ONE OF TWELVE MEDALS GRANTED BY SIR HARRY SMITH TO MEN WHO HAD DISTINGUISHED THEMSELVES IN THE FIELD " ( NB Capitals are mine ) The reference is to FUNDI who was orderly to Commandant Davis of the Native Police , HQ'd at Fort Hare , which had an enrollment of 250 in 1846, most of whom later deserted in 1850

The Honeyman collection specimen is still there but they cannot provide scans until Fall 2024 The RE Museum can provide scans of the ( probably wonky ) Dunning Medal but will levy a charge for a scan for own use and a higher charge for a scan for posting online. My meagre research budget and the hassles and costs of obtaining foreign currency ( using overdevalued ZAR ) and sending a bank draft have dissuaded me from following up with them on this

There is , or was , an unnamed specimen of the SHS Medal in the Honeyman Collection at the Natural History Museum, Los Angeles .Refer the published catalogue of this collection

i am wanting to acquire one of these but would like to know whether I should be looking for any accompanying documentation ( eg a named award certificate ) as well. Can anyone advise please?

OFFICIAL NATURE OF THIS MEDAL Wikipedia ( when last seen ) and others have categorized this medal as being " unofficial " I disagree Sir H.Smith was the Governor of ( Queen's representative in ), and Commander-in-Chief in , the Cape Colony . After post facto investigation , the War Office in London accepted the bona fides of the medal and authorised it's costs being charged to Colonial Funds and the Secretary of State for the Colonies apparently accorded The aforementioned make it an " official " award in my eyes ACTUAL NUMBER AWARDED G.Everson in an article on this medal stated that Charles Brownlee in " Reminiscences of Kaffir Life and History " had stated that TWELVE SHS Medals had been awarded to troops who distinguished themselves Is it not possible that Brownlee was accurate ? If yes, known medals in excess of this number can perhaps be attributed to less being awarded than originally had been struck and also to later restrikes from the dies ( which are know to have survived ) with some fraudulent naming up of some of these medals

This medal has been written up in the OMSA Journal years ago I collect these myself but only have one so far

A belated thank you to Rusty for all this additional , excellent , information and analysis Rusty's observational skills are far beyond mine so I am doubtful that i can add anything useful to his excellent analysis I do think that the Roots medal is a reverse die 3 as is Ferara's It is a great pity that those who own or have details of other SHS Medals have not yet posted them onto this thread as every additional photo of good quality could potentially add something of value to this study . Numis

Thank you Rusty for the further very valuable research and information since my last thank you to you What would you think about my contention that ( based on the similar double strikings around the rims ) the Roets and Ferara medals are both from the same striking batch ? Numis

Many thanks Rusty for your much appreciated further contributions since my last thank you to you Numis

Thank you for the responses above

Years ago I acquired the following as a pair on a postal auction in Cape Town: WW1 Iron Cross 2nd Class + War Honour Cross 1914-8 with Swords. The latter has a certificate ( # 13693/35 issued on 14-3-35 by the Chief of Police of D-H ) named to Oskar Rosenthal , a Kaufman in Duisburg-Hamborn . Is there any way of verifying that O.Rosenthal was awarded the IC2 ? Also: is there way of establishing whether or not OR was a Jewish refugee to Cape Town as there was a migration there in the late 1930s of German Jews escaping Nazism?

As a collector of all the awards of all of the Allied Countries of WW2 I would like to include the Colonial Medal with relevant bars / clasps to my collection . I would like to have specimens that were actually awarded / issued to recipients and not later restrikes . Can anyone provide suggestions on what to look out for and what to avoid A first and basic question is as to whether contemporary Colonial Medals and bars ( for WW2 non-Vichy services ) should be in silver or not . I have just seen a large offering which includes many medals and bars ( relating to WW2 ) in base metal , sometimes with a mixture on the same medal ( ie medal in silver and bar not ; or vice versa )

Thanks RG for your latest contribution My feeling is that the Roots medal is the reverse die 3 striking and that the full stop has been obliterated by the brooch attachment ( now removed ) .This medal has the same type of double struck rim as the medal to H Ferara which has a good provenance and is die 3. A photo of the HF medal is in the published history of Genadendal It is to be hoped that more good photos of extant medals will come out in the future and anyone who knows of a surviving medal is asked to please contribute images thereof for this study Suspension details are also of importance to the sudy but unfortunately a few of the survors have been dismounted and the waters muddied in one or two cases by replacement suspensions being added.I know that a Capetonian museum commissioned a replacement suspender from a local jeweller for a SHS Medal ( reportedly an unnamed die crack specimen ) In my mind there is no valid date succession in the numerical categorization between reverse dies 1 and 3 which I would at present give first priority to as being original contemporary specimens .The H Ferara die 3 specimen has the best provenance known to me at present