Boer War thru WWI miniature bar

[AMA713]

Hello all,

my name is Alex and this is my first post.   Before I begin, here is a little background on me:

I am a medal collector from the US.   and have been collecting full size and miniature medals since I was 13.  For the past 10 years, i became more “serious” about collecting, and focused heavily on american full sized And miniature medals, with special focus on  pre- WWI decorations.  However, repetition lead to stagnation.  I discovered British miniatures, a world unto their own which lead to me having a proverbial breath of fresh air.  
 

i still have much to learn in regards to which units/regiments are most desirable, but the beauty of collecting is there is no such thing as ever “completing” your education.  
 

Here is the first of many miniature bars i am looking forward to sharing with you.  
 

This is a recent acquisition that augments my growing collection and focus of British miniature medals.  This medal bar is a practically mint contemporary example of a serviceman who served from the Boer War thru WWI.  The bar and medals were struck by the famous manufacturer Spink and Son, and show the quality of their craftsmanship through the superb detail on both the planchets and campaign bars, if applicable.

From left to right:

- Order of the British Empire
- East and West Africa Medal with Sierra Leone 1898-99 bar
- Queens South Africa medal with South Africa 1901, Transvaal, Orange Free State, Modder River and Belmont Bar
- British 1914-18 War Medal
- WWI Victory Medal 

The seller stated that there is potential provenance to a front line physician, but as i am new to British research, i am not sure how/where to start searching. 
 

Thank you for looking! 
 

Alex 

And the reverse 

[peter monahan]

Alex

Welcome to the GMIC.  What a lovely set of medals! 

I particularly like the East & West with Sieraa Leone bar.  I spent two years in Nigreia decades ago with Canada's version of the Peace Corps and, at the time, was collecting medals, but never got this one.  Major L. L. Gordon's British Battles and Medals used to be the Bible for British campaign awards and he says that  26 were issued to the RAMC, which sounds like probably one surgeon and some orderlies.  You might want to consider getting a reprint of this article: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/03071849909423599?needAccess=true

This is the palce to start for researching medals to British soldiers, I think: https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/british-military-campaign-and-service-medals/  And, if you want to pursue the RAMC thread, perhaps here: https://wellcomelibrary.org/collections/browse/collections/digramc/

Good luck witht the search and please let us know if you manage to identify the original owner of the group.

Peter

 

BTW, 'Gordon' is somewhat outdated now, but I have two older editions around the house which make a great quick referecne and I suspect used copies are common and cheap.

 

[AMA713]

Thank you for the warm welcome, and even more for the excellent leads! I will look into this and hopefully return with a name to accompany this beautiful set.

 

 Is this a harder bar to come by, especially if part of a bar with other orders/decorations on it?  
 

[paul wood]

If you can find the roll for Sierra Leone 98-99 cant be many quacks there. Then see who is entited to the others shouldnt be too difficult. Probably an assistant Surgeon for the first medal.

 

Best of luck

paul

[Gunner 1]

I hate to 'bring rain on your parade,' but a word of caution before you spend much time trying to attribute the miniature group. If all the attribution you have is a seller's statement "that there is potential provenance to a front-line physician" you really do not have an attribution at all.  Genuine attribution requires some physical evidence to support the attribution.  Even if you find that a medical person received that same group of medals you will never be sure of the attribution unless you can also prove that no other person was ever awarded the same grouping and that may be an almost impossible task.  Proper attribution of full-size unnamed groups and miniature groups requires accompanying paperwork that attributes the group; evidence that a miniature group was sold with the full-size group; or some other type of physical evidence that ties the group to a recipient.  

As a well-known dealer once told me as a young collector: "Spend your money on the medals, not on the seller's undocumented story that comes with them"

[AMA713]

25 minutes ago, Gunner 1 said:

I hate to 'bring rain on your parade,' but a word of caution before you spend much time trying to attribute the miniature group. If all the attribution you have is a seller's statement "that there is potential provenance to a front-line physician" you really do not have an attribution at all.  Genuine attribution requires some physical evidence to support the attribution.  Even if you find that a medical person received that same group of medals you will never be sure of the attribution unless you can also prove that no other person was ever awarded the same grouping and that may be an almost impossible task.  Proper attribution of full-size unnamed groups and miniature groups requires accompanying paperwork that attributes the group; evidence that a miniature group was sold with the full-size group; or some other type of physical evidence that ties the group to a recipient.  

As a well-known dealer once told me as a young collector: "Spend your money on the medals, not on the seller's undocumented story that comes with them"

Oh i am well aware that there’s a chance that it may not be attributable, and included the sellers statement as background to when i received it.  I too learned the old adage “don’t buy the story” (paraphrased).  Without legitimate provenance, I agree that it will remain unnamed.  
 

In the (likely) event this is not attributable, I’m still quite happy with this bar, and am happy to have it in my collection.