Orders, Decorations and Medals

The rare and important New Zealand medal issued to Able Seaman J. Hay, for service

New Zealand 1845-66, reverse undated (J. Hay, A.B. H.M.C.S. Victoria) officially impressed naming in later style similar to that for East & West Africa medals, fitted with silver ribbon brooch, suspension claw tightened, very fine and very rare £4000-5000

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, An Important Collection of Medals for the Maori Wars, 1845-1866.

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Collection

Ex Corbett Collection, Glendining June 1994. Sold with an old unsigned manuscript note which states, ‘Presented by Wyon Simm of Wellington, a descendant of the Great Wyon family of die sinkers & medalists, March 1938’.

Hay's medal was issued on 29 March 1888, having been struck from well-used dies, and was one of two medals to this ship sent to the Agent General in New Zealand in that same year.

The naval personnel of this vessel constituted the first ever official Australian force to engage in war services and, although 40 men of Her Majesty’s Colonial Steamer Victoria were entitled, only 10 actually received the medal. Of the 10 medals issued, one is known with the dated reverse 1860 to 1861 to Harold Ford, A.B., and is in a private collection in Sydney. The medal to Mate William Horn, also dated 1860 to 1861 was in the Douglas-Morris Collection, sold by DNW in October 1996 for £3,800, and is now in the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich. The dated medal issued to George Marey was in the Kuriheka Collection in New Zealand and was auctioned at DNW in June 2006 for £10,000. One is known to William Jones A.B. and has the undated reverse, as have all late issues of the Maori War Medal; this is now in the Australian War Memorial at Canberra, where it forms the nucleus of a ‘Colonial’ collection being put together there. The medal sent to Samuel Smith c/o Department of Defence, Melbourne, in 1905, is apparently lost. With the knowledge of the known medals, it is safe to assume that of the 10 issued, 7 were issued with the dated reverse 1860 to 1861, and three were issued with the undated reverse. Sold with full research and medal roll details.