SA Union: Edward VII: South African Union

Form:

Circular with pierced hole for a ring and a second ring for a ribbon. Ribbon is red-white-blue.

By:

P. Vaughton & Sons, Birmingham

Date:

1910

Ref:

AM2: 116; Laidlaw: 0199;

Variations:

Size	Metal	Mass	Value
38.1 mm	White Metal	16.2 gm	$15
31.9 mm	White Metal	9.3 gm	$15

Edge:

Plain.

Obverse:

Bareheaded bust of Edward VII in uniform, left. Legend: “EDWARDVS VII REX ET IMP:” The maker’s name on the truncation: “VAUGHTON BIRM”

Reverse:

A seated and draped female figure facing left, holding a corn stalk in her right hand, at her feet an overflowing cornucopia and her left hand is supporting a shield. In the centre of the shield there is a quartered, circular design, having the coat-of-arms of the territories comprising the union, the Cape Colony, the Transvaal Republic, the Orange Free State and the Colony of Natal, in each quadrant. The background of the shield is the British Union Jack which encroaches and obscures the arms of the Transvaal. Behind the female there is a radiant sun and, on the left, mine headgear and a man tilling a field with an ox-drawn plough. Above in an arc: “SOUTH AFRICAN UNION”. In the exergue: “1910”. On the exergue line, the maker’s name “VAUGHTONS (left) BIRM (right)”.

Notes:

Sometimes found with the orange-blue-orange ribbon for the official Union medal (Laidlaw 0175).

King Edward VII died before the occasion which formalised the Union.

The obscuring of the arms of the Transvaal is unlikely to have been accidental. Another medal (Laidlaw 0177) treats Transvaal similarly.