peter monahan

The CWGC site seems to be up again, as of yesterday. Just read of an historic lighthouse being rescued in eastern Canada and the last lightkeeper remarking that the house she grew up in -on a remote island off Halifax harbour - was burned by arsonists. Simply cannot fathom that mind set.

Interesting indeed! I hadn't ever realized/assimilated that bit of medallic lore, despite many hours in my youth poring over Taffrail and other such tomes. Yes, thank you, Mike and Hugh.

B**tards!

Well spotted!

Jamie Welcome to the GMIC. 'VR' buttons would certainly indicate a pre-1900 uniform and/or cap. The pill box was common to many units in the Victorian period, both regular army and, I think, Volunteers, but I'll leave it to our several head dress speicalists to comment further. The tunic seems to be a fairly standard pre-War RA tunic which means, sadly, that the surname may not be rare enough for you ID the original owner, as the Gunners were a big bunch! Again, someone on the UK side of the pond may have more information, including perhaps access to Army Lists as a way of identifying possible owners. I trust you'll find both items satisfactory and enjoy many years of colecting! Peter [also in Canada]

Linda The 14th had a fairly quiet war, being sent to Iraq at one point but spent most of the war actually waitng to receive tanks. Given Grant tanks in 1943 and probably slated to go to Italy but they never made it. I think it unliekly that there is a regimental history for the regiment for WWII. I'm travelling right now but remind me in a few days and I'll see what I can dig up on the regiment. It served with the 31st Indian Armoured Division, 252nd Armoured Brigade. Peter

I have found Abebooks, a US based on line used book dealer to be very good for locating obscure volumes. Try entering thr title into their search engine. Good luck.

The snake - photo three in Post 4 xcouls easily be from a military 'snake buckle', though the details are a bit different from examples I know. The rectangular buckle in post 5 is part of a sword belt - two buckles like this each take a strap run through the rings on a scabbard and the straps attached to the sword belt itself. If it is rotated 180 degrees the designs on the heads might conceivably be lion's heads, which was the standard design for these. [The French buckle from which it was 'borrowed' by the English had a Medusa face.] I wonder at the initials - 'O S' ? - on the bugle horn. Not ringing any bells for an Imperial unit and the characters on the back ar quite unusual. Civilian fashion copying military styles was quite common, so that's a possible explanation. Or many others which haven't occurred to me! Good luck with the hunt.

Thank you for your expert input, Mark!

Hi Monique The squirrel doesn't ring any bells but some of the heraldic renderings of 'regimental anuimals' are pretty outre. The British Army issued a leather belt which was worn from, off the top of my head, the 1840s until the 1920s at least. It was adopted by most of the Imperial armies as well, including the Australian forces, and was worn commonly by almost all units - infantry, engineers, etc. The variation in design would be a reflection of the length of time during which these were issued and number of manufacturers involved, even with supposedly 'sealed patterns' to ensure uniformity. below is an example of an 1860s era snake buckle. I hope that helps a little. Photographs eagerly awaited. Peter

Deamon If you want to send me photos I can take a look. Not an expert by any means but a little experience. I can post pictures for you and see what the hive mind thinks. I'm on the road right now but check the GMIC every few days. Peter

The double headed eagle may well represnet the Russian / Orthodox faith and the cherubs suggests, to me, a religious or fraternal group but other than that I'm afraid I have not insights. Try reposting this to the Imperial Russian forum and see if that gets any responses.

Originality is highly over rated. It is also, given the basic building blocks - circle, star or triangle + primary colours and gold or silver - damn near impossible in flags, medals and so on.

I have friends who served with the Canadian government and diplomatic corps in ASIA and a major perk of the job was the fact that one couild have suits and uniforms made in Hong Kong or Singepore - often over night - for 20-30% of what the would cost at home. Impossible to give a price for this, however, as it is so unusual. You might check on ebay to get an idea of what US Army uniforms sell for in general but a real price is whatever the seller will accept! Sorry that's not much help, I know. If you're thinking of buying it, ask yourself what price will mean you are happy with t in a year and not regretting the money you spent.

