Tony

That sounds nasty Kev. I only know of .303 MK. VII rounds which were standard cordite filled rounds in WWI. I've just found a reference to the MKVII Z. stating Z meant the round has a nitro cellulose charge. Chris, do all US rounds from that period have powder? What's stamped on the base? I've found a page with several US maker stamps. Tony

Great photos on your site. What's the medal being worn by the officer in the back row and are the crossed rifles on their caps badges made from metal or patches sewn on? Tony

But on a .303 the cordite is packed in tight strands. Where did you get the hammer and what's the correct name for it? I need to get one too. Tony

Have you ever tried it on a .303? If you have, how did you get on removing the cordite? I have a few that need doing. Tony

Many service records for the ranks were destroyed during the 2nd World War so more often than not only the MIC is available. The long, long trail is a good place for information. Here's Michael's link, hopefully it works this time http://www.1914-1918.net/50div.htm I use ancestry to find surviving records etc. and was lucky enough to find the records to a surveyor/cartographer's pair I recently bought, had survived the fire although in a poor condition. If you would like a copy of his MIC drop me a pm with your email address. Cheers Tony

Tim, Quite normal as Mike says. He arrived in France in April 1915 with the RFA but the branch of service within the RA wasn't differentiate on the rims of the BWM and VM. They're all Royal Artillery on pairs. Tony

I've never come across any Great War Portuguese militaria before apart from a Brodie helmet used by the post war civil defence or similar group. Keep the photos coming if you have more. Tony

Welcome to the forum Olharapo (even though you've been here a while now). That's a great case and I'm guessing it could be a US made example. Turned into trench art for a German or Frenchman which I'm basing on the word Mai, both meaning May in French and German but you probably know that anyway. Tony

That's a nice size Hugh. My one has unfortunately faded, the black has turned brown and the blue is almost invisible. I bought it in the late 80s. Tony

A very nice group indeed. As for the SWB, I've only ever seen them in cardboard issue boxes (same material and colour the Great War campaign medals came in) with the issue number on a piece of paper glued across the top. Saying that, the ones I've seen were all British issue, other Commonwealth/Empire countries may have had their own issue cases. Tony

Thanks for the info Tony. Tony

Mark, Could the German army have used cut away MGs for their own instruction purposes? As for the red paint, I have a sectioned Mills bomb from between the wars, although the red paint is old I can't say for sure when it was painted. Tony

That's also what I thought Mervyn. He is noted as being single when he volunteered in Nov. 14 but married to Mary Jones when he joined the TA. His declared age in 1914 was 30, his declared age when joining the TA in 1921 is 31 years old, but his 'apparent' age according to Army Medical Services is noted as 35 years old. If he was indeed 31 in 1914 he must have been a bit older than 35 seven years later. Perhaps the war and field punishment No. 2 didn't age him at all. Tony

Mike, I really like seeing this kind of thing, it's great. What should be in the tin and did all tins have the same contents right through the ranks? Tony

