The value of a medal is in the eye of the guy who holds it
The problem is that not every Fanie, Vusi and Simon is interested in medals, as they would be into say, cars, TVs and jewellery.
Psst! Do you want to buy a rare, valuable medal? I have got some stuck under my jacket – fresh from Talana Museum…
Thieves sunk to new depths when they broke into Talana Museum and stole a sackfull of rare valuables and other collectable items.
Carefully cutting their way through the roof and into the secure area, these thieves – a bit like a good movie – knew exactly what they were looking for.
And like the Great Train Robbers they have – up until now- got away with it.
But what are you going to do with a medal and an old Dutch dollar note?
If you steal money it is pretty easy to launder through the many casinos that have sprung up in the country. Jewellery you can also sell as you can TVs, computers etc.
But medals?
I mean you can’t very well start wearing the Talana Bar at the next cocktail party at the Golf Club? It simply would not match your white takkies.
So what do you with do with it?
Stick it in a safe and bring it out every Sunday to give it a polish and admire your ill-gotten gain?
Or do you share it with your friends and beguile them with stories as to how you broke into the Museum and took the medals? But that may prove to be your downfall as loose lips sink ships.
Do you put them into your stamp collection album? Do you sell them on Gumtree like the Pietermaritzburg lady tried to sell her baby for R5000?
The problem is that not every Fanie, Vusi and Simon is interested in medals, as they would be into say, cars, TVs and jewellery.
If you offer Lucky the glue-sniffing car guard, a medal instead of money he is bound to give you a mouthful and discard said medal (worth R2-million, by the way) into the nearest litter-filled gutter.
Imagine giving your golf caddy a QSA with bars Tugela Heights; Orange Free State; Relief of Ladysmith; Transvaal; Laing’s Nek.
He would probably go ‘eish – gimme R50 bucks, man’.
No, medals like love are in the eye of the beholder.
Pat Rundgren would gladly give up his flatscreen TV to get his hands on a Victorian Cross while others would simply shake their heads and say ‘daardie man is mal – ek soek daardie flatscreen om vir die rugby te kyk…’
So where do we begin to look for the medals and those dastardly thieves? E-bay is a good idea.
Medal collecting circles are pretty tight and should one pop up, the news is bound to go viral in this age of social media madness.
Let’s hope so for the sake of our own cultural heritage.
