Grazie mufasa2, è davvero un bel medagliere e per il piacere della discussione aggiungo ...
... per confermare la tua lettura. Si tratta di medaglieri attribuibili a soldati (ufficiali, cadetti di Holetta o truppa) che nel tuo caso non ha mai abbandonato il paese, ma ha appoggiato o si è unito alla Gideon Force, mentre il mio è entrato nelle formazioni approntate dagli Inglesi in Sudan, da non confondere con gli arbegnocc o gli shifta di Abebe Aregai, che sono stati sovvenzionati dalla "cavalleria inglese", le sterline d'oro inglesi con l'effige di San Giorgio a cavallo, ma non hanno combattuto con gli Inglesi; erano una via di mezzo fra i partigiani e i banditi.
Un'ultima cosa: la Stella è stata fatta ad Addis dall'armeno Bedros Sevadjian, fornitore dell'Imperial Casa, mentre la medaglia di campagna se è in bronzo è stata realizzata dalla Mappin & Webb inglese, se invece è in rame è di produzione etiope.
The Military Medal of Merit of the Order of St. George. The Military Medal, sometimes referred to merely as the Military Medal of St. George, or the Medal of Merit of St. George, is the premier decoration for military service available to the Crown. The Military Medal of Merit replaces, and basically grew out of, the Military Medal of Menelik II, created in 1901-1902 by Emperor Menelik II. It was worn by the first Duke of Harar first in order of precedence of his medals, followed by the Distinguished Military Medal of Haile Selassie the First (see below). The Duke’s decoration was the result of his extensive and highly successful military service against the Italians during the 1935-1941 War. He received the decoration twice (hence the bronze palm leaf on the riband).
It is not known whether the medal was ever awarded to any foreign nationals, but under the Chancery rules, there is nothing which precludes this. The Military Medal of Merit of the Order of St.George is for outstanding military service, including acts of extreme gallantry or for distingui-shed leadership during hostilities, and is awarded very rarely. None have been issued since the death of Emperor Haile Selassie.
The medal is bronze in the form of a trilobe, with the obverse showing St.George slaying the dragon, surrounded by text in Ge’ez. The medal is linked by a Trinity (three-pointed) star to a loop which attaches to a riband which is broken horizontally into two equal colours. Where a “bar” is awarded to the medal — that is, the recipient is awarded the medal for a second time — a bronze palm leaf is afixed to the riband at the joining point of the two colours.
The Distinguished Military Medal of Haile Selassie the First, sometimes known as the Medal of Merit of Haile Selassie the First, was created by the Emperor during the campaign against the Italians who had overrun Ethiopia from October 3, 1935, to 1941. The decoration was presented to Ethiopians and, on rare occasions, to foreigners who fought in the campaigns for Ethiopia’s freedom. The medal was awarded for both single acts of extreme gallantry and for protracted military service of a distinguished nature.
The medal is bronze in the form of a trilobe, with the obverse showing a traditional portrait of Emperor Haile Selassie wearing the Ethiopian Crown, and with the inscription in Ge’ez “Haile Se-lassie the First”. The reverse has the three-pointed Star of the Trinity surmounting a pair of crossed batons, and the medal’s shape - like three overlapping circles - is designed to accommodate that. The 32mm wide riband is attached to the medal by a ring atop a horizontal oval laurel wreath. The riband itself is pale green in the top half and red in the lower half. A second award of the me-dal was signified by the addition of a palm leaf in bronze, placed horizontally across the riband where the red and green meet.
Emperor Haile Selassie wore the Distinguished Military Medal himself, ranking it sixth in order of precedence after the great State orders (Solomon’s Seal, the Queen of Sheba, the Holy Trinity, the Menelik II, and the Star of Ethiopia), a real indication of the value.
The DMM continues to be a current decoration within the Imperial gift, although, at press time, the Crown Council had not authorised the striking of a new batch of the medal. It is under-stood that such a striking was being considered to recognise those Ethiopians who fought with great valour against the Dergue which overthrew Emperor Haile Selassie, while at the same time maintaining the fight for Ethiopian unity.
The medal was originally struck by Mappin & Webb, in London. Dennis Gill’s otherwise ou-tstanding book on the coinage of Ethiopia shows the DMM without riband, incorrectly identifying it as “a bronze coronation medal” of Emperor Haile Selassie.
(estratto dal volume The History of Imperial Ethiopian Army)