The rare Crimea and New Zealand campaign group of four awarded to Private James Lukes...

The rare Crimea and New Zealand campaign group of four awarded to Private James Lukes (alias Lucas), Royal Marines Crimea 1854-56, 3 clasps, Balaklava, Inkermann, Sebastopol, unnamed as issued; New Zealand 1845-66, reverse dated 1864 (J. Lucas, Pte., R.M. H.M.S. Falcon) officially impressed naming; Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., V.R., wide suspension (Jn. Lucas Pte., 58th Co. R.M.L.I. 21 Yrs.); Turkish Crimea 1855, British issue, unnamed, light contact marks, edge bruise to the second, otherwise good very fine or better (4) £3,000-£4,000 --- Importation Duty This lot is subject to importation duty of 5% on the hammer price unless exported outside the UK --- --- Provenance: Alan Hall Collection, June 2000. Just 12 New Zealand medals issued to the Royal Navy and Royal Marines with this reverse date, all of them from H.M.S. Falcon. James Lukes (alias Lucas) was born in Blandford, Dorset in September 1827 and joined the Royal Marines at Poole in May 1847. Drafted to the 58th Company of the Portsmouth Division, he first served at sea in H.M.S. Prince Regent in the period March 1848 to February 1851. But it was in his next seagoing appointment in the Britannia that he first witnessed active service, when he was landed with the Royal Marine Brigade in the Crimea and saw action at Balaklava and before Sebastopol; his service record refers but makes no mention of his presence at Inkermann. Further seagoing appointments having ensued, Lukes served variously in the Falcon and Esk in the period October 1863 to October 1867 and, more specifically, in North Island, New Zealand in early 1864, when he was landed from the former ship as a member of its 12-man Naval Brigade contingent. Lukes was finally discharged in October 1867, the same year in which he was awarded his L.S. & G.C. Medal. Sold with copied record of service.