Auction Catalogue

16 January 2019

Starting at 10:00 AM

.

Coins, Tokens and Historical Medals

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Lot

№ 357

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16 January 2019

Hammer Price:
£1,200

Ceylon, RAGAMA, Boer War P.o.W. Camp, copper, man tied to base of palm-tree, hands behind his back, britsche 1902 beschaving around, rev. herinnering ragama kamp around scum of the scum, 30mm (Oddie, TCSB June 2014, pp.84-90; AM 133; Hern 300). Partly weak, otherwise about very fine, very rare £300-£400

The island of Ceylon hosted five camps for prisoners of the Boer War, run by British officials, at Diyatalawa, Hambamtota, Mt Lavinia, Uragasmanhandiya and Ragama. Contemporary correspondence from a Bloemfontein commando and referred to by Gary Oddie confirms that prisoners at Ragama were colloquially known as ‘the scum of the scum’. None of them signed an allegiance to Edward VII, which would have conferred on them free passage back to South Africa. In the event, Ragama was the last PoW camp to close after the cessation of hostilities in May 1902 and it is thought that the tokens, perhaps the work of C.F. Keyzer, date to around that time