Original Item: One of a Kind. This is a truly interesting Napkin Ring, or whatever it truly is. It measures about 1 3/4″ tall and 1 3/4″ wide. The markings as in the heading above, refer to THE BRITISH SOUTH AFRICA COMPANY, headed by Cecil Rhodes of Rhodesia fame and of course the well known Oxford University Rhodes Scholars that are named every year.
This comes from a time of true Colonialism and expanding the British Empire during the reign of Queen Victoria. The FORT SALISBURY mentioned became the City of Salisbury, named after the then British Prime Minister Lord Salisbury and later became the Capital of Southern Rhodesia.
In the 1960s the British Government ordered the then Independent RHODESIA to institute Native Rule which led to twenty years of strife for the entire region. Eventually the White Settlers capitulated and Black rule under President Magabe followed. From one of the richest Countries in all of Africa it is now one of the poorest. A tragedy on everyone’s part.
Like the British East India Company established by Queen Elizabeth the First in 1600, The BRITISH SOUTH AFRICA COMPANY received their Charter from Queen Victoria in 1889 and the item bears an engraving of the Company Coat of Arms:- A Crown over a Lion holding an Ivory Tusk over B.S.A.C.
In 1892 however Salisbury was no more than “Fort Salisbury,” little better than a Trading Post, only 15 years after the final quelling of the Zulu Wars in 1879. A very interesting item from the time of Empire.