~ A Victorian Crimea Medal Awarded To Sergeant Sam Petty RMA, HMS Highflyer ~
Circular silver medal on claw and foliated swivel suspender. No clasps, obverse with profile of Queen Victoria, reverse with Roman being crowned by a flying Victory.
This Royal Marines Artillery medal is named to the edge:-
‘Sam Petty Sergt RMA, HMS Highflyer’
~ HMS Highflyer ~
HMS Highflyer was a 21-gun wooden screw frigate (later re-designated a corvette) of the Royal Navy. She was built on the River Thames by C J Mare and launched on 13 August 1851. She spent twenty years in service, including action in the Crimean War and the Second Opium War, before being broken up at Portsmouth in May 1871.
~ Crimea Medal ~
The medal was sanctioned by Queen Victoria on 15 December 1854 and awarded to all military who disembarked in the Crimea prior to 8 September 1855 (that is, prior to fall of Sevastopol). The Crimean war of 1854-56 between Imperial Russia and a Franco-British-Sardinian-Ottoman alliance had the aim of drawing a limit to Russian advances towards the Mediterranean and also British India. The vacuum created in the Balkans by declining Ottoman power eventually led to Austro-Russian conflict and the genesis of World War I.
~ Dimensions ~
The medal on its ribbon measures 4.75 inches (12cm). The piece weighs approx. 37 g.
~ Condition ~
The medal is worn mainly to the edge and its slightly off its circular shape due to a depression in the 10 o’clock position. The ribbon is a replacement.