love4history

Too bad we can't see the back of the medals... I reckon the Leo II commemorative could bee a "1905" (as opposed to a "1909" which wasn't struck untill the 1950's) The bar seems to have an apparent older age to me.

Nice bar, love it!

One of the most common Belgian WWI medals you have there, but IMHO one of the most interesting, with an complete aresenal of possible attachments for the ribbon. Ranging from these gilt or silver frontstripes, indicating the time of frontservice, crosses for wounds, anchors for sailors, stars for recovered wounded personnel, crown for volunteers etc.....

Next to the above mentioned book (Born?) indeed the internet is the most valuable tool. Hendrik's site being one of the best on the subject. There are one or two more. They have the great advantage of giving you big, colour pictures of the medals. Most books, including Born?, are B/W

cheers

Gents,

Currently examining a QSA medal group to a chap appearing on the QSA roll of 5/Rifle brigade

Clasps: CC, OFS, SA02

On DNW I found a medal group to a captain of the 5th with exactly the same clasps. So apparently it's a valid clasp combination

However I can't seem to find more info on the 5th being in South Africa

Does anyone know more?

Thank you!

cheers

L4H

Thanks Guy!

I have registerd for the forum but have yet to wait for the account to be "approved"

Any pointers as to the difference in original/restrike? The only difference I can see is the obvious patina/wear but this can always be "arranged"

Hello

I was wondering if anyone has an (original) Medal of the Arab Campaign 1892-1894 in the collection and knows how to tell the difference between an original and a restrike?

cheers

Kuddoos on the (albeit) late recognition and the addition of a new medal for us to collect... as for the design... can't really imagine this becoming one of my favourites though... Thanks for the information Hendrik!

Hello Rittmeister

I have to second Hendrik, it would be usefull to get a scan of the whole picture/uniform at this point I reckon. Sometimes it's in the details

cheers

L4H

Well, I'm not really an expert as to the "vuurkoord" but as far as I remember, the Fire Cross ha/has a relatively darker uni-color , so I'd guess that would be the top one. The bottom one seems to be a bi-color but I don't have an idea as to what it would be for.

Cheers

No problem Rittmeister,

I reckon' that indeed German ribbon bars could contain many more medals in a row. I'm sure someone on this forum could give you the "standard" length of ribbon per medal.

In this Belgian case there are only 3 medals on the top row and two on the bottom row (although it seems that on the very left of the bottom row there's a small light corner that could indicate another ribbon on the left....)

Medals are as per Hendrik's post:

nr 1 The first ribbon looks as if there's only one colour present, not the blue and black of the Leopold II order, so more likely to be either the Crown order or the Leopold order.

nr2 the War Cross

nr3 Yser Medal

nr4 Commemorative Medal 14-18

nr 5 Victory Medal (not victory cross)

The site you indicate IS in fact Hendrik's site On the home page you can choose from three languages. Under the War Cross/oorlogskruis/croix de guerre you will find more information on the different attachments (palms, lions) and their meaning. The crown on the commemorative medal indicates being a volunteer

Hope this clarifies things?

cheers

Roel

First glance:

First row: The second ribbon indeed would be an oorlogskruis with two palms and a lion it seems. That would most likely make the first ribbon some kind of national order (Leopold II?). The third ribbon looks like the commemorative?

Second row: the attachment indeed would be a crown, maybe on the ribbon for the volunteer medal? Is there still a ribbon to the left of that? The utmost right ribbon looks like the interallied victory medal-ribbon.

On second sight: the utmost right ribbon on top could well be the Yser-medal, which would make the ribbon with the crown on the bottom row the commemorative (with crown-attachement for volunteer status). This would fit the correct wearing order as well.

Most likely...

Any other opinions?

Hello gents

Would like to add a 14-star with original bar to the collection. Been offered one with a loose (replacement) but original bar.

My question: does this one qualify?

Thanks for your opinions!

Concerning the colonial medal I found this on http://www.france-phaleristique.com/colo.htm

(full text in French below)

Medal without bar

Destined for all soldiers or sailors, with a total of 15 yrs of service for officers and 10 yrs of service for non-officers, of which at least 6 years have been served in the French colonies (general descripition, detailed geographical restrictions are below)

Given the apparent late manufacture of this medal ("war" material instead of silver(ed)) could this be considered as the "rest of his career"-medal in the French navy after WWI? The last medal he received for his # years of service.

M?DAILLE SANS AGRAFE

Elle est destin?e ? tout militaire ou marin, totalisant 15 ans de services pour les officiers et 10 ans de services pour les non-officiers, ayant servi au moins 6 ans aux conditions suivantes :

? pour la M?daille Coloniale, soit sur des territoires ou colonies, pr?cis?s par le d?cret du 5 octobre 1920 pour la p?riode de colonisation et, par l?arr?t? du 11 septembre 1963 pour la p?riode de d?colonisation ;

? pour la M?daille d?Outre-Mer, depuis l?arr?t? du 30 novembre 1988, dans l?un des territoires fran?ais et ?tats ?tranger suivants : Guyane, Terres australes et antarctiques fran?aises, B?nin, Burkina-Faso, Burundi, Cameroun, Comores, Congo, C?te-d?Ivoire, Djibouti, Gabon, Guin?e-Bissau, Guin?e ?quatoriale, Mali, Madagascar, Mauritanie, Mayotte, Niger, R?publique centrafricaine, Rwanda, S?n?gal, Tchad, Togo, Za?re.

