Not exactly your average Sunday, as we find ourselves in a school hall somewhere in the depths of leafy Surrey – and we do have a lot of leaves in Surrey, being the county, apparently, with the most trees in the whole of England.
No, this is the annual Military Historical Society & Aldershot Militaria Society Exhibition which took place last weekend, exhibitors, dealers and invitees only,…
…so I thought I might exhibit some of my collection of things that went bump in the trenches, which I have never done before, as I am generally away at this time of year, and thus have rarely been able to even attend, let alone exhibit, and certainly not for many, many, moons, at a different venue and, sadly, with, now, many missing faces.
Anyway, cheer up! Steve & Duncan the Younger look fairly happy about things,…
…and the other punters seemed to find enough to keep themselves busy.
The event lasted around five hours and ended with awards for those exhibiting,…
…the gentleman walking towards us heading up to the stage to receive his rosette…
…to the accompanying applause of the crowd. I wouldn’t know, but those who do said that the whole event went spiffingly.
I always have a look around the dealer’s tables at these types of events, and on this occasion came away with this lot, the ribbon bars all bagged together, the badges separate, and all among a box of hundreds of bits and pieces. Discounting the three badges at the top for the moment, I know what most of the ribbon bars are, or I think I do (and here’s where you come in, should you wish, because please tell me if I don’t). From the top, there are three 1914 Stars; these are real Mons Stars, which the rosette denotes, not the 1914-1915 Star, the major other difference being that only 378,000 1914 Stars were issued, as opposed to an estimated 2.4 million 1914-1915 Stars, and beneath are two Victory medals, both with a Mentioned in Dispatches oak leaf (or are they, because they don’t look like the single oak leaf near the bottom of the page, which is definitely of the MiD variety?). The next four are all Africa Star ribbon bars, the two with rosettes signifying North Africa 1942-43, the other two with the 1st Army insignia, and the single Canadian example is the Canadian Volunteer Service Medal, established in 1943, the silver maple leaf on the ribbon awarded for sixty days service outside Canada. The oldest of the ribbon bars is the one at the bottom, awarded for doing military things in Egypt between 1882 & 1889. Which might leave only the two red & white ones with the crossed scimitars still to identify, and so far I have no clue whatsoever.
The three other items simply interested me; the centre one features the State Emblem of India and is just a nice little badge, but the other two, shown above, are currently a mystery. The one on the right I have no idea about other than it shows an artillery piece and the number thirteen; the reverse is hollow, and whether it once had a backing and pin, who knows? The one on the left shows a German helmet with a shield featuring what appears to me to be a Flemish lion (WRONG! See comments below) appearing from beneath it, the German helmet having lost much of its patina, suggesting a well-thumbed badge. I have some ideas on this one, but have yet to find anything similar online, so if anybody fancies doing some detective work on either of these two, be my guest. There is nothing, by the way, on the back of this badge that I can make out. Oh, and I paid a tenner for the whole lot, for which I guarantee you a profit on Bargain Hunt.
Did I mention that the hippie in the corner got a Gold Award for his little display, one of only a few handed out. One exhibition, one gold medal, time to retire while I’m on top, perhaps. But I’ll miss the glory, the applause, the dancing girls………..
Well done indeed with your Gold award and your bargain bag of ribbons
Most kind Morag, most kind.
A splendid result on both counts I’d say! Congratulations on a well deserved gold. I suspect there are quite a few items on that table that many hadn’t seen in the flesh before.
I suspect you are absolutely right, mate. First time I’d actually seen this lot laid out ‘properly’ too. Cheers Nick!
Congratulations! Well deserved!
Couldn’t agree more! Heh heh. I thank you very much, Epsomgirl.
Google Image match led me to https://gkmilitaria.at/shop.php?code=67 Interwar Austrian Home Guard for the one with the helmet. No luck with the other one.
You clever bunny you! Brilliant. Not only that, but if I do collect stuff, it tends to be Austrian much of the time. I call that a result! Thanks Liz.
https://www.hamilton.ca/people-programs/inclusion-diversity-equity-accessibility/indigenous-relations/indigenous-landmarks I’m not sure if this will share to the UK but it’s a great initiative well past it’s due date. It includes this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNwJ3b3nXcA which is close captioned . I rely on this feature which I also find very useful for persons who do not speak English or French as a “first language”.
I will be supporting the Landmark review so may be back with a comment or two on content as well as presentation.
Well that does look interesting Liz, thank you, looks like it plays okay, and I most probably require some education on the whole matter – I shall have a look, but may well await any other comments you may make, or not, before making any comment on it myself, or not! Although I like to think I can weigh up the arguments fairly well – statues of slave traders have been targetted in this country more than once……….
Bloody brilliant Magicfingers,
I have been to many a Historical Militaria Event but I’ve not seen a display like yours…many would have found it intriguing. I agree few of those items would have seen the light of day, a great little collection.
In Australia at the moment, sadly there would be a ‘woke’ brigade outside the building protesting something to do with current conflicts or it’s connotation to Nazis. Not sure if it’s the same in England but you can barely say or do anything slightly off centre without a barrage of abuse…
I figure you’ll need a bigger table next time for the exhibiting bug has struck.
Nice gold and blue ribbon, the colours of my great uncle’s 14th Battalion AIF.
Well done mate…
Yeah, I have noticed, for example, the indigenous stuff that often now appears when you access many Aussie websites which presumably is partly to pre-empt any possible abuse on that subject – not that I am in any way criticizing that, but as with everything, when taken to extremes, you end up with the people outside buildings protesting, as you say. But no, nothing like that – I believe we moved venues a few years back because of thieves, not wokists!!! Anyway, thank you very much for your comments, mate! I imagine you have been to many more of these events than I have, so your praise is most gratefully accepted. And you’re right, I could add the Italian & French grenades for next year, maybe……? The colours are also those of the Aldershot Militaria Society, btw. Cheers Daisy!