South African Irish Regiment trio

[redbarchetta]

A friend has just been given a box of medals with the instruction "If these are worth anything, sell them, otherwise keep them in the family".... Inside is a 14-15 South African trio to H(arold) James...

The star is named to Private H James, S.A. Irish Reg, on the War Medal he is Sjt H James, 4th S.A.I. and on the Victory medal he is Cpl H James, 4th S.A.I.

Clearly he joined up when the South African Irish regiment was formed in September 1914, hence the naming on the star, but then went into the 4th Sth African Infantry brigade when the SAI disbanded in 1915.

First odd thing was I would have assumed the War Medal was given before the Victory Medal, so being a sergeant on the WM and a Corporal on the VM seems odd - suppose he may have been demoted !!

But the main question is why I can't find a MIC for him - I thought initially it was because Kew only has UK soldiers' MICs, but there do seem to be other Sth African soldiers on there, so I'm at a bit of a loss. Any suggestions ?

Finally, I have the broad brush figures that the experts on here gave not so long ago for 'generic' medal groups for us non-medal collectors just in case we come across things (such as the position I am now in!), which suggests around £100 for a non-casualty 14-15 trio to a regiment - would this still hold for a commonwealth regiment such as this ? Bit more ? Bit less ?

I am hoping to persuade him of the value, sentimental and historical, of these medals in order that he keep them and appreciate them, but sentimentality is not his strong suit, in which case I'll look after them instead so need to have a figure in my head !

Thanks,

Jim

[HarryBettsMCDCM]

I think the only SA men you will normally find on the UK MiCs are those who transferred to/from SA Units to/from UK Units,generally those to purely SA Troops wont be on there.

Records do exist I believe actually in SA.As far as value goes SA Units are popular & I would imagine as with UK Irish Regiments; SA Irish would be @ something of a premium,so you would probably need to think somewhere @ least 50% above the "generic" "Wots it worth?" figure.

A nice trio~Good luck!

[redbarchetta]

Ah, that would explain it, thanks Harry. I assume the SA authorities have not yet got round to making their WW1 records available on line.

Thanks again

Jim