TOPIC:

djb wrote: Currently on offer on BidorBuy.

QSA to LB 12 Syce Ishar Bali, 17th Bengal Lancers.

Syce Ishar Bali entitled to Cape Colony, Orange Free State & Transvaal as well as King's Medal ( but obviously not issued) Sold Norman Collett in December, 1985 for £93 & hammered at £340 at Dix, Noonan & Webb, 2011. A similar medal was sold by Midland Medals June, 1980 for £50 but the name was unrecorded in the catalogue.

My own holding angloboerwar.com/forum/search?query=sada...te=all&childforums=1

djb wrote: Also on BidorBuy.

QSA to Multan 49 Syce Sher Mohamed, Supply and Transport Corps, Punjab Command, Lahore District.

49 Syce Sher Mohamed. Arrived late in the war. The medal has appeared at Dix, Noonan & Webb in 2004 where it hammered at £140 & again in 2013 at £110. Meanwhile it has appeared at Spinks 2007 (in a lot with 2 others - £500 for the lot ) and "Lest We Forget" Ebay

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It is not often that I comment on medals in other collections but in collecting data on a medal recently reported for sale mentioned above I came across my post of 3rd November, 2013 in this thread where I doubted the authenticity of a King's Medal.

Spinks April, 2009 Lot 386 "King´s South Africa 1901-02, one clasp, South Africa 1902 (1785 Sowar Sardar Khan 18th Lcrs.), engraved in running script, nearly very fine, scarce Estimate £ 70-90 Sold for £320"

I placed my bid on this important medal, and I was not shy. Why my enthusiasm for this medal when the words "engraved in running script" clearly should have warned most people of impending embarrassment?

The Roll from which the medal was issued



All in order save the words "CLASPS ONLY"- the important note is in the remarks column " Medal applied for on AG2/M/13070"

This leads to



which indicates that the roll of the Madras Lancers should be consulted.



This provides the answer to the conundrum encountered.

"These are merely Extra clasp rolls though called the King's Medal Roll"

So back to the medal in question. All King's Medals were issued from London and as such should be impressed named. The engraved medal would indicate a medal issued in India as a replacement or a forgery. My money would be on the former. Sardar Khan in loosing his medal applied for replacements. The authorities, in miss-reading the roll and ignoring the words "CLASPS ONLY", realised that a single clasp King's Medal should also be issued since it is clearly the "King's Roll" prepared one for him.

This medal, I would like to feel, was cast aside by Sardar Khan realising it was issued in error to become a curiosity.

The proof obviously would be the appearance of his group of medals with an engraved Queen's with his entitled single clasp "South Africa 1902"

Brett Hendey wrote: David
When I see medals in such a poor state, I wonder what conditions caused it.

In re-reading a 1983 essay by Mrs OH Khan prepared for her History major from University of Durban Westville on her ancestor who settled in KZN after the war, I came across this comment by her mother.

"'Where is the medal that he won in the war?'
'My mother always carried that medal in her purse but after her death I don't know who took it'"

Incidentally the mother was the 14year old bride, the daughter of Alum Khan, also a Pathan ex soldier who famously "decked" Gandhi on his way to register for the Transvaal Asiatic Immigration Act.

Perhaps the medals gained their less than fine appearance from time spent in a Widow's Purse.

David
Thank you for another fascinating account of the complications that arise in collecting medals of the Indian Contingent. Although I do not actively collect such medals, the three I do have are highly prized by me. What I know about the service of the three men concerned is entirely due to you, for which I am most grateful.
Regards
Brett

How about this one from the archives?

Spink Circular, January 1977.

QSA bronze (Pte Servant Abdul Sukoor).

NEF £32.