TOPIC:

The clasp is certainly, in my opinion, just from the photographs you show, original, it is a great shame to see medals like this example, being messed around with.
I should not worry too much about the particular regiment that issued the medal, I'm always far more interested in how the clasp was earned in the first place and the regiment the recipient served with during the siege.

dunnboer wrote: I have had a further reply from the vendor as follows

"I have been through our records and see that we purchased the medal from Steve Sewell last year and added the original DoM clasp which came from an erased medal. My records also indicate that the price we sold the medal for was in fact less then the cost of the medal and genuine DoM clasp!
The clasp on the medal is quite genuine and we should have made a note to state that the medal had been corrected, but the paperwork relating to the original purchase and subsequent alteration had been misplaced and **** who catalogued the medal was unaware of the alteration."

This reassures me somewhat as I would have purchased the medal anyway with this information up front. I'm never going to see another Marshall's Horse DOM after all!

That is one of the nicer examples I have seen, not something you encounter very often, have you got Gibb's papers?

dunnboer wrote: 55 Trooper Joseph Walter Gibbs, Protectorate Regiment Frontier Force. Attested 18th August 1899. Killed in Action at Game Tree Fort Mafeking 26th December 1899.

I would usually agree with your comments about regiment but was tempted by the uniqueness of a Marshall's Horse DOM even though he served in the Mafeking Railway Guards during the siege. He also appears on the Aberdeen DMT roll and is said to have served in Nesbitt's Horse but I can't find him there. I do have his Record of Service paper for Marshall's Horse.

Gibbs' medal is a favourite of mine. I have a copy of the original attestation roll but not his service papers.

Paul

On the subject of dodgy clasps, here's one passed off as original by a UK dealer a few years ago.

Well, I certainly do think Gibbs medal is the best example I have seen for a long time and we do get to see quite a few every year here.

dunnboer wrote: I would usually agree with your comments about regiment but was tempted by the uniqueness of a Marshall's Horse DOM even though he served in the Mafeking Railway Guards during the siege. He also appears on the Aberdeen DMT roll and is said to have served in Nesbitt's Horse but I can't find him there. I do have his Record of Service paper for Marshall's Horse.

Gibbs' medal is a favourite of mine. I have a copy of the original attestation roll but not his service papers.

Paul

A Mafeking casualty from the next DNW auction


Picture courtesy of DNW

QSA (1) DoM (2453 Tpr: H. H. Knox. B.S.A. Police)

Trooper Henderson Herbert Knox was killed at Mafeking on 2 February 1900.

‘A shell from the 94-pounder struck one of the splinter roofs at Cannon Kopje, smashing right in killing one man (Knox) who was really suffocated before he could be got out, breaking another man’s leg (Francis) and badly injuring another man’s back (T. Goddard). A heavy beam had fallen across his chest trapping him, he could be heard calling but could not be got out.’

The picture could be of two DoM clasps and really demonstrates the power of lighting.