TOPIC: Medals to the Natal Rifle Associations

Mike,

I think these are the 4 men from the Mtshwati RA who received medals to this unit.

MIke,

You will be very interested in the next Spink auction. They have:

QSA (0) (Tpr. H. Light. Mtshwati R.A.), minor contact marks, very fine and very rare

H. Light was 'called out for active duty against the enemy'; sold with copied roll entry.

The Spink sale this morning was fantastic. 4 hours of QSAs!

The Rifle Association medals formed a fitting end to the sale and attracted a lot of attention. There were the hammer prices:

Camperdown RA. Hammer price of £150
Dundee. Hammer price of £260
Highlands. Hammer price of £300
Howick. Hammer price of £140
Lidgetton. Hammer price of £290
Malton. Hammer price of £140
Melmoth. Hammer price of £300
Mtshwati. Hammer price of £450
New Hanover. Hammer price of £450
Nottingham Road. Hammer price of £290
Wartburg. Hammer price of £320
Wilge Fontein. Hammer price of £200
Weston. Hammer price of £450

Here is an interactive plot of the Rifle Association QSA sales (of which I am aware) in 2019. This data is grouped by the numbers of medals issued to the unit; 0-9, 10-19, 20-29, and 40-49. There is an empty x-axis point for 30-39 as no Rifle Association had an issue within this range.

As expected, the QSAs in the 0-9 group are expensive and have a mean cost in GBP of 558. The mean costs do not follow an exponential curve as might be expected but more of a U-shape with the Rifle Associations of Howick, Malton and Camperdown appearing to offer good value again other Rifle Association QSAs. The dataset is small so we cannot read too much into the data but it does make for interesting viewing and speculation, for example, on why the New Hanover QSA went for quite so much money.

You can hover over the data points to see the detail. The black crosses represent the average cost of QSAs in each group.

Rifle Association interactive plot

With thanks to the forum member for sharing these images:

Multi-currency costs (including commission) for the RA QSAs:

Camperdown RA GBP 186; Rand 3100; Au$ 320; Can$ 290
Dundee GBP 322; Rand 5500; Au$ 560; Can$ 510
Highlands GBP 372; Rand 6300; Au$ 650; Can$ 590
Howick GBP 174; Rand 2900; Au$ 300; Can$ 270
Lidgetton GBP 360; Rand 6100; Au$ 630; Can$ 570
Malton GBP 174; Rand 2900; Au$ 300; Can$ 270
Melmoth GBP 372; Rand 6300; Au$ 650; Can$ 590
Mtshwati GBP 558; Rand 9500; Au$ 980; Can$ 890
New Hanover GBP 558; Rand 9500; Au$ 980; Can$ 890
Nottingham Road GBP 360; Rand 6100; Au$ 630; Can$ 570
Wartburg GBP 397; Rand 6800; Au$ 690; Can$ 630
Wilge Fontein GBP 248; Rand 4200; Au$ 430; Can$ 390
Weston GBP 558; Rand 9500; Au$ 980; Can$ 890