SA Union: Jan Smuts 80th Birthday Badge
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Form:
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Circular. Uniface with brooch pin
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By:
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BC (?) |
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Date:
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1950 |
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Ref:
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Laidlaw: 0918;
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Variations:
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| Size | Metal | Mass | Value |
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| 28.4 mm | Copper-Nickel | 9.7 gm | $10 |
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Edge:
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Plain.
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Obverse:
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In front of a laurel wreath around, bareheaded bust of Smuts in jacket and tie, left. Signed: "BC" below lapel. Legend above: "24-5-1950".
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Reverse:
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Blank. Brooch pin.
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Notes:
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Jan Christiaan Smuts (1870-1950) was a prominent South African and British Commonwealth statesman, military leader and philosopher. He served as prime minister of the Union of South Africa from 1919 until 1924 and from 1939 until 1948. During the Boer War he was the leader of a Transvaal Boer Commando. In the First World War he commanded South African troops in German East Africa. As a field marshal in the British Army he served in the Imperial War Cabinet under Winston Churchill.
Smuts was born on 24 May 1870 and this badge commemorates his 80th birthday. He died in September of the same year.
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