paul wood

Sorry Chris, I must have misinterpreted your earlier post. Paul

Alf, If you get a badge book you can have hours of fun going to militaria shows trying to collect all the numerous police, prison service and other orginisations variants of the royal cypher. I have a friend who collects them and he has display cases full of them and the good thing is they are pleasantly cheap. Paul

I have seen an exmple in a large group of veterans awards I handled about 10-15 years ago but they are certainly very elusive. Paul

Interesting, look's central European post Great War. I hope someone can positive ID it. Thanks for posting. Paul

Chris, You say that the British Army have never been defeated in a war in history. As a proud Englishman it breaks my heart to say that some annoying rebels in a colony in the North West Atlantic managed to defeat the British Army who surrendered at Yorktown in 1783 (We did get some revenge by burning down the White House in 1812), However that it is the only time that I can recall the British Army losing a war but on the other hand we lost more peaces than won wars. All the best Paul

Peter, Thinking over it your suggestions make a lot of sense. Paul

Peter that could be very relevant, perhaps the 1/24th didn't have a proper breakfast that morning and as a result their fighting ability was impaired. Paul

I'll take three given their great antiquity. Paul

As to how can money be made at very low prices, it's the old Kwiksave motto, pile them high, sell them cheap. It is better to do 5 million dollars worth at 5% profit than 100,000 dollars at a 100% profit. The amount of times I get e-mails from people who have bought the obvious fakes (3 already this week) that Gavin mentions would suggest that it is quite a lucrative business. Alas I have to let the poor souls down gently. Another example, 4th century Roman Bronze coins are worth about £10 on a very good day, millions (if not billions) were produced, go to middle-eastern souks and you will see not that brilliant fakes on sale for at a pound or two, they are not philathropists, they are making money. The photos you have sent are not clear enough to that one can be certain about their authenticity or otherwise. Forgery is the second oldest profession (and probably not that far behind the oldest). All the best, Paul

He is probably wearing Kwazulu awards Paul

But what on earth is it pretending to be? Paul

There are certainly collectors of them, I remember a wife of a paticularly dipsomaniac medal collector who had a fine collection of them. Pricewise, unprovenaced they are relatively inexpensive but are very nice when they are with a group of awards. Intemperance was a real problem especially in India where overindulgence and extreme heat could literaly be a fatal combination and much of the local hooch was nigh on pure alcohol and any one who has read through court martial reports can see that the vast majority were alcohol related. It seems a bit like brewerey workers there were two main groups in the forces at the turn of the centuries, tee-totallers and p***heads. All the best, Paul

I have the WWI Tank Corps Roll of Honour which list both honours and awards and casualties. Paul

Could the bottom be Lebanese? looks a bit like a half cedar tree on the sword. The right hand looks almost Saudi with the green and the scimitars. The left could be any navy with the fouled anchor. Paul

Mike what I describe (probably erroneously) as a bog standard QSA is a date and state issue where the unit was there in reasonable numbers and there is nothing that makes it unusual, certainly if I was collecting medals to Brits I would not spurn a nice example (Now QSAs to Indians different ball game, especially when silver). The reason I collect medals to Indians is many. My father served at RAF Dum Dum (Calcutta) from 1943-47 and on his return had gone totally native (much to my mother's chagrin). I always remember getting free bus rides as a child as he was able to converse and joke with the Indian bus conductors and as a senior Civil Servant he went out of his way to recruit Indian staff on the principle they were better educated and less lazy then their British counterparts. My father instilled in me a love of Indian culture. When I started collecting I immediately turned to medals to Indians, much misunderstood and dismissed (and still are in many cases) by collectors of British medals. I realised that the Indians had seen serious action (think of Kut, the Koragh Defile, Burma to name a few). I also realised that with the errors in BBM there were bargains a plenty to be had, I loved the idiosyncracies of British renditions of Indian names (I still chuckle when I see DNW putting note difference in spelling of name- I would put group of 4 note all names spelt Identical- rare). Then all the odd ranks, units so much to collect, too little time. I collect because I love it and I am probably severely insane, if they provide me with a comfortable dotage then that is a bonus. Thats my 9 pice worth. All the best, Paul

In my collecting field, conditon is quite often poor. If you see a medal to an Indian in mint conditon, he is generally either a casualty or especially in the case of medals to followers he just never received it. With British medals quite often one sees minty medals for the simple reason that quite often the recipient received it following demob and he just put them in a drawer, however with Long Service groups the earliest medal to use a technical term is quite knackered. If you wan't to extort money from me find an Indian quirky rank or unit or even better RIM, RIN, AIF, RIAFor RPAF, then you can do with me as you wish and logical valuation or sanity goes straight out the window, I become a drivelling idiot muttering MUST BUY MEDAL(S). All the best, Paul

As a collector of medal to Indians during the Raj period I would willingly pay MYB prices for virtually everything (I love that phrase medals to Indians are worth less...if only I would have got that 2 clasp Mutiny to the pioneers in DNW, it made £880, probably more than one to a Lieut in an ordinary line regt.). Prices vary, and its all down to the economics of supply and demand. If demand outstrips supply then prices will generally rise quite rapidly. If a large collection of that material suddenly appears on the market then prices will soften. This is less true with lower priced items such as basic QSAs and WWI trios as thew will always be mopped up. For a collector this can be good for example the Shaw collection (which the 3rd part will be sold in June) has been great for me the sheer amount of material has allowed bargains for me. but don't go down the American coin way medal pricing is not and will never be an exact science. Paul

IU'm not sure that it is supposed to be anywhere so I'm not sure that it is meant to be anywhere specific other than somewhere in German Africa and obviously produced by someone who had never been anywhere near Africa, sand, palm trees and cactus and also the Africans are of various physiques which would cover the gamut of Africa. It is the typical colonial poking fun at the simple natives done by all European colonial powers. As humour very reminiscent of cartoons in Le Rire of about this period, with very little subtellty involved. Paul

I have received the following E-mail from Colin Parr. Having visited the museum it is a very well set out user friendly museum which deserves help and I wonder if any member has any such ribbon spare Hello I wonder whether you might be able to help me with six inches of ribbon for the WW1 Greek War Cross? The ribbon is black with a blue stripe running down the outer edge of the black ribbon. Appreciate any help. Thank you regards Colin Parr If so could they sed it to Colin at The Keep Museum, Bridport Rd, Dorchester, Dorset DT1 1RN All the best, Paul

I think he could audition for Village People. Paul

Mervyn, Are you able to grow opium poppys in your garden so you can try these wonderful items out (could provide some interesting postings a la Jean Cocteau). All the best, Paul

Portugal

Linas, look at the suspensions of the monarchy period Order of Christ, they have similar suspensions. Paul

Never seen a mini rising sun with pawlonia flowers a true rarity. Paul

Thanks for showing with case very nice indeed. Paul