Commemorative Medals, Numismatic Books

India, Major-General Sir Henry Durand, 1876, a copper award medal by Elkington & Co, bust right, rev. towers, walls and gate of Ghazni with lone Afghan surrendering, un-named, 54mm (Pudd. 876.2). Extremely fine £90-120

The Durand Medal was an annual award to an Indian officer, NCO or sapper of the Indian Sappers and Miners who had distinguished himself as a soldier and a sapper by good and efficient service. The prize originated in 1876 when a fund was raised by RE officers at home and in India to commemorate the memory of Major-General Sir Henry Durand, KCSI, CB, of the Bengal Engineers. The design on the medal commemorates one of the first acts of Durand’s military career when he blew in the gate of the Ghazni fort in 1839. The Trust Fund is controlled by the Institution of Royal Engineers and since partition the medal has been awarded on the basis of two years to the Indian Engineers to one year to the Royal Pakistan Engineers, on the advice of their respective engineers-in-chief