Orders, Decorations and Medals

Johannesburg Vrijwilliger Corps Medal 1894-99, bronze, unnamed as issued, edge bruising, otherwise very fine and very rare £400-600

This rare medal was struck in Holland by Messrs. Begeer of Utrecht, on the orders of Colonel S. H. van Diggelen, commanding officer of the Johannesburg Vrijwilliger Corps, a volunteer unit of good riders and crack shots. The Corps took part in the Jameson Raid in 1895-6 and in the Swaziland Expedition in 1898. Two slip-on ribbon clasps were struck to commemorate these two events, ‘Jameson Inval En Revolutie Te Johannesburg, 1895-1896’, and ‘Swazieland Expeditie 1898’. According to an accompanying article by D. R. Forsyth, only ten of these medals are known to exist today.