A rare Badge of the Certificate of Honour for Southern Rhodesia , EIIR bust, small oval bronze breast badge

A rare Badge of the Certificate of Honour for Southern Rhodesia , EIIR bust, small oval bronze breast badge

Badge of the Certificate of Honour for Southern Rhodesia, EIIR bust, small oval bronze breast badge with frosted bronze finish

Condition: frosted bronze finish, Very Fine.

The badge instituted in 1922, accompanied a certificate of honour awarded to chiefs and other persons of non-European descent who had rendered loyal and valuable service to the government of the territory. The original award was a neck badge suspended by a ribbon, but from 1954 onwards recipients were given the option of taking the award as a neck or breast badge. They are believed to have fallen into abeyance in the early 1980’s.

The British colony of Southern Rhodesia was established de jure in 1923, having earlier been occupied, constructed and administered by the British South Africa Company and its sub-concessionaires who were mostly British subjects. In 1953, it was merged into the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, which lasted until 1963. Southern Rhodesia was renamed Rhodesia and remained a de jure British colony until 1980. However, the Rhodesian government issued a Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) in 1965 and established a fully independent Rhodesia, which immediately became an unrecognised state. In 1979, it reconstituted itself under majority rule as Zimbabwe Rhodesia, which also failed to win it international recognition. After a period of interim British control following the Lancaster House Agreement in December 1979, the country achieved internationally recognised independence as Zimbabwe in April 1980.