A memento of the Boer War

This home-made fob for a waistcoat watch-chain is a memento of the Second Boer War (Afrikaans: Tweede Vryheidsoorlog ). The war was fought from 1899 until 1902 between the British Empire and the Afrikaans-speaking Dutch settlers of two independent Boer republics, the South African Republic (Transvaal Republic) and the Orange Free State. 

The fob was probably made by a bored British soldier, or perhaps by a Boer POW, to while away the time. It has been made from a silver two-shilling coin of the Zuid Afrikaansche Republiek (Transavaal Republic). On one side of the coin is the head of Paul Kruger, President, and on the other the coat of arms of the Republic.

I was given the fob while a schoolboy, by an old lady whose husband had fought in the war and had survived the siege of Ladysmith.