I can answer that, megan, having lived in Nigeria once. Yes, the coat of arms is the obverse. I once spent an Independence day talking to Nigerian army officers, many of whom were wearing the medal. I wanted to talk about the Ngerian Army, they wanted to talkm about the good bars in Fort Knox, Kentucky, where they'd done armour training.

O tempore, o mores! That sounds all too likely, Caig. And that explanation makes perfect sense. The civil service equivalent of the famous Scottish criminal verdict of 'Not proven.' 'We know you did it, you know you did it, so leave quietly and we'll look away.'

Not a British uniform expert, despite my moderator status - I'm a Canuck- but I'm pretty sure trade badges were confined to Other Ranks. It was presumed that officers knew all about everything or, more to the point, were not going to expose the gaps in their training by letting the rankers see which badges they didn't have! An officer transferred to a new unit permanently - Taken of Strength rthe Ox & Bucks and Taken On Strenth No. 10 Commando, for example - would/should have changed his badges. If he were on training or in waiting he might revert to GS badges or not, depending on whom he was attached to and, i suspect, how keen he and or his superiors were. By that I mean, the regs may have specified that he revert to GS but if he were only a few weeks in limbo/transit and the Adjutant at wherever he wound up wsn't a tartar he may not have bothered, as carrying and wearing multiple sets would have been a nuisance. Just my tuppence worth though. [I'm not supposed to blow other people's horns for them, but the British Badge Forum has the real pros on insignia. ]

In fact, the service scores a double win because the details of the criminal congresss between Captain Bigjarofwasps and Mrs. Colonel Blimp doesn't get aired in the yellow press just when we're trying to sell Parliament and the oh-so-patriotic but tight fisted British tax payer on bigger defence appropriations!

Possibly the serial / regimental number of the recipient? Major Gordon says, somewhat dismissively only that 'some were named in Arabic.'

Sally I know that the RAOWB was a very large fraternal order - apparently the largest in GB in the early 20th century and also, I gather, very popular with WWI vets in Australai for some reason. Sadly, I suspect that membership rolls would have been kept at the local lodge or chapter level and have long since disappeared, unless one is very lucky, but the link to Wiki attached has a couple links at the bottom. There is a forum and a US national offcie/site, so they may be able to assist you. Good luck! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Antediluvian_Order_of_Buffaloes

Stephen has tracked down several examples of the Imperial Army & Navy Association medla and is looking for one to add to the collection at Fort York's new musem, in Toronto. Here is a good shot on one example. and a link to the current issue of the Fife and Drum, the newsletter of ther Friends of the Fort. http://www.fortyork.ca/images/newsletters/fife-and-drum-2116/fife-and-drum-july-2016.pdf

Very nice early war tunic with the sleeve rank. Thanks for sharing! An important, but unsung and probably not very popular job, especially among the troops would seen the number of dud shells coming out of the factories!

The BWM was issued for 'war service', so typically not for service in England onlyhowever, according to major Gordon's invaluable work on British medals 'was issued singly without the Victory Medal to certain regular and mobilized personnel who did not see any fighting.' In the early stages the issuing of bars was considered - up to 70 for the Nacy and 80 for the Army - but that idea was abandonned as unworkable. The BWM was awarded in bronze to members of the Maltese and Chinese labour Corps and others mobilized for war service and paid at military rates, such as many of the servant groups attached to the Indian Army. Presumably Mike's example - single BWM, no VM - to an instructor was what was meant by Gordon's reference: men who spent the whole war mobilized but perhaps never left England.

Looks lethal! And highly illegal here in law abiding Canada, which is an annoyance to collectors but perhaps not a totally unreasonable regulation, given the kind of idiot who is attracted to such things. I'm thinking bikers and Wallies, BTW, not military history bufs!

No Egypt ribbon. I have a box of bits which I thought had a length but no joy. It shouldn't be that hard to find - try the OMSA ribbon bank. Not sure if it's being reproduced but not unlikely and with luck it will look decent - some of the new stuff is terribly shiny compared to the originals. Commassiariat - known as the 'Sausage and TumTum Brigade' in the British Indian Army - were key to any successful field operation, though often sneered at by the infantry.