Rare 9ct Gold ‘Church Lads Brigade’ 40 Year Medal (1894 – 1934)

This rare, antique, 9ct gold ‘Church Lads Brigade’ (C.L.B) long service medal, with a gold ’40 YEARS’ clasp, is in excellent condition with its original ribbon and comes complete with its original case. It’s a lovely quality, oval fretted gold medal with their motto ‘FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT’ and the ‘C.L.B’ voided crest in the centre, and on the back its English hallmarked, informing us it was made in 1915 in Birmingham by jewellers ‘Robert Chandler’ (R.C). The ’40 YEARS’ gold clasp must have been added later as the brigade was only founded in 1891. There are red handwritten dates inside the lid of the case for the recipients forty years of service ‘1894 – 1934’ along with their birth and death dates ‘BORN 1872 – DIED 1941’. It’s a purple leatherette, velvet and silk lined hinged case with the retailer’s details on the lid ‘Toye & Co’ ‘LONDON’. The medal & ribbon measures 10cm x 3,5cm, the medal 25mm x 17mm, together they weigh 11,1g and the estimated weight of the gold is 6,5g. I believe this to be a fairly rare medal as the only ones I came across whilst searching the net, were bronze or silver long service medals, no forty-year solid gold medals at all.