Le d?cret du 5 octobre 1920 pr?cisait : le droit au port de la M?daille Coloniale sans agrafe est accord? aux militaires et marins, indig?nes except?s, pr?sent sous les drapeaux ? la date du 27 mars 1914 ou post?rieurement ? cette date, ayant 10 ans au moins de services effectifs, pour les hommes de troupe et 15 ans au moins pour les officiers et qui, en outre, ont servi en activit? et avec distinction pendant 6 ans au moins dans les territoires du sud de l?Alg?rie et de la Tunisie, r?gions sahariennes comprises, dans les colonies et pays de protectorat autres que la R?union, l?Inde fran?aise, Saint-Pierre et Miquelon, les possessions fran?aises du Pacifique et des Antilles.

Les demandes d?attribution sont ? effectuer aupr?s du cabinet du minist?re de la D?fense, au bureau des d?corations.

Sorry... double post... connection was slower then I had patience...

Hello Hendrik and Veteran

Much appreciate your opinions!

I had a bit of a mishap with this frame in the fact that the glass in the frame was broken when it arrived. On the other hand this gives me the opportunity to examine the medals and the inside more in detail.

The picture of the man is not a painting or a drawing, or a photograph. It rather looks like a print cut from a book or so... so I don't consider it to be a portrait of the actual sailor but rather something which was added as decoration... which would also explain the "missing" MM and the difference in CdG (which is a 1917 by the way)

I don't dare to venture to say if the sailor in fact was a fusilier-marin or not. The anchor emblem on the lower left is of a veteran organisation "amicale des cols bleus" (sorry if there are typos... don't have the actual badge with me here). I don't know if that can give us a clue. There is also an anchor device added to the collar of the print.

The frame was still solidly closed. The back didn't seem to be tampered with at all. The strong decoloration of the ribbons is in line with the strong decoloration of the paper background. You can see the outline of the medals on the paper background. There's also less decoloration where the (old) stickpins were in the ribbons. All points to the fact that the medals have been in that frame for a long time and this was not a recent "composition" (Most importantly, the whole feels, looks and smells right when you hold it in your hands... which is often underestimated ) I have no doubts as to the originality of the lot. If the sailor in fact earned all these medals is not proven (he might have snatched them during a brawl in a Napels harbourside tavern as well... ) But as I can learn from your posts, the medals do seem to add up, but with questions concerning the colonial medal...

I do enjoy looking at this group... conjures up images of old black-and-white sailor movies and days long gone in my mind...

Hi,

Yes it is. IMO It matches the ribbon but not the medal. You can see that the medal ring is not entirely closed either so I suspect it has been "refitted"

And as far as I know this medal comes with the tricolor ribbon as in type 1... don't know what medal this darkred ribbon would belong to though... It seems almost the same (faded) ribbon as the Obilich bravery medal... ( http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=20569&hl=obilich )

Dear Gents,

In the French medal collection I have just acquired (see also under France) there are two types of what seems to be the same medal:

Next to the obvious difference in ribbon, the suspension is different as well:

Type 1: Ball suspension standing on a small "foot"

Type 2: Ball suspension seems to be attached directly to medal

And also the amount of detail and the size of the years:

Type 1: Notice the bigger 1914 1918; more detailed/sharper lines

Type 2: Smaller 1914 1918; more rounded lines, not as detailed

Can anyone shed a light on this differences? They come from the same man (sailor), is there a particular reason why hy would have gotten two medals? Or is there a different meaning attached to the different ribbon?

Thank you for your opinions!

Hello gents,

Just got this small collection and I thought I'd share it with you... The medals are pinned to a paper backing which states all the 'seven' seas the sailor sailed. Apparently he saw war duty as well.... anyway I'll let you have a look at it... and any and all comments or ideas are welcome...

One question: the colonial medal (bottom row second from right) seems to be of a very light and very thin aluminium(?)... was this standard for this medal? It almost seems like a medal out of a chewinggum vending machine....

Hello Kev

Thanks. So as there are also one-piece construction EKII I guess this test can not be considered a definitive one on originality can it?

Questions

1: Where does the sound come from then? The "inside" hitting the rim? or is there actually something inside?

2: is it possible that a three part EKII does NOT make a sound (if it is sandwiched tightly for example?)

cheers from Belgium

Hmmm... heared something new today concerning testing a WWI EKII for it's originality:

"if you shake it and you hear something ringing inside it's original (like there's something loose inside)"

I must confess I have never tried this or heared this before. Anyone else has?

cheers and thanks

Hallo Jef...

Only thing I can tell you'll probably have found out for yourself already : gratitude medal 1940-1945 given by the municipality of St-Amandsberg but more specific????

Awarded to Belgian civilains who served with the forces

Not only civilians though. Military personnel as well.

Hello Troy,

Also notice the bilingual moto (L'union fait la force - Eendracht maakt macht) in French and Dutch, which is usually a marker to judge the age of the medal: pre-1951 (one language, usually French); post 1951: two languages

cheers

PS: nice starting point for a Belgian collection...

Does anyone have any info on the unit?

It is for the Fourragere.

Best

Chris

There's a little bit here but I'm afraid it's in Dutch... perhaps you can get the gist of it when you put it trough Bable Fish?

http://www.tenboome.webruimtehosting.net/g...menten/6jtv.htm

Hello Kev,

Right you are... I'm afraid I don't have any links as to official regulations. Would like to find out myself so if anyone has....