TOPIC:

Well Brett, it is certainly interesting that you started with medals on the centenary of the war, were you influenced by the date at all, or was that just coincidental?
The prices had certainly started to move upwards by then!

Frank Kelley wrote: Hello Brett,
I think you would have enjoyed this weekend, had you been there, but, I always feel so often, the actual medal fair is rather a disappointment, you go in full of expectation and only very seldom actually manage to find something, that was the case for me anyway, but, I suspect that for you, I dare say that you would be completely amazed and perhaps just a little overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of QSA's on offer.
Regards Frank

Good Morning Frank.....

Medal fairs and quantities of QSA's may be overwhelming but for someone who visits the fairs maybe ever 3 or 4 years in UK (More often now retired) it is a chance to see things that are not available where he/she lives..... You go to the Easter Show here you will see a large number of guns of course a lot of Canadian and American, one dealer in European a large amount of German and last year in over 1000 tables of sale items I found 4 QSA's...... So a medal fair here in UK is like a kid in a candy shop, so much to see, so many questions to ask, so many deals attempted, so many medals to actually handle....

I was able to find 2 of the 5 I need to complete my Cavalry set...... And I got to meet some great people......

Mike

Hello Mike,
That was my point to Brett, I think many people from overseas, would certainly be overwhelmed by the quantities available, but, I have to say that for me at least, the reverse is so often the case.
I'm glad to hear that you had a good weekend and did not go back empty handed.
Regards Frank

Frank Kelley wrote: Well Brett, it is certainly interesting that you started with medals on the centenary of the war, were you influenced by the date at all, or was that just coincidental?
The prices had certainly started to move upwards by then!

Frank
By 1999, I had been back in Natal for 10 years (after an absence of 40 years), and I had taken up my youthful interests in Natal's Colonial history. Having spent my teenage years in Estcourt, the operations to relieve the Ladysmith siege particularly interested me. Estcourt was in the recruiting area for the Natal Carbineers (then the Royal NC), so that led to my renewed interest in the regiment. Also, it was during in the 1990's that I discovered that one of great-grandfathers had been a founder member of the Natal Mounted Police (later the Natal Police) in 1874. My old fascination with medals led to their collecting focusing on those topics.
Regards
Brett

Hello Brett,
In that case, I can see the flame was already well and truly lit, whilst it is, I suppose, ultimately true, that there is very little that you cannot buy here, I would say that medals to recipients who served in the Natal Volunteers and Militia are still rather few on the ground, so I suspect that, even you, might be left, perhaps, a little disappointed, after, of course, wading your way through many tables of medals.
Regards Frank

Rory,

To answer your earlier question, £1,200 or R21,300.

I was a little shocked at the time.