Baldwin's of St. James's
Auction 23 28 Sep 2018
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Foreign Medals, World War II, the completion of the Burma-Siam Railway, bronze medal, 1943, designed by Captain Ewart Esercitt; map of the Malay peninsular, the railway marked with a line, the Islands of Borneo and Java, to the fore the railway track recedes to the distance, to r., a palm tree, rev. legend in Japanese characters (IN COMMEMORATION OF THE BURMA-SIAM RAILWAY, SHOWA [OCTOBER] 18TH), 49mm. (Fearon, D., A Bronze Medal for the Burma-Siam Railway, 1943, Numismatic Circular, LXXXIV, January 1976, p.8), cast on a thick flan?, as made - very fine, an extremely rare and emotive medal
It is not the place of an auction catalogue to record the horrors of the Burma-Siam Railway. The railway was actually completed seventy-five years ago on the 17th October 1943 and the ceremony for its opening was held a week later on the on the 25th, when a golden nail was hammered into the final section of track. Captain Charles Ewart Esercitt of the Royal Army Service Corps who commanded many of the British prisoners working on the railway and at the rail base camp at Nong Pladuk, was a talented amateur artist specialising in lino-cuts. It seems safe to attribute the medal design to him.
The medal was kept as a souvenir by Pte. Frederick Arthur Knightly, RASC (T/205155), serving as a driver with 54 Infantry Brigade Group and captured at Shanghai. The medal is sold with his service medals, 1939-45 and Pacific stars and War medal, brooch mounted; dress miniatures and ribbon brooch (both these include Defence medal); duplicate Pacific star; RASC cap badge; Far East POW Social Club lapel badges (2); more recent FEPOW badges, pins, etc (8); with photocopied research.
The 1976 article records three specimens and the example now in the Imperial War Museum (not on display) is believed to be one of these three. Since then the cataloguers know of only a single example being offered for sale (by private treaty some 20 years ago) and none has been offered for sale at auction. There are possibly between 5 and 10 pieces extant.
Estimate: 1200-1500 GBP
It is not the place of an auction catalogue to record the horrors of the Burma-Siam Railway. The railway was actually completed seventy-five years ago on the 17th October 1943 and the ceremony for its opening was held a week later on the on the 25th, when a golden nail was hammered into the final section of track. Captain Charles Ewart Esercitt of the Royal Army Service Corps who commanded many of the British prisoners working on the railway and at the rail base camp at Nong Pladuk, was a talented amateur artist specialising in lino-cuts. It seems safe to attribute the medal design to him.
The medal was kept as a souvenir by Pte. Frederick Arthur Knightly, RASC (T/205155), serving as a driver with 54 Infantry Brigade Group and captured at Shanghai. The medal is sold with his service medals, 1939-45 and Pacific stars and War medal, brooch mounted; dress miniatures and ribbon brooch (both these include Defence medal); duplicate Pacific star; RASC cap badge; Far East POW Social Club lapel badges (2); more recent FEPOW badges, pins, etc (8); with photocopied research.
The 1976 article records three specimens and the example now in the Imperial War Museum (not on display) is believed to be one of these three. Since then the cataloguers know of only a single example being offered for sale (by private treaty some 20 years ago) and none has been offered for sale at auction. There are possibly between 5 and 10 pieces extant.
Estimate: 1200-1500 GBP