Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria, to include the Brian Ritchie Collection (Part III)

The rare mounted group of eleven miniature dress medals attributed to Mr William Jonathan Blane, Principal Gentleman Porter to King Edward VII, Royal Victorian Medal, E.VII.R., silver; Royal Household Faithful Service Medal, V.R., with clasp for 10 years, silver, complete with tartan ribbon; Jubilee 1887, clasp, 1897, silver; Coronation 1902, bronze; Prussia, Order of the Red Eagle, Medal, silver; Norway, King Haakon VIII Commemoration Medal 1906, silver-gilt; Spain, Order of Naval Merit, 5th Class, silver; Italy, Royal Service Medal, Vittorio Emanuele III, silver-gilt; Portugal, Coronation Medal 1889, silver; Sweden, Royal Household Medal, with crown, Gustav V, silver-gilt; Württemberg, Silver Medal of Merit 1892, Wilhelm II, silver, mounted Court style as worn, in Spink, London leather case, good very fine and better (11) £350-450

William Jonathan Blane was born in 1836 and entered the Royal Service in 1861 as a Footman. Appointed 3rd Clerk of the Kitchen in 1883 and 2nd Clerk in 1890, he was awarded Queen Victoria’s Faithful Service Medal that same year. Blane was appointed Principal Gentleman Porter in 1902 and retired in 1910 after being awarded the clasp to the Faithful Service Medal. He died on 13 November 1915 at Balmoral Villas, Windsor.

Miniatures ex Wallis & Wallis, 26 November 1985; the recipient’s full-size medals were sold at Christies, 24 July 1984 and B.D.W. 5 December 1995. Sold with a photocopy of The Victoria Faithful Service Medal; photocopies of the warrant of appointment to Queen Victoria’s Household as Footman and bestowal documents from Italy, Spain and Württemberg. Also with a copy of Blane’s photograph and a copied extract from the Windsor, Slough and Eton Express newspaper dated 20 November 1915 recording Blane’s death and funeral.

The Royal Household Faithful Service Medal of Queen Victoria is rarely found in miniature. The above is the only known example with a clasp.