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Hello Brett,
It does make you wonder what is actually going on these days, but, sadly the market is now being driven by speculators and hedge fund managers and not real collectors, moreover, I suggest this will continue well into the future.
Regards Frank

Brett Hendey wrote: I think the price realised for Bonham's Lot 54 might well be a record for a Natal Rebellion Medal.

Brett

djb wrote: David,

No, I'm not sure of that. The information came from the Bonham catalogue. I will see if I can find out.

I have no idea how Gandhi's QSA is named and hence the name the "Corps" was known as at the time. The roll is headed "Natal Volunteer Indian Ambulance Leaders". There was a Natal Volunteer Ambulance Corps but the names are European. Europeans in the Natal Vol. Amb. Corps sometimes later went on to served in the Imperial Bearer Corps and were a recognised corps with attestation etc .
The Natal Volunteer Indian Ambulance Corps (Did it qualify as a corps or was it ever known as a corps at the time or was it a "company" of civilian volunteers ?) was disbanded at the end of the Natal phase of the war only to be "resurrected" as the Indian Bearer Corps in 1906. From what I can see, Gandhi was the only member to have served in both so I am not sure how "linage" can be established - co-incidentally they just had the same organiser!
As to whether they were properly qualified for medals or did they get medals on the strength of H.M. Queen Victoria's insistence I am not sure. There is a paper somewhere on the history and the politics. If they were properly attested and qualified as a corps, why did the other members who did the work not qualify? Not I suppose because they were from a lower caste than Gandhi and the other "leaders" by any chance? (Woops that will upset the revisionists!)

Evening

I hold the 1906 medal to Pte Kunji. Whilst researching the unit I found the archive with the Indian Opinion newspaper as published in Natal by the Indian Congress. It is a wealth of information from an Indian point of view in Natal at the time. The Indian Stretcher Bearer Corps is quite well detailed in a series of articles and letters. They only existed for approximately 2 months. I attach these notes with the view of sharing this information for those who are interested. As far as I know there is no copyright as it is freely available in the public domain. The named photograph I have of the unit is copyrighted so i don't think it can be shared.

Jon

Further entries

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Wow Jon, they are excellent!