Here's a VM I bought a few weeks back. It's been brooched and although a lot of collectors don't like this sort of thing, I do. I only wish I knew who did it and why? It may have been for his wife, daughter or pawned and done by the new owner. Anyway, this brass moulder from Birkenhead obviously preferred life away from the army as his conduct sheets explain, I wonder why he joined the TA after being demobbed unless he was someone who enjoyed army life but not on a regular basis. 12.6.15 Absent without leave from Tattoo on the 12th returned 9.50pm on the 15th. 2 days 23 hours 50 minutes. Confined to barracks for 7 days, forfeit 3 days pay. Musham 23.7.15 Absent without leave from Tattoo 23.7.15 until 9.30pm 26.7.15. Confined to barracks for 7 days, forfeit 5 days pay. Musham 30.7.15 Breaking out of barracks whilst a defaulter, returned 6.30pm 6.8.15. 6 days 18 hours 30 minutes. Confined to barracks for 7 days, forfeit 8 days pay. Musham 15.8.15 Absent without leave from 10pm 15.8.15 returned 9.45pm on 19.8.15. 3 days 23 hours 45 minutes. Confined to barracks for 7 days, forfeit 4 days pay. Chisledon, 7.9.15 Absent off all parades 7 & 8 Sept. Field punishment No. 2 14 days Chisledon 2.11.15 Overstayed pass from 10pm on Nov. 2nd 15 until apprenhended by the military police in Swindon at 12.15am on 7th Nov. drunk. 4 days 2 hours 15 minutes. Field punishment No. 2 14 days and forfeits 5 days pay. Tidworth 28.11.15 Absent from church parade 28th Nov.15 Confined to barracks for 7 days Tidworth 30.11.15 I Drunk II Creating a disturbance in the company barrack room about 9.50pm 30.11.15. III Using threatening language to an NCO. 21 days field punishment No. 2, fined 1/6d and forfeits 21 days pay. In the field 26.8.16 1 creating a disturbance 2 not complying with an order Forfeit 5 days pay. In the field 6.7.17 Absent from roll call 8.45pm to 10.30pm same date. 3 days CC Does anyone know what CC could be? Confined to camp maybe? Victoria Station 9.9.17 Overstaying leave from 6.30am 9.9.17 until 6.30am 10.9.17 (24 hours) Forfeits 1 day pay. In the field 3,2,18 When on active service absent from his unit from 12.05pm until apprenhended by M.F. Police at Nesir Abautry ????????????? 3.2.18. 14 days field punishment No. 2, forfeits 4 days pay. Victoria Station 6.11.18 While on active service overstaying leave to UK from 6.30am 6.11.18 to 6.30pm ????????????? Forfeits 7 days pay. No date given When on active service absent from billets from 8.30 pm ?????? to 10pm absent 1 hr 30 mins. ????????? 3 days pay. Date of award 9.12.18 The Cheshire Regt. finally got rid of Pte.Towers when he was transferred to 110 Labour Coy. in March 1919, he joined the territorial army in July 1921 where stayed till the end of the year serving a whole 162 days. It's great when some or all of the service record survived the fire. Tony

I thought I'd add a couple of pics of the medal in case anyone is interested. To me, apart from a little tarnish, I imagine it looks as good as it did on the day it was issued. Approximately 1050 of this first type George V MSMs were awarded and it's less common than the immediate awarded MSMs which show the recipient's service number. I've read that some show the King in his Field Marshal uniform whereas others show him crowned and others with the same head as found on coins. Was there any reason for this or did someone just fancy a change? Tony

Either way it was a bargain. I hope someone here can give the confirmation that it's original. Tony

The sweetheart brooch can probably be dated between April 1918 and 1952 as it has a King's crown and the RAF was formed in April 1918 I think. Tony

Thanks for the comments eyeryone, it's nice to know the ribbon is a little different than standard. The opposite side of the ribbon is cleaner and therefore shows the colouring a little better. Kev, I think I'll probably leave the brooch in it's grubby state, it looks much better in the hand than in the photo. I'll post the conduct sheet for the Brit. VM soldier in the commonwealth forum over the weekend if anyone's interested in reading it. Below is the cleaner side of the Czech ribbon. Tony

Mike, I'll start by saying I'm not a collector of WWII items but the tag sounds about standard. SS tags are faked like it's going out of fashion or at least they used to be but, I do have a SS tag to a sniper, I was told it was easy to see it was a fake although I knew the person whose tag it was and I was also left his Soldbuch when he died. I suppose what I'm saying is that it can be difficult to tell an original from fake unless it's an obvious shiny new one. The only details on the tag are a number (service number?), SS rank and unit, all abbreviated. These details are in 3 untidy lines, probably because sniper is a long word even though it's abbreviated but then the unit name is long too, the details match up with his Soldbuch and I believe it's standard to have so little information when comparing to Commonwealth ID tags. By the way, the tag I have has SS in Latin and was a late war (early 45) issue. Tony

Here's a Czech VM I have. The ribbon appears to be nice and old, does anyone think it could be a Czech issue or should it belong to another country's VM? Tony

Thanks Rob, I think his employer enquired as to the whereabouts in May 1921 so probably just a grubby medal. Below is the reverse of his MIC, looks like 2.5.21 to me. What do you think? Tony

Hope it's ok to add this altered British Victory medal. It was turned into a brooch and unfortunately the safety chain is missing. It has a brown colour instead of the usual gold. I can't be sure if it's the type 1 chocolate brown coloured VM mentioned earlier in this thread or if it's just dirty. The detail isn't too bad so maybe it's grime. The recipient of this medal was often awol, paying fines, confined to barracks or doing much field punishment No. 2. Tony

I think someone in my wife's family did that, it was supposed to work well but I can't confirm it. I've used cedar coat hangers and also small linen bags of cedar, which work well for hats, in the past. Tony

I read somewhere once that Singapore manufactured a MKII Brodie (the Japanese no doubt put a stop to that), the rim was rolled instead of the usual extra beading around the edge. Tony