Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A rare R.V.M. and Durand Medal pair awarded to Subadar Krishna Appaji Bahadur, O.B.I., R.V.M., 3rd Bombay Sappers and Miners

Royal Victorian Medal, G.V.R., Silver (Sbdr. Krishna Appaji Bahadur, 3rd S & M); The Durand Medal, annual award for 1908, obverse bust of Major General Sir H. M. Durand, K.C.S.I., C.B., R.E.; reverse the towers and walls of the fort at Ghuznee, named on the edge (Subadar Krishna Appaji, 3rd Sappers and Miners. 1908) 64mm., bronze, with large ring for suspension, the second with numerous edge bruises and knocks, otherwise nearly very fine and rare (2) £1000-1200

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Awards to the Indian Army from the Collection of AM Shaw.

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Ex D.N.W. 2 December 2009.

R.V.M. awarded on 16 December 1911, for services at the Delhi Durbar 1911.

The Durand Medal was an annual award to an Indian officer, N.C.O. 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 R.E. officers at home and in India to commemorate the memory of Major-General Sir Henry Durand, K.C.S.I., C.B., of the Bengal Engineers. The design on the medal commemorates one of the first acts of his 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.

Krishna Appaji enrolled into the Bombay Sappers and Miners in 1877, becoming Jemadar in 1893, and Subadar in 1902. For his war services he received medals for Kandahar 1880, Samana 1891, the relief of Pekin 1900, and Somaliland 1902-04. He was mentioned in despatches for Somaliland, and later awarded the Order of British India, 2nd Class (G.G.O. 15 September 1908). Subadar Krishna Appaji retired in March 1909. He was awarded the R.V.M. (Silver) for services at the Delhi Durbar in 1911 and also received the Delhi Durbar medal. With a folder of copied research.