Description
General Gordon’s Star of the Siege of Khartoum, aka Khartoum Star, an excellent example ex ANA Collection, with surviving silver wash suggesting a 2nd Class example.
Provenance: This star used to from part of the collection of the American Numismatic Association, before being sold on their behalf in 2006 at Morton & Eden, during their ANA Sale Part 3, 25-26th November 2006, Lot 804, it has the inked collection number on the reverse reading “R8”.
This piece is a particularly attractive example, complete with the crescent and suspension.
The Khartoum Star was produced in 3 Grades, Silver Gilt, Silver, and Pewter.
The surviving silver sheen would suggest it to be a 2nd Class example in “Silver”, we have sold another example in the past with a similar finish.
As the medals were sand cast with limited materials available the higher class examples were not exactly made from .925 Sterling Silver, but rather had some Silver mixed into the Pewter Alloy and had a silver wash plating applied.
This unusual decoration is likely to be the lowest quality British Order or Medal ever produced. That is because it was produced during the Siege of Khartoum, by order of “General Gordon of Khartoum”. Major General Charles George Gordon, aka “Gordon Pasha”, was a highly decorated War Hero under employment of the Khedive of Egypt, serving as his Governor General of Sudan.
After a lengthy and epic siege, General Gordon was desperately in need of the British Relief Force, but they arrived too late.
The Mahdi had breached the city, and sent in his men to capture Gordon, apparently as they swarmed him, he stood at the top of the steps with his revolver and sword, and died there, where he and his body servant took out as many as they could manage before he went down swinging his sword.
By the time his servant awoke from the action, Gordon’s head had been removed and taken as a trophy. By nightfall the Garrison had been slaughtered to the last man.
Before this, during the siege, morale was extremely low and things were looking rather dire for the defenders.
General Gordon decided to make a medal to award to those trapped, he drew up the medal based on his own Order of the Medjidie and had a goldsmith called Bishara Abdul Malik during 1884 produce the medals, made mostly from Pewter.
The star of course bears a striking resemblance to the Egyptian Order of the Medjidie, Mecidiye Nişanı, General Gordon owned one of these examples and used it as the basis for the design of the new medal.
As there was a lack of precious metals available and machinery, the pieces were made rather crudely from mostly a Pewter alloy, with some other bits of silver and gold etc mixed in depending on the piece, using the Sand Casting process, with a few key features changed by General Gordon to properly transform it into the “Khartoum Star”.
The Arabic Script around the centre was replaced by “The Siege of Khartoum” and dated in the Arabic Calendar translating to 1883/4.
Shortly after they were made, the Mahdists overwhelmed Khartoum and murdered General Gordon,
