Mervyn Mitton

Les - I didn't know they used a liquid. My Omega is always cleaned ultra sonically and it comes up beautifully.

You mustn't be rude about Mr. Plod..... Too many fried breakfasts.

Nick - always willing to help - however, I would need to know who the 'editor' of this site is - and what credentials he has ? Mervyn

For leather you need a softener , cleaner and preserver. I have always found the best to be the hide cleaners sold for the exclusive cars with leather seats. Try a Jaguar dealer, but I expect specialist shops will stock this type of product. For edged weapons we use a light gun oil - probably different makes here, but, again shouldn't be difficult to find. What you don't want is a thick, sticky layer. Use a good leather cleaner on the scabbard - if it has leather - or, even a good shoe polish. p.s. Should have said welcome to GMIC.

Yeah ! We ' gossip ' about you, Chris....

Yes - great to have the better identification. The Indo-persian dagger is on page 2.

Hi - Bob. A very attractive badge - as Ed (Hi-Ed) says. The question we need to establish is : 1. Is it a commemmorative item for officers who served at the inauguration - or, is it 2. An identification badge for on-duty officers at the inauguration ?

Thankyou Brian - at least we 'chat' amongst ourselves.... 'H' Division is my old one and No. 3 Beat had three of the sites of Jack the Ripper murders. The others were 'across Commercial Street ' and in the City of London. Thousands still visit the area every year to walk around. The subject and the area would warrant a post - however, I'm not sure how much interest there would be - and it would involve a lot of work.

Andy - look back on Edged weapons. Posted a nice Indo-Persian dagger some time ago.

It is sad how quickly our history is forgotten. Your Specials section filled a void and was much needed - to my mind that is because people who become Specials have an interest in the subject and follow the history. Regulars seem to often have narrower interests - my posts on subjects such as these incredibly rare engravings will probably be lucky to have 40 people look at them.

To see the Cape Police uniform - go back on this Forum , probably a few pages. Will Endley owns a full one and posted it - together with other equipment.

Kevin - a lot of work doing all these posts - but well worth the effort. When added together with previous posts it will become a definitive section on the S.C.'s lapel badges. Any gaps , I just bet others are waiting to post . Out of interest - many Towns had silver - with hallmarks. City of London certainly did. When you have time count up the different Forces that used silver - I have never seen such a list. Mervyn

Paul - the report specificaly mentions 26 others who would have been awarded. I think it is a very strange award - and very un-British. We have adequate awards and medals to reward virtually any act of great courage that we could think-of. He is holding the KB - perhaps it was a stock photo. Is Brown on an early election trail ?

Note the Duty Arm Band on the left sleeve has the blue bands running horizontally.

Some splendid historical archive material has been appearing on the Forum in recent weeks - and now there has been some research revealed on the early Metropolitan Police Medals. This seems , then , to be an ideal time to show these two early hand painted engravings of the Metropolitan Police. The descriptions from their backs clearly show the dates of printing - and , remember the first uniformed police only ' marched out ' in 1829. These first Police were viewed with great suspicion by the population at large - and this antagonism clearly shows in the prints - the Police are not 'friends' at this time. (copyright remains at all time with M.A.Mitton)

Paul - this is one of the best private collections that I have seen for any Force - and in such excellent condition. I was pleased that Craig 'pinned' it for future reference. Looking at the more recent posts I was surprised that the black holsters, belts and fitted cases had such an elaborate 'tooled' design on them . For a para-military police I thought it looked out of place when compared to the more usual plain brown polished leather. Value wise, it is very difficult to be accurate. There are just so many items - and of varying importance. However, taking the Commissioner's uniform and accoutrements as an example - I would think this would command , at an English auction , somewhere between £4000 and £5000. Some 30 years ago a number of London Commissioners' full dress uniforms started coming on the market and didn't fetch particularly high prices - however, times have changed and people are more aware of the importance of historical collections. Probably - and I have not looked at valuing each item separately, I would think a figure of £15/20,000 ( US$23/30,000) would be possible. I would be happy to give you an insurance valuation to that effect. The other distinction which you will have - if you keep everything together, and don't sell - is that it will take your name. I would suggest a small book on the collection - few people know much about the 'Mounties' apart from the uniform and that they always ''Get their man...'' and that was the original North West Mounted Police from 1873.

Hi - Andy and welcome to the Forum. As you say interesting link with the name and Regiment. Perhaps the same family - but then you would expect him to know about the MC ?

Morten - all very interesting finds - and nice that you have some history for them. The old compass has some varied naming. The dial clearly shows the maker's name and Antwerp - so it was bought-in for the body of the compass - which was made in Glasgow - however, the word Cambridge seems to be at odds with this. Through the accumulated verdigris - is it Cambridge Road or, Street ?

Hi - Jim. Welcome to the Forum - which Force are you with - or, is it a secret ? I think the reduction for length of service is fair - I think for most Countries it is 20. I think Robin's pair are 'above' mint quality - quite stunning.

Thankyou Odin - in fact 'solid' is an expression and perhaps on this forum I should have been a little more accurate. Sterling silver is 925 parts silver and most European is 800. I suppose the Canadians were 'cutting' corners to save money.

We have had some interesting posts recently on Metroplolitan Police Medals - and it is obvious that with Tom and PikeMedals that we have experts on the subject. However, we mustn't overlook that medals are only part of the structure in place to reward deserving police officers. The Commissioner of the Met. Police is the highest ranking Police officer in Great Britain - followed by Her Majesty's Inspector of Constabulary and then in third place, the Deputy Commissioner of the Met. Police. Chief Constables are on a rank level with Met. Asst. Commissioners. The Commissioner wears the badges of rank for a full general and has under his command some 56000 police and civilian staff. I am not sure when Commendations were started by the Met. - I would think in Victorian days. The practise being that in Police Orders - the first section contains the names of Officers who are to receive a Commendation. Higher Commendations are in Bold type. There is a lower level - District Commendations - that was when there were four districts in the Met. Both of these Commendations went into the officer's records. Above these is the Queen's Commendation - a small silver oakleaf - worn without backing above the left pocket of the tunic. Most County Police have followed this practise and award their own Chief Constables Commendation. I was fortunate to be given three Comm. Commendations and two District - just happened to be in the right place when something happened. However, we didn't even get the certificate that is awarded today. Perhaps Tom and some of our other old Police members can give a little more background - in all honesty I've never thought of it until now, and didn't even include them in my book - however, it is an important part of our history and many thousands of police officers' have received this mention.

Hello - Aberdeen. The picture didn't come out - will be interesting to see it. I didn't know about the different ethnic groups. Welsome to GMIC - are you in business or, a collector ?

Hello - para38. Sorry, I can't help you - however, welcome to GMIC. When you say the Angletaire - does that mean British - as opposed, to Canadian Govt. ?