Hi Kieran, The good news is that it is possible to reconstitute a disc only medal. The bad news is that in this case it is likely to be a tad expensive because of the clasps Ward qualified for. There is also a discrepancy about one of the clasps he was supposedly entitled to. According to the cavalry QSA roll Ward was entitled to Cape Colony, Rhodesia, Talana, South Africa 1901 & South Africa 1902. However the comments column states "Arrived in S.A. after 15/7/01". As the battle of Talana took place right at the beginning of the war on 20/10/1899 and as the 5th Lancers as a unit weren't there, there has to be some doubt that he was entitled to it. One squadron was at the battle of Elandslaagte (close to Talana and fought the day after) and the whole regiment in that theatre was soon besieged in Ladysmith for 4 months. The entire British force which survived death or capture at Talana fell back on Ladysmith and was also besieged. If he had been at Talana I can't see how he would have avoided being besieged in Ladysmith thereby also qualifying for the Defence of Ladysmith clasp. If he had been taken prisoner at Talana he would have been carted off to Pretoria and immediately upon release from from prison following the fall of Pretoria in June 190! 0 he would have automatically qualified for the Transvaal clasp. There is no indication that he had split service in S.A. while if he had unbroken service from Talana to 1902 (as indicated by the clasps) he would have received the King's South Africa Medal (KSA) with the two dated clasps instead of these being on the QSA. All in all a bit of a mystery. Rhodesia is also an unusual clasp for the regiment but perfectly possible. This is likely to be a bit pricey as it is scarce. As I see it you have two choices. Either to reconstitute the medal according to the roll including Talana (which will also be a pretty expensive clasp) or to assume, on the prima facie evidence above, that the roll is wrong about Talana (and rolls aren't always 100% correct) and omit it. Chris Dixon is one of the leading medal dealers in the UK and he offers a repair service. Your best bet is to contact him for a quote, telling him that you have a QSA disc only and that you need it to be reconstitiuted with a suspender, the clasps you decide on, and a length of ribbon. (The ribbon at least is cheap!). His details are: C.J. & A.J. Dixon Ltd. 1st Floor 23 Prospect Street Bridlington East Yorkshire YO15 2AE Tel: 01262 - 676877 Fax: 01262 - 606600 e-mail: chris@dixonsmedals.co.uk I've dealt with him for years and have also had a broken suspension on a QSA expertly repaired so I can recommend him. I commend you on your efforts to reconstitute a very nice medal to an excellent regiment. Regards, David Kieran Campbell <kierancampbell@iolfree.ie> wrote: Dear List, I have the QSA medal of 5773 Pte. J. Ward 5th Lancers, given to me about 20 years ago by my late uncle who had a grocers shop and pub in Ardee, Co. Louth. He had no idea where the medal came from and it may have been there since my grandfather's time. I will probably use a researcher to find out who Pte. Ward was from the records in Kew. Only the circular medallion part survives and traces of solder suggest the medal was mounted as a brooch. The suspension bar (correct name?), clasps and ribbon are missing. I would like to restore the medal to as close as possible to its original state. Can anyone tell me, from material they have to hand, which clasps Pte. Ward was entitled to? Also, is it possible to source original clasps or will I inevitably have to use replicas? I suspect I might have difficulty getting the 'suspension bar'. Any help with this would be greatly appreciated. Kieran Campbell --------------------------------- Yahoo! Messenger NEW - crystal clear PC to PC calling worldwide with voicemail