New Zealand

Lot 845    SESSION 4 (4.30PM TUESDAY 2ND APRIL    New Zealand

Estimate $200
Bid at live.noble.com.au
SOLD $160

ANZAC & C.D.C. Queen No 4, undated, in copper (24mm) (M.A/2), with suspension loop, blank reverse inscribed, 'To/Captain/Hardham/11/661/Jan 1917/C.D.C.'. Many contact marks and some obverse lettering worn and a bend at bottom edge, obviously from being worn as a fob, good but rare and unique.

Captain William J.Hardham VC was Commandant of Queen Mary Hospital, Hanmer Springs in the Canterbury region of New Zealand. Captain Hardham was awarded the VC in the Boer War, he was then wounded at Gallipoli in WWI and upon his return to New Zealand he was appointed Commandant (June 1916 - September 1917) of the Queen Mary (soldiers' convalescent) Hospital at Hanmer Springs. While there he requested from the C.D.C. (Citizens' Defence Corps) some tennis balls, racquets and golf balls for use by the recuperating hospital patients. When these arrived the above inscribed C.D.C. medal was included. The number 11/661 is Captain Hardham's WWI service number. There is no post-nominal for his VC but apparently he did not like using this so it was probably omitted as a mark of respect. The Queen No 4 on the medal is probably a reference to the Soldiers' Queen Carnival Committee of the C.D.C. and No 4 was one of its units at Fendalton, Christchurch. Mrs George Heaton Rhodes was a representative of the C.D.C. for the committee at Fendalton.

With extensive research.