Greg

Is that the Garter riband he is wearing? It is over the wrong shoulder and looks a bit pale. Greg.

Questions 1. If the first ribbon indicates any grade in the Order of St. John, why are some ribbons plain black with no miniature cross, some with silver crosses, and some with white crosses? 2. Why are the Ambulance Officers in the photograph wearing pistols? Greg.

The medals are thus:

The ribbon bar indicates someone who is an Officer in the Order of St John of Jerusalem (UK & Commonwealth), has earned the WWII Defence Medal, and has the the Order of St John Service Medal with two bars representing 17 or 22 years service depending on where he/she served as some overseas locations earned the Service medal for shorter time spans than at home (in the UK !!). Hope this helps. Greg.

It is still a good looking, solid looking, distinctive medal. Quite different to the post 70s Australian medals. Cupro-nickel certainly doesn't tarnish much and is an attractive finish. I have seen one set of UK/Australian medals (W.O. transferred to the Australian Army) remounted in the correct Australian Order and the jeweller had the silver coloured ones rhodium (?) finished to make them all shiny and new looking. I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall when the W.O. picked them up !! Greg.

Is this sort of discolouration usual on UK medals only 6 or 7 years old? Greg.

eMedals is a very good and trustworthy seller in Canada. I have bought several items from him. He says that these medals are in very fine condition. I wonder if there has been a mix up with the pictures. Greg.

Thanks Mike. That eases my mind. Greg.

I have two MBEs - both definitely originals - with no makers marks but they are post 1960. Made by Toye Kenning & Spencer, London or so the case says. Why no maker's ID etc?

Dear Lukasz I just experimented with your rack builder again. Thank you for building it. It is very useful and great fun. In the interests of making it even more accurate, I offer the following: 1. In Australia, the St John's Life saving medal is worn on the right breast, along with all State awards (except Western Australia) - State Police, AFP, Fire etc & the Pride of Australia medal. 2. The NZ awards are "Foreign" and are worn at the end following the long service and Commemmoratives. 3. The British Gulf Medal (1990-1991) and all other British medals (except the highest Orders above the Royal Victorian Order & OStJ) are "Foreign" and worn at the end in order of permission being given to wear them. Even the MBE is "Foreign" now and worn at the end with other Foreign awards unless it was granted prior to 1975 (or 1996 in Queensland). It is very unlikely to be permitted these days. With the exception of the Royal Victorian Order, no awards of the United Kingdom may be conferred upon Australian citizens unless they are servicemen or women on exchange and serving with elements of the Armed Forces of the UK. 4. The Order of St John Service medal is worn following any other OStJ medals, and not with the other service medals. The Order of Wearing Australian Honours and Awards" states "Listed to indicate where any awards within the Order of St John should be worn" following the Medal of the Order of Australia. It may not make sense but there it is. Yours, Greg.

Thank you, kind sir. Greg.

Is it possible to post a photo of the other side of the medal? Thanks, Greg.

My first thought is that this is a "Ladies" size breast star. I have seen quite often where the Ladies' star is smaller than the Men's star. But then again, quite often, a recipient of an Order will have a star made privately - perhaps because they don't want to wear and risk losing the real thing, or because the issued insignia isn't fancy enough for their tastes. I have never seen a miniature size breast star. The normal size star is worn at all times even with miniatures of other medals - that makes miniature stars unnecessary. This item could be at least 150 years old - probably more - and that would place it in an era when people wore Orders more often and often had them embroidered onto uniform coats rather than risk damage or loss of the real thing. Hope this helps. Greg.

Thanks, guys. Greg.

Thank you, Paul. I will follow this up. Greg.

Still hoping someone will be able to help with info about Order of St. John Lifesaving medals and other Order of St John medals.

The Order of the Thistle.

In Finland 1966, so possibly a Finnish Order ?

The Order of the British Empire.

and this one ;

and another one :

Another new one courtesy of eBay. I don't know the Order so any help is appreciated.

Hi, I am a member of the Society of King Charles the Martyr. If you are considering selling that beautiful piece, I would be VERY interested! Thanks, Greg.

Kvart - if you have a look at http://www.itsanhonour.gov.au/ you will see how many are allowed to be awarded each year at the different grades. They are not returned after death but you are right about them being only very young. In years to come, more will be available on the market, I expect. 10-15 years sounds right because almost all the people awarded these honours receive them for their life's work so many tend to be 60+ If you email me on gh1961@bigpond.com, I can put you in touch with some suppliers of good quality replicas. Megan !!! How nice to 'see' you! I hope your health is still improving. I needed a photograph of the medal on a particular uniform (an Australian Army Chaplain) so a photo of the medal wasn't what I wanted. I would like a good quality photograph of the NZ QSO for my collection though. The ones on the official NZ government website are not very high resolution. I have several more photos for your site - medals and orders currently blank - but I need to have some time to sort them out and send them to you. I am writing this at 5.20am after working all night on my last ever !!!!! university assignment (dissertation). By tomorrow, I will have completed all the requirements for my Master of Social Work degree! It is my 5th Masters degree and I have decided that collecting any more of them (and fighting with university bureacracy) is beyond me and redundant anyway! Anyway, it is time for bed. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Hi Kvart I am an Aussie and I have been trying to obtain the NZ Queen's Service medal and/or a Queen's Service Order for my collection for at least 10 years and I know of only one example of a QSM for sale in NZ and it was USD$1000- . I even tried to get the NZ Honours Secretariat to loan me one so I could photograph it for a book I am writing and the answer was a flat NO! I search the net (shops, eBay and Auction Houses) for a QSM at least once a month and there has only ever been the one. The NZ government will not allow copies or replicas or even replacements to be made. For my illustration, I ended up buying a British ISM and some NZ ribbon and "made" my own !! The Order of Australia in it's various forms can be purchased as copies on eBay or direct from any medal supplier in Australia. As far as originals go, I have bid unsuccessfully on two AMs (Member of the Order of Australia) in the last 3 months - both through public auctions at reputable Auction Houses. One sold for AUD$870- and the other for AUD$1040- (plus buyer's premium and fees). It would certainly be more economical to earn one myself. Sorry I can't give you better news. Greg.