paul wood

What a nice Group, with the Ernestine, FJ and Kitchou clasp should be identifiable. Sounds like something Claudius night have an idea on.

Paul

Do they go for more money now(the officer class) than 30 lbs?

A documented piece would make a considerably more, unprovenanced no more than £40-50. Problem is that PRP material without documentation is widely available, I suspect quite a bit 'disappeared' from the manufacturers when the communist regime fell.

Paul

They are certainly more common than the first two issues and large numbers came out of Poland following the end of Communist Rule (probably 10 decorations per pair of Levis or 200 Malboro) in the 1990s you could buy as many as you like for £20-30 each, whether they were issued in much larger numbers is difficult to say but I suspect like most Eastern European Orders and decorations large numbers were issued when the regime was starting to totter in the 1970s and 1980s. Documented examples of PRP issues are much harder to come by.

Paul

What you have is a fourth class badge, the 1944 examples were issued from 1948. Records from the 1918-39 Republic are published (although whether they include honorary awards to foreigners I am not sure). From the Forces in West and PRP so far nothing, although possibly someone in Warsaw may be working on it.

Paul

Lambert back in the early 90s there was a Polish gentleman from Nottingham who had carrier bags full of Polish material much PRP but also quite a number of Polonia Restituta I didn't like the look of, most of them, like yours, had similar qualities to the PRP issues, almost as though they had had a 1918 substituted for a 1944, there were just over 2,400 5th classes awrded prior to WWII and unknown number issued by Polish forces in the West. I would pass and wait until a somewhat nicer example turns up.

Paul

Well put Peter, although I always remember my headmaster's favourite phrase "The road to Hell is paved with good intentions"

Paul

I notice he uses the name St John, his offering is far from saintly and he is even stupid enough to show the edge which would not fool a blind man.

Paul

That is one fantastic group. I would imagine as a coloured P.O.W. he probably had a rough time at the hands of his captors.

Paul

Why do you think Ernst Blass made his masterpieces in Nepal, same reason that lots of multinationals use third world labour, its all down to economics and profit margin. Also you'd pay a lot for European manufacture but it would not be as good (health and safety forbids the use of poisons in making nice enamel)

Paul

Thanks Nick I was thinking that I had seen ones of lower numbers but of course they were pre 1859.

Paul

GF

Sorry for not replying sooner (I did but it got zapped by a fault).

I'm not sure whether you are interested in purchasing Waterloo medals or you are just researching casualty details.

In any sizeable collection of Waterloo medals there is likely to be casualties (although not KIA). KIA medals are occaisionally found awarded to officers, these are very rare and can fetch very high prices, a recent KIA to a colonel in the KGL realised £20,000. Prices for casualties depend very much on a number of things 1 condition of medal 2 nature of wound, someone who had his horse shot under him and was severly wounded wold fetch a lot more than someone who had a gunshot wound to the hand 3 regiment, a Scots Greys casualty is going to fetch quite a bit more than an Artillery casualty.

Things to be wary of, there are a lot,for many reasons, of re-named Waterloos around, most reasonably contemporary, the recipient was broke, pawned his Waterloo, then bought another one from the pawn brokers and had it renamed, also if you walked into a pub wearing a waterloo medal it was likely that someone would buy you a drink, So someone not entitled purchased a Waterloo medal and awarded them to themselves. If you are thinking of buying a Waterloo medal you are advised to either go to a reputable dealer or auction house who guarantee the authenticity of their items, I would be very wary of buying on E-bay or similar sites unless you are 100% sure of the item.

I hope this is helpful.

Paul

Paul

Sorry Nick what I mean was it attached to a side arm, rather than worn with the group.

Paul

The fourth class of the Anne would be on his sword I presume.

Paul

44 of the Specialy valuable or Long and Meritorious Services British North Borneo Co's GSM were issued (+1 Gallantry (different riband)

Paul

6 India Independence, 7 looks more like Queen's Medal For Champion Shot RAF (makes sense with the Indian Independence as many of the British recipients were RAF).

Paul

Bottom one definitely North Borneo GSM 37-41, you can narrow it down to about 30-40 as most of the recipients were WWI veterans.

Paul

Checked 1917 and 1919 army lists NO WA Dawkins.

Paul

Nothing on the London Gazette site, given its quirkiness I am not surprised. Will try an army list.

Paul

I have one comment to make we should judge the actions of the past as the they were thought of at the time, rather than in a 21st century politically correct framework. it will be interesting to see how our world is judged 200 years from now, my suspicion is that the word hypocricy will appear many times in the judgement.

Paul

Paul

Given that that there were 10 chiefs alive in 1848, their survivial rate would have been lower than the warriors because in the main they would be older. My guess is that at least 100 were awarded if not more.

With best regards,

Paul

If you contact Audrey at rhino.research@icon.co.za they are the main researchers for South African material. I got a very good result on a WWI pair I wanted researching.

Paul

Thanks works now.

Paul

Alas when I key the bottom 4 links the site says it doesn't exist.

Paul

Is it not the Field Artillery regiment 79 (Osterode), Great War Period, the 79 looks certainly very similar.

Paul

Thanks for the clarification Richard.

Paul