My Afganistan 1881 medal

[Brian Wolfe]

Hello All,

I want to show off my Afganistan 1881 medal named to 1598 Pte. G. Burch, 8Bde/158, 51st Regt. that I got in trade for a kukri last year.

Cheers

Brian

[peter monahan]

A lovely piece! For my money, one of the more interesting reverses in the British list. The early IGS reverses are also quite nice.

Some of the 51st Foot qualified for the Ali Musjid bar and about 450 for a no bar medal like this one. Odd naming, though. Is it all in the same hand or could some of it have been added later? Rank, name & unit is what's common for this period and a reference to "Bde' ('brigade', presumably) is strange.

Peter

Edited February 14, 2007 by peter monahan

[Michael Johnson]

Odd naming, though. Is it all in the same hand or could some of it have been added later? Rank, name & unit is what's common for this period and a reference to "Bde' ('brigade', presumably) is strange.

Peter

For the Second Afghan to British units it is not unusual; I've had a number named in that style.

40B/540 PTE H. WEBB 67th FOOT, with dots under the superscript TE in Pte and TH in 67TH

Edited February 14, 2007 by Michael Johnson

[peter monahan]

For the Second Afghan to British units it is not unusual; I've had a number named in that style.

I stand corrected! The old mind isn't what it used to be. And the new one's not much better.

Peter

[Ed_Haynes]

Naming for the 2nd Afghan War Medal is probably the most variable of any Victorian gong. I am convinced (concerning myself only with medals to Indians) that there is some underlying pattern, but I am clueless what it might be. I do know that the large number of medals required broke the habitual pattern of outsourcing medasls from the Calcutta Mint to a single firm for naming, and a bundle of additional contracts had to be issued and that regiments were encouraged to name things themselves. What lovely chaos!

[Michael Johnson]

My last example. Sepoy Bagga Singh of the Bhopal Bn. Engraved in running script as for the India General Service Medal.

An interesting medal in that at this time the Bopeeps were a local corps, not part of the regular Indian Army. Nevertheless their level of efficiency was such that they included in the Field Force.

The suspension is probably a bazaar replacement, but the condition is better than average.