Extremely RARE 1900 Boer War Prisoner of War Island St Helena `Cardboard` (Bronze) Medal, Smooth COA

Extremely RARE 1900 Boer War, Island St Helena Prisoner of War "Cardboard" (Bronze) Medal,

Smooth Coat of Arms

The pictures below are of the exact item you will be receiving, please judge its condition for yourself.

Rumour has it that only twenty of these medals were made on St Helena

Size: 46mm x 0,32mm Weight: 28,4g Magnetic: yes

"During the Anglo-Boer War the British decided, for logistical and security reasons, to intern Boer prisoners of war in camps overseas. These were located in Ceylon, Bermuda, India and St Helena.

The camps on St. Helena opened with the arrival of the American ship SS Milwaukee on 11 April 1900 with 514 prisoners on board including General Piet Cronje, Mrs Cronje and his military staff. This was the first batch of some 5000 prisoners who were eventually housed in two specially constructed camps named Broadbottom and Deadwood.

It is known that the medal was produced by J.L. Lefranc, because the Transvaal Museum has an example that was presented to President Kruger by M. Raoul Martin, a Frenchman fighting for the Boers who was imprisoned at the Deadwood camp. In an attached note he records that the medal was made by M. J.L. Lefranc, an ex-lieutenant of the French Cavalry, also held in St Helena.

The existence of the dies for the medal has recently been reported. These are housed in a wooden case with dies for other contemporary medals and badges together with die cutting instruments. Inside there is also a plaque: "C. NICOLET / KREYGSGEVANEENE / 1900 ST. HELENA 1902". It is confirmed that Charles Nicolet was a Boer POW on St. Helena. From this it now seem probable the Lefranc recruited Nicolet who had the necessary skills and tools to create the dies."

Credit for extract above: SouthAfricanCommemorativeMedals .com