Original Item: Only One Available. This is an excellent example of a British Boer War era Regimental drum for the 2nd Monmouth Rifle Volunteers. This is one of the best painted examples we have ever seen, with the paint retained excellent! The Monmouthshire Regiment was a Territorial infantry regiment of the British Army. Originating in units of rifle volunteers formed in Monmouthshire in 1859, the regiment served in the Second Anglo-Boer War and both World War I and World War II before losing its separate identity in 1967.
The drum measures approximately 14 ½” x 15” and is, as stated, in excellent condition for the age. While it may no longer be able to carry a beat, the painted imagery is the real deal. The front face of the drum has an immaculate painted Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom retained at close to 100 percent.
At the top of the arms is a Queen’s Crown (Victoria) and at the center of the arms is a quartered shield, depicting the three passant guardant lions of England in the first and fourth quarters, the rampant lion and double tressure flory-counterflory of Scotland in the second quarter, and a harp for Ireland in the third quarter. Surrounding the shield is the Order of the Garter, the United Kingdom’s most senior order of knighthood. The supporters are a crowned English lion on the dexter (heraldic right), and a chained Scottish unicorn on the sinister (heraldic left).
The drum itself is structurally sound for the most part but does appear to have had a few repairs done to it.
An incredible example ready for further research and display.