TOPIC:

Neville,
As a collector of QSAs to the Worcestershire Regiment, I have to say you have an outstanding group and so lucky to keep them together!
I got the QSA and jewel to Lewis earlier on this year, which was just pipped to the post by Sergeant Burden for my top acquisition of 2022.
Cheers Steve

I was really delighted to see the medals and scarf to Frank Kingsley, 2nd West Yorkshires, who fought so bravely on Tabanyama on 21 January 1900. Bicolboy, I’d be happy to show you the spot.

My top acquisition of 2022 is humbler -I don’t collect medals - it comes out of the red soil of Natal a few hundred meters from where Kingsley fought.

Background:
In many photos of Boer combatants, you’ll see burghers holding Martini Henry and Guedes rifles, among the more famous 7mm Mausers and captured Lee Metfords / Lee Enfields.
Now, the Martini Henry only fired black powder in Boer hands (cordite was used with limited success in MH rifles elsewhere). Because of the pall of white smoke from the Martini, they were not used in concealed positions (i.e. trenches) on the Tugela line.
I pondered about the 8mm Guedes rifle – as seen in the hands of these two Boers behind Tabanyama. These are excellent rifles, though single-shot; the Boers imported batches of smokeless and black powder 8mm cartridges for the Guedes, and both these shot well. However, later a very inaccurate batch, of incorrectly-made ammo (7.7mm bullets) was issued - which led to Guedes rifles losing their reputation for accuracy and being abandoned altogether.
So, I wondered: were Guedes rifles used in the concealed trenches in Natal? Or were Guedes in reserve, like Martinis, perhaps if using black powder cartridges?
This year I found dozens of Mauser and Guedes cartridges all mixed together in a Boer trench on Tabanyama, indicating that, yes, the Guedes was used in the Tugela trenches, and it must surely have fired smokeless ammunition at that time/place.
A small thing, but I liked it.
(My battlefield archeology is for historical research, not collecting - I return “finds” to the ground).

Thank you, the scarf itself is a very interesting topic, I found it fascinating to read all the differences in allotment.

Thank you, a lovely find you have there

Some great additions have been posted to this thread. Keep them coming.

There are many collectors who are members of the forum who must have added a special something to their collections this year. No matter how humble or how significant the find - we want to see and hear about it.

Regards

Rory

Colcloughs scarf and medals sold at Spinks in 2017 13K