VC89

A nice thing to know is that there are three kinds of crossed swords: bronze, silver and gold. The color (not sure if it is also the material) depends on the "wartitles" the recipient received. unfortunately I haven't seen the royal decree of it's creation so I can't tell how many "wartitles" you need for a silver one.

I know a corporal gets a Military Decoration 2nd class for 10 year of service and a 1st class for an additional 5 years. It is likely they receive a medal of a chivalry order for 20 years of service. I don't know if I'm misunderstood but I don't say the medal is a fake. All I say is that the crossed swords shoudn't be worn on a Silver Medal (sorry for my mistake in my previous post) in the Order of Leopold II. However it is possible that the original recipient of the medal put this crossed swords on his medal. Vincent

Nice medals Graf. I never seen a knight (or higher) in the order of LII with crossed swords under or above the crown. Are you sure those are real?

I know a corporal gets a Military Decoration 2nd class for 10 year of service and a 1st class for an additional 5 years. It is likely they receive a medal of a chivalry order for 20 years of service. I don't know if I'm misunderstood but I don't say the medal is a fake. All I say is that the crossed swords shoudn't be worn on a Silver Medal (sorry for my mistake in my previous post) in the Order of Leopold II. However it is possible that the original recipient of the medal put this crossed swords on his medal. Vincent

I hate to say this but I think your Golden Medal in the Order of Leopold II with crossed swords 40-45 isn't correct. Based on the Royal Decree of 24 January 1994, creation of the crossed swords Korea, it says that the crossed swords must be worn on the highest decoration received in a chivalry order that is at least a Knight in the Order of Leopold II. It is most likely that the Royal Decree of 18 april 1983, creation of the crossed swords 40-45, say the same. Personally I would describe the Commemorative Medal 1870 -1871 as an uncommen medal (but I live in it's country of origin, Belgium) instead of a rare one. The earlier, unofficial, medal and the Commemorative Cross of the 1830 Volunteers are examples of medals that are much harder to find.

Is there a way to see when a medal is from a different maker or is it just lookking at both medals and trying to see some differeces? Also: is there a way to determine the maker of a medal when you don't have the original box? (book, webstie, ...)

Thanks for the replies. I uploaded some pics of the one I own and put a close-up of the head. Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Recently a Portugese Victory Medal came in my possession but instead of being bronze it is in silver. My first thought is that it is a fake but I can't find anything that support it (or disprove it) on the internet. I tried other forums but they don't know it either so I hope that someone here can help me with the question if this is a Repro, Unofficial Type or ,best case scenario, an Official medal. Since I haven't a good upload of my medal I use the only picture I could find of this silver medal that looks exactly like mine (including the synthetic looking ribbon) and it is located on the site: http://www.collector...eries--portugal Uploaded with ImageShack.us