paul wood

Not on the Roll, all the Naval personnel for the funeral were from HMS Excellent. Paul

Certainly an award I would not have been entitled to, alas there was no award for distinguished service to dipsomania. Paul

Keibel and Kammerer date from about 1837-41 after which Kammerer left the partnership and Wilhelm Keibel continued producing imperial orders until the 1860s when he was succeeded by his son Julius and in around 1880 by his Grandson Albert. KK badges are scarce (especially if the date is visible on the suspension ring) although they don't command the high prices they used to a few years ago. Paul

One was sold a few years ago in a Morton and Eden sale with a certificate of authenticity from Detlev Neimann. Paul

Brief Bones, Ensign by purchase 3/3/1843, Lieut. by Purchase 19/2/47, Capt W/O purchase 29/12/54, Brevet Lt. Col. 1/1/68, retired May 1872. Hope this is of some help. An army list from around 1870 with war services should add more bones, but what a cracking al Valore, wonder where his Crimea is? Paul

Easy Spas, 1 Subadar Netrabahadur Thapa, 2 Naik Agamsing Rai, 3 Halvildar Gaje Ghale, all 5th Gurkha Rifle VC winners. Paul

Well I'll be *** where did those little babies come from. Paul

Thanks Radmilo, I assume that there are no images of the back of the star anywhere. Paul

Radmilo, Thanks for the link, The marshal's star is an absolutely amazing piece of workmanship, do we know who manufactured it as I didn't think post-war manufacture but could be of such high quality. Paul

Ray, Thanks for the info. Yes it is possible that one can get caught up in phoney bidding wars on some on line sites (I think you all know the ones I mean)which is one of the reasons if I do bid on line I am very cautious and in some ways I prefer the buy it now (assuming it is sensible, there are many clients on E-bay who put such outrageous prices it should say " if you are mentally deranged and have more money than sense buy it now" although on one occasion I did just that but it was to reunite a probably unique pair). Paul

A thought, could it be costume jewellery made for a stage production where a Chinese Order was needed, rather than a collector's copy or an unofficial production, Pooh Bah in the Mikado would have looked great wearing that. Paul

Marvellous stuff Radmilo, especially the Marshal's star, thanks for sharing. Paul

While the rest of the ANS dds were mainly straight forward this was most certainly an oddity. The Li Hongzhang theory is interesting although how much credence on can put on that is debateable. My suspicion is that it is a European made piece where a good deal of creative imagination was used and not issued for any specific event. Paul

Nice item, looks like some of the Chinese medicine poachers got to the Tiger before he appeared on the medal. Paul

Ferdinand, I totally agree but given that some of the so called "collectors" who wouldn't know an order of the Red Banner from a piece of albatross dung and just see it as a form of investment they need the certificates more than the badge. Just to give you an idea of the mentality of some of these people in a fairly recent auction an extremely nice early strike gold Peter the Great medal turned up, it sold surprisingly cheaply the buyer admitted that it was a lovely piece but he had previously told every one potentially interested that it was a fake and given their knowledge (or lack of it) they believed it, he later went on to do extremely well with it (after he had got the necessary certificate). If collectors spent more of their money on good reference works and studied the subject intensely before diving in at the deep end then these certification services would contract. Paul

It can't be the seller to the north of New York, he'd want $5,000 Paul

I would suggest an earlier version of the award. Paul

Postman, Liverpool, London Gazette 4 February 1919. Paul

Thanks we overlapped each other. Paul

Ray I hope you either get the piece, or you're not out of pocket. Have you paid by Pay-Pal or by Credit Card, if so you will have some recourse. Paul

Is the McDaniel certificate genuine? I know for a fact that they have been faked, which is why you should be careful to ignore ANY certificates of authenticity and always examine the piece with great care under a high powered lens. If the piece comes up to scrutiny the certificate can then be used as back up material. I know of cases where a respected Russian expert on Imperial Orders was giving certificates of authenticity and you didn't need magnification to tell that the pieces were 100% fake, unfortunately try to tell that to the sellers, still I expect the expert needed funds to cope with increased living costs and I know on the coin side from the 60s-80's a very respected Russian expert was authenticating Russian coins for western collections in exchange for things unobtainable under the Soviet system. Paul

Apart from being from 1923 do we know what it is for? Paul

Lars, I have tried digging to find out exactly what it is but without success, my guess is that it is probably an unofficial Danish? veterans association badge.. Paul

Interestingly on the news today it was announced that Cambridge University has digitalised its Siegfried Sassoon collection including his war diaries. Should be well worth accessing. Paul

Given the present dodgy international situation the last thing we need is to reduce our military capabilities. If the Argentinians were to decide to take the Falklands again with our present strength we would be able to do absolutely nothing about it. Paul