paul wood

Dear Chris, What I think Ed meant is that you would most likely get German issues (in the main) from the European dealers and official Ottoman pieces from the Turkish dealers. One could accuse of many things but racism is certainly not one of them. All the best, Paul

I may have found your man Shorter, Abraham Earle, Rank AM1 No. F7380; D.S.M. London Gazette p. 6255, 22/6/17 (no citation). If the case Navy man who became RAF in April 1918. Hope it is the case, if so what a find. Paul

Juliana Maria (1729-96) was the wife of Frederick V, she married him in 1752. Thats the only Juliana Maria who has any connection with Denmark, maybe an ephemeral order created in her honour. Paul

14th Sikhs Chitral, Thin Red Line at Balaclava, 21 Lancers at Ondermun, Gosters at Imjin spring to mind straight away. Paul

Quite probably right but it is M.M.'s (and bars) from page 1 to the end of the supplement (a hell of a lot of them). All the best, Paul

My suspicion is that he is one of the many awards for the Great Push following the end of the German offensive of 1918, effectively August to November 1918. Note that there are a large proportion to R.A. and siege batteries. Who were obviously crucial to the push, given that including bars over 120,000 M.M.s were awarded , many for 1918 actions. The logistics of approval and gazetting encountered a back log. Paul

Looks like Mohammed el Nasir (1906-22) Paul

Looks OK to me, I very much doubt if it is hallmarked. Paul :cheers:

He would have been entitled, possibly a duplicate in lieu of an earlier lost one. Paul

Its the small gold medal of the Ministry of Agriculture and State Property designed by A. Vasyutinsky and M. Skudnov. It came in two sizes 65 mm and 50 mm. In gold it is a very rare medal and worth several thousand dollars. Paul

Gentleman. I feel that the H is for Hadhramout which was one of the Aden Trucial states (a sheikhdom under Indian control) don't forget that Aden and it's dependencies were controlled by India until independence and it would make sense of the Indian name and rank. All the best, Paul

According to Diakov. Medals of the Russian Empire part 5 more than 2,130,000 medals struck in light and dark bronze. Unfortunately the condition of your piece is very much at the lower end of the scale and I feel it would be worth very little thus possibly $20 a nice example with original riband would be worth about $100. Paul

Many thanks Ed, Paul

Dear Ed, Not for the point of view of the heraldry, coats of arms etc. of the various states, which is why I sent you that photograph of the mysterious cigar case the other week. Paul

I tried to acccess the Royal Arks site which for the Indain Princely States is extremely useful but alas is down and appears to have been down for a while, this is a pain in balaam's beast of burden. Anyone heard anything of when it might be back on line. Paul

Looks a perfectly kosher German made piece. Not marked but some of them are not. Paul

Nice one Herrn Magister. I do think the certificate is more impressive than the medal. All the best, Paul

Unfortunately the piece was returned to the owner before I could get a picture of it. There is a picture of one albeit not very good in the Smith & Wilde auction 21/3/08, lot 272, www.smithandwilde.co.uk Paul

I know that one of the ways to check for doctored pieces of documentation is to place them under a ultra violet light which will reveal if they have been spiced up a bit. Paul

All NKVD officers. Those nice kind people who beat you up (and worse) in the Lubyanka. Paul

If British possibly a KCB a fair few were given to the top brass of the French Army and the box has that WWI look about it. Paul

It's a post 1911 case (they moved to 346 Rue Saint-Honore that year). As to Order impossible to be certain as as well as French Orders they made a host of other world orders and I believe are still in business at Palais-Royal. Paul

I would personally go for Napier of Magdala who conducted one of the most logistically difficult capaigns of all times (Abyssinia 1868) successfully through thorough and careful planning and with virtually no casualties and there was plenty of potential for things going wrong. Paul