paul wood

Enzo, I dont understand he already has the Victor Emanuel II medal with 3 dated clasps, why did he get the Umberto medal? Paul

Enzo what is the last medal also with an image of Umberto I Paul

Yes I am sure he is. Until WW1 he was the Ottoman Empire's representative in Australia. He also had friends in very high places. The Russo-Turkish war of 1878-79 was widely reported in Britain and the Empire and at the time the Turks were the good guys and the Russians very much to quote Ronnie Regan " the evil empire" Ryan's autobiography shows his proud he was of his role in the war and his frequently mentioned admiration for the unbelievable courage of the common Turkish soldier: this he wore his Turkish honourz with great pride Paul

His name was Hon. Surgeon General Charles Snodgrass Ryan Quite a character as well as his exploits in the Russo-Tutkish War he was the police surgeon who dealt with Ned Kelly's wounds (Ryan claimed he was a complete wimp and cry baby with a very low pain threshold). During the great war he visited military hospitals and would throw at ennis ball at the patients, any who caught it were liable to be sent back to the front as fit for duty) Paul

Actually the Chief Australian Army Medical Officer in WW1 had permission to wear his Turkish awards which he had originally received for the Russo-Turkish War 1878-79 as a medical officer with the Turkish army. Paul

Looks totally kosher to me and would be easy to replace the missing rivet. Price seems reasonable Paul

Ribbon looks a bri nylon abomination in the sight of the lord. Paul

I am afraid the photos are as much use as modern Capo del Monte for investment purposes. My gut feeling though is the 6th class is of post WWII manufacture but I cant see anything wrong with the 8th class Paul

Fiume was.part of Austria Hingary till 1919 and was their major port when the Italian poet DAnnunzio staged a coup and it became a free city until 1924 issuing it's own postage stamps. In 1924 il Duce annexed it to Italy until 1943 when the Germans occupied it after the war it became part of Jugoslavia and since 1991 it has been part of Croatia. Paul

I very much suspect so Paul This appears to be his admiral's deck wear ribands Paul

Are there any towns with museums in the area the may have a wealth of info about the militia Paul

The Khedives star is always worn last ad a foreign award. P

Single sided swivel suspension but not too awful quality. Paul

Looks WWI Paul

Field Battery Paul

It's the Tunisian Order of the Republic alas lacking the centre. Paul

I am afraid that any dealer worth his salt would wait until the main item, the KPM was sold and offer the buyer the opportunity to buy the other items available. If he says no, fine,sell seperately. I would have sold my soul to the infernal one to have a relic like that with the medals. Paul

Alan, Wasp, I see the problem. An auctioneer's, and I speak from personal experience, primary duty, or should be, is to act in the best interests of his vendor. With medals I can think of several examples where the whole ensemble has had to be split up for the vendor's benefit. 1) dress miniatures, normally these would be kept with the full-sized. However when they are worth a few hundred pounds or more then they should be separated but sold as the following lot as some medal collectors are not interested in miniatures and any they acquire they will pass on and miniature collectors do not want the full-sized The classic example is the DFC, Order of Lenin Group to W/C Ramsbottom Isherwood where the miniatures were sold for a few thousand to different buyer to the full-sized. In that case I felt especially justified as all money received was towards care for vendor. 2) Early portrait miniatures, some Waterloo, Peninsular or early Indian medals come with contemporary portrait miniatures the majority of which, to miniature collectors, are worth no more than a few hundred and therefore will get a better added value from the medal collector who tends to factor them in at 500-1000 pounds above the value of the medal(s). One one occasion however we had an officer's Waterloo with a portrait miniature by one of the best contemporary miniarturists and was valued at £3000-4000. It was sold at Sotheby's realising the mid estimate, bought by the buyer of the medal, as we had added a footnote that Portrait miniature was included in a separate sale, the underbidders were all picture dealers as I bid on behalf of my client. 3) Photographs and documents. Especially in the case of Polar and exploration related medals there can be archives, diaries or photographs, in many cases worth many times more than the medals. These will perform better in specialist travel sales at places like Sotheby's. Obviously their sale details will be mentioned in the footnote of the medal catalogued and vice-versa in the travel catalogue. We have had polar archives with a medal which have sold for 5 figure sums. Were we to have sold these items together and the aggregate price were considerably lower we would rightfully have been liable to litigation for not acting in our vendor's best interest. I have no idea as to the value of the Khalafat standard. Had it been £200 or under I would have kept it with the medals on the principal that most medal collectors would value it at that as an interesting part of the group. While auction houses should try and help their buyers they also have (and several cases that have come to court confirm this) a duty of due diligence to their vendor. I hope that has cleared things up. All the best, Paul

Given the suspension it's something along those lines. Paul

I know of this seller who goes under a collective name for birds of prey. He says unnamed as issued. I have several Indian KPMs from 1909 to circa 1940 NONE of mine are unnamed and £800 is obviously designed to lure an idiot who knows Rockall Shannon and Hebrides about medals. It is sellers like this who give Ebay its deservedly bad name as a haven for sharks and crooks The seller is also illiterate as he has frequently offered Tibets and early IGS 08s but is incapable of deciphering the running script which they are named in (if he reads this forum I will happily decipher them at £10 per medal (easy beer money) which I find most frustrating although it may be because they are crap ranks from crap units and is hoping someone might think they are sleepers. If any member of this forum buys this KPM I would be happy to contribute financially towards their psychiatric treatment. All the best Paul

Harold, My opinion for what it is worth. I suspect some one has found a cache of unissued cased medals and has decided to sex them up. HK police are always in demand but I am afraid in my view the naming is about as genuine as Katie Price's cleavage. Certainly no comparison to the one Colonial police LSGC to a Sikh Inspector in the Zanzibar Police I own Best wishes and welcome Paul

From what you say it makes sense that it is a German made private replacement. Paul

The .800 mark suggests Germam manufacture. Possibly his piece which he had made when he didn't receive the original from Italy, possibly, as an old unrepentant Austrian Nazi who resided in Minas Gerais once said when asked why he lived in Brazil, "due to the political situation". Paul

While it has some resemblance to the Order of Aviz it most definitely is not, auction houses, mine included, do not always get it right. Paul

There are also a selection of Miguelist badges several types and the "Windsor Castle" jewel awarded to members of the ship who took D Joao VI to Brazil Paul