sabrigade

Various rifles and muskets, spears and chain-mail armour used at the Battle of Omdurman.

Nordenveldt machine gun captured at the Battle of Shaykan on 5 November 1883, south of El-Obeid, when a force of approximately 11000 Egyptian soldiers under the command of General William Hicks was annihilated by the Mahdi's forces.

The first car in Sudan which belonged to the Governor General. It appears more to look like a cart with its solid wheels than a car. This photograph was taken in the courtyard.

The Khalifa Abdullah was the successor to the Mahdi and his house has been converted into a museum of the Mahdiya period. The building is a two-story set-up and has a series of linked courtyards. There are a variety of various items on display and they include weapons, coins, medals and other artifacts that are from this very fascinating era. Requests to have glass cabinets unlocked for better photographs were not successfull and will be referred to a committee for deliberation and decision. I will attempt to illustrate and highlight items which may be of interest to this forum. The house is located opposite to the Mahdi's tomb in Omdurman. It is very easy to locate and is on the well-known routes or attractions in the area.

Hi Lilo, Khartoum has returned to normality again. I will go there in the following few days and take some photographs. I have been on the road again over the past few weeks. Regards, Will

Lorenzo, After collecting militaria and medals for most of my life, you will realise that we are merely custodians of everything and that is why I personally have a problem with fiscal values which cheapen who and what we are. Personal messages are great and add to the personal value of an item to you personally but in the greater context the actual article that is properly documented and preserved is why most of us collect items and militaria. Happy hunting, Will

"On April 26, he made his first issue of paper-money to the extent of ,2500 redeemable in six months. By July 30, it had risen to ,26,000 besides the ,50,000 borrowed from merchants. On the same day he struck decorations for the defense of Khartoum---for officers in silver, silver-gilt and pewter for the private soldiers. These medals bear a crescent and a star, with words from the Koran, and the date, with an inscription,---"Siege of Khartoum,"---and a hand-grenade in the center. "School-children and women," he wrote, "also received medals; consequently, I am very popular with the black ladies of Khartoum." This bit of information I found on the internet in an article called: ISLAMIC HISTORY SOURCE BOOK : ALFRED EGMONT HAKE : THE DEATH OF GENERAL GORDON AT KHARTOUM,1885

Hi Eddy, Thanks for the reply. GBP 200 is a lot less than the trade I had to do for me to obtain my medal. Regards, Will

Is this medal in your collection? Some sources also refer to the blue ribbon as for the Khedive's Star.It remains a fascinating medal and more and more information is slowly coming out.

Thanks. We requested permission for the museum personnel to open the showcases for photographs but the request was denied. Will try again on the next visit.

Thanks for posting the photographs. I will go to the Khalifa's house musem in Omdurman as soon as I can and attempt to take clearer photographs of the medals and artifacts. I am not aware of an influx of these medals for sale, so therefore do not suspect that copies of them are being made. The medals remain very difficult to find and not much detailed information is available about them. Are there details regarding the numbers manufactured available?

I have found another example of the medal that has been re-suspended and "silvered" locally.When I return to Khartoum from Southern Sudan I will post it as well.

Ed, Very difficult to say,I personally think that with the number of items that were and are available on the market make them not attributable and agree that they can be made up.They make an attractive display item and are not numbered or named so I would see them as examples of what would have been worn.In articles that have been written it also appears as if many such sets are available and more will become available as time goes by.I remember seeing and reading an article in a magazine regarding another set in the U.S.A. that was also purchased in Baghdad.

Medal bar showing the details of the "Saddam" awards. These awards have been discussed in great detail in other threads on the same topic.

I spent a period of 3 years in Iraq training and leading former Iraqi Officers in demining and EOD tasks. My actual field of collecting and interest is the South Africans who fought in France in the first World War and this collection includes militaria,badges,medals and decorations as well as other related artifacts. I developed an initial interest in Iraqi awards and gradually built up a collection.The collection of the Saddam Awards was in the possession of a former senior Iraqi officer who eventually sold them to me. The items were displayed at the South African National Museum of Military History for nearly a year. The frame shows the actual current display.

Ed, The museum has some very interesting items,including a type of uniform worn by General Gordon and various weapons used by the Mahdi army.If there is interest,I can post more photgraphs as a seperate topic.

This photograph was taken at the Khalifa House museum in Omdurman.The detail and clarity is not the best and I will take some myself when I return to Khartoum.It shows the 3 variations of the medal.

Hi Lorenzo, I will ask my wife to take photographs of my Saddam collection and will try post them in the next day or two.

Hi Paul, I am currently in a very wet region of Southern Sudan. Whe I return to Khartoum I will see if we can locate another example.Currently I only have the one item.

This medal was designed by General Gordon and was intended to boost the morale of the defenders of Khartoum when they were besieged by the Mahdi Army in 1884.The medal was sold to interested parties and some references state that the money was used to obtain and purchase food for the poorer members of the Khartoum population.It was cast in a sand mould and was made locally in Khartoum.General Gordon used his own breast breast star of the Order of the Mejidieh as the model or basis for this medal.My example is the silver variety and the only other specimens of this medal that I have seen are the medals in the Khalifa's house museum in Khartoum.

I have a different version of the medal which I will ask wife to photograph so that I can post it. It may be the version you are referring too.

One of the most fascinating aspects of these awards is attempting to research them and then coming up with more and more detail all the time.Thanks for that! There is a museum in Khartoum close to the Palace that has the awards or specimens on display there. I will make an effort to get there and attempt to take photographs and will then post them on this site. Finger trouble is improving slowly with practice!

Hi Owain, Thanks,any chance of getting ribbons from them? Regards, Will

PHOTO 1 - indicates first type AH 1328(1910); PHOTO 2 - indicates the later version AH 1335(1916 to 1917) Photo 3 - reverse for both types On 12 June 1911,this medal was authorised by the then Khedive,Abbas Hilmi,to replace the medal that had first been issued by the previous Khedive from 1896 to 1908. In 1918 there was an subsequent issue of this medal by the next Khedive,Sultan Hussein Kamil,who changed and added a new date. The medal was awarded in both silver and bronze. I have not found any clasps for the silver medal nor any bronze specimens here in the Sudan. I have seen and purchased various examples of both silver versions without the campaign clasps. The second version has the date in Arabic of AH 1335(1916-17) while the first version has the date AH 1328(1910). The medals were usually issued unnamed but a few specimens in arabic script or in small impressed letters have apparently been found that were issued to British recipients.

No markings whatsoever,I will see what I can find out.Information is still very difficult to come by here.Thanks for the reply.