peter monahan

Veeery nice!

Who knew? Maybe the name fools the ever vigilant paranoics at [fill in name of government agency here].

My only comment is: I can't imagine anyone living outside the continental USA begoinning a sentence with 'I got a Panzerfaust in the mail...'. Peter

That was my question too. These are lovely and quite likely have very interesting stories attached which, depending on how good the newspaper archives are in rural Mass might be researchable.

Well up to your usual superb standards, Spasm! Well doen, that artist. Happy Easter!

I read this 'discussion' periodically over cleaning or not medlas, badges etc. I look at it from the perspective of a soldier and an SM: 'Get that disgusting dirty thing off... my... parade... square!!! I 'get' toning and so on, but I like to display them as they were worn, when I can. I keep the old ribbons when I replace them and don't sand blast anything, but I likes 'em shiny! Happy Easter!

Nice! Thanks for sharing, Redlegs.

Ta! I spent two years in Nigeria a few decades ago now but hadn't the wit nor money to look out and grab any really nice artifacts. The best I could do was a 'made for tourists' Tuareg sword, which oine of my daughters has now absconded with for her knife collection [along with my skean dubh and a couple other items]. My collecting these days is mainly of computer files and repro. British Army kit, as I re-enact both the Napoleonic and WWI periods. But, like Kat, I love blades and have a foundness for the unusual - my original collecting was the then under-popular field of the Indian Army. Enjoy the entended weekend. Peter

Shiny Here's the best place to look: http://www.stablebelts.co.uk/ I'd take a boo myself but I'm off to bed with a rotten cold. I'd guess one of the services - RASC or some such - based on the colour scheme, but don't quote me. Good luck! Peter

Good call! Liner and sewing would be things I'd be comfortable doing myself, as I am a collector, not a curator, but enough of the cautionary tales have stuck with me to make me cringe at some of the 'repairs' people attempt. For years I owned a very dirty stuffed Snowy Owl which came with a cottage my family bought and was persuaded by my mother [I was 14] NOT to vacuum it. I later decided I'd have ended upo with a pile of feathers and sawdust if I'd done so. Peter

When I first had money for medals - some decades ago now - I began collecting to members of the Indian Army [pre '47] which were dirt cheap because they were 'unresearchable'. Eventually I got a few groups to Native and British Officers, about whom some info. was available, but I was always mostly satisifed to be able to associate a medal or group to an OR with a battalion and campaign if not the man who won them. The amount of info. available today about obscure campaigns and units, on the web and through reprinted rolls etc, is an order of magnitude greater than it was even 15 years ao and i suspect that that trend will continue. There is clearly beginning to be some interest in collecting, for example, to the modern IA and I'm hoping that will spur someone out there to start writing good histories of some of the untis and campaigns. Locating data on individual soldiers will still likely be catch as catch can, but for me that is hald the fun anyway. My two devalued Canadian censt worth! Peter

I could have told you NEVER to go into the kitchen in any establishment in the developing world. Better not to know, as it just spoils the appetite. The 'squatter' toilets in Nigeria were a rude shock for the Canadians when we arrived there many years ago. Luckily, at the school where I worked, the staff lines had 'sitters'. Nothing worse than having a case of the crud and nowhere to go but a dirty squatter. I stayed right out of our multistory dormitory, as the fact that it had never had running water didn't stop the students from sing the toilets.

The Canadians who went to Cyprus, especially the Signals, were almost all specialist technical troops - Sigs and Logistics and so on - and many of them did 5, 8, 10 individual 6 month tours. It didn't mean that the whole force was in and out that many times, but individuals were rotated in and out, much the way the US forces in Vietnam operated, so airly early on it was decided to use the numerals instead of multiple awards of the gong or bars. I know I've seen '8's on UN medals worn by CF members and I believe there are examples with '12', which wouldn't be outrageous for a 'lifer' in the Sigs, a very small unti over all.

Maybe it makes up for the pay and living conditions? That seemed to work for the Queen Empress!

I can understand your reluctance to meddle with them, Brandon. I have a little background in musuem work, where the First through Fifth Commandments are 'Thou shalt not do anything you can't undo.', which includes cleaning, coating and very definitley dismantling! That said, interesting items with a fascinating back story. I should have thought of the 'no guns to the Apaches' angle myself. By the way, welcome to the GMIC! I hope you'll find something to interets you and have more things and ideas to share! Happy Easter. Peter

Hendrick I've been away and just seen your additions to the thread. I second Dave's comments in saying 'Thanks for the explanation'. To we Commonwealth types, the notion that one can buy the medal and bars from a tailor is more than a little odd, though of course so long after the eents not as rare as it once once. And of course, until the various penny pinching governments stopped naming the medlas, the award itself was the documentation: if the edge of the medal said Private Joe Blogs, Lancashire Imperial Guards, then one could generally assume that the medals was his. Now, we're in the same boat as you are: it's all about the paperwork and whether one is satisfied that the medal with the paper is the original medal for that original paper. And, I must confes, I find that very frsutrating personally. I still like my medals named! All that said, you have a rare and imprtant piece there! I'm envios. Peter

I can only repeat my earlier caution. A product meant for live animals on 'dead' fur and leather may not be best. Once the hair and skin is off the animal it is essentially inert. Think live tree versus seasoned lumber. If the product is meant to react with the chemistry of a body - like human shampoo - it won't work as well on dead fur and may do harm. Squadrongirl, sounds like you have a 'fixer upper' or a 'worn with pride' dependiong on whether or not you're brave enough to try to re-colour it. On that, maybe consult a wig maker or hair stylist about putting dye onto 'old hair'. And good luck! Peter

I am fascinated by the fact that troops ANYWHERE were issued spear during WWII and, apparently, in several models. Of course, when I lived briefly in Nigeria our 'maguardi' [watchmen] kept a bow and poisoned arrows with him as he slept peacefully in my neighbours garage every night, so I suppose I shouldn't be surprised but... wow!

What one might have expected!

I also understand - Paul may be able to cofirm or deny - that extra medals are easily obtained from tailors' stocks and other places, so making up groups is easy if it seems worth doing. Ed Haynes South Asian Gongs site might provide som einsights on this. Peter

Thank you for posting the photo, Redleg. I hope it is of some help to Ilja. Peter

It sounds as if this should be quite a rare medal, then, given the small number of pilots involved. I wonder if the 'ovals' are the equivalent of the French stars and palm fronds - indicating a mention in despatches, second award or some such.

Thanks, Frank. That would have been my guess [he claims] buT I figured I'd ask an expert.

That would suggest that one of the two employees is in error, as the medals can't be BOTH 'impressed' and 'engraved'. Or I'm I missing something.