TOPIC:

Good morning,
I’m doing a genealogy research about Henry Theirs (Sapper N° 3226), who participated on the Second Boer War, as a railway volunteer (engineer). He was the father of my Great Grandmother.
A few months ago, I started to have contact with different members of my family, branches that I’ve never known before, including Henry’s grandson. And we tried to collect as much information about our common ancestors as we could together.
His grandson, told me he knows for sure Henry received a golden pound, a South African coin from 1895 that depicts Paul Kruger’s face on one side. This coin has something to do with his participation in the Second Boer War, but we are not sure if it was a kind of award from Queen Victoria. Could this coin, be a kind of commemorative coin from the war, pinned on by Queen Victoria herself?
Through the records I also know Henry did receive Queen Victoria’s medal, for his participation, however we don’t know if the Queen awarded him with this medal herself, as part of the ceremony. Unfortunately, my family has lost the trace of the medal, but Henry’s grandson still keeps the coin from his grandfather.
Thanks in advance, from your kind help and information provided.
As always, your website and your work on it, inspire me to learn more and more about my family history!
Kind regards,
Martina.

Hi Martina,
The coin is a standard Zuid Afrikaans Republiek (ZAR) issued by the Boers from 1892 - 1901. It is exactly equivalent to a British gold sovereign. They issued other coins from a 1d to £1 in the same fineness and weight as British coins.

It is not an award coin, just a souvenir. A jeweller has put an ornate surround on the coin and was probably originally attached to a watch fob chain.

Current gold value is around 800 pounds (gold price is fluctuating)

Cheers

Stewart