Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Jubilee 1897 Medal for Zulu Chiefs, 38mm, silver, the obverse featuring a veiled crowned profile of Queen Victoria facing left, the reverse inscribed ‘To commemorate the Sixtieth Year of the Reign of H.M. Queen Victoria 1897’, within a laurel wreath, with Royal Arms above and Star of India below, unnamed as issued, fitted with claw, small ring, and straight bar suspension, and fitted with riband for neck wear, minor edge bruising, good very fine, rare £200-£240

Natal colonial archives held in Pietermaritzburg state that about 200 of these medals were issued to Native Zulu Chiefs. Photographs of Zulu Chiefs wearing the medal exist, sometimes along with the King Edward VII Coronation Medal. It is believed that the recipient's name was written in ink on the suspension bar to facilitate an orderly distribution to the tribal regions. Sometimes the recipient scratched over the ink and the name has been thus preserved.