jeffskea

Here is the unknown medal obverse and reverse with a rough translation: Reverse: "As the wing that leaves no fingerprints had already taken the mountain" Obverse: "45 Sabatino Division 6 August 1916"

Hello here are some more pictures of the medals, including the Austrian group and another medal that came without a ribbon. The Austrian medals are two Franz Joseph Bravery Medals and the Karl Troop Cross 1916.

I have an 1884 Khedives Star that was turned into a brooch. From what I could find apparently many Egyptian and Sudanese soldiers preferred to wear them this way. I'm sure there are a variety of reasons people brooch their medals.

Hello Veteran and JimZ thanks for the replies I'm away fm home right now so will post the close up pics as soon as I can. To answer a few of the questions, the medals are not mounted on a bar actually so may not be in the correct order. The obverse of the 3rd and 5th medals are the same but I will confirm that and check the reverses for the wording u mentioned. The bars are for 1915 & 1916 on the 3rd medal. Yes the last medal is for Mothers of the Fallen, I couldn't find the criteria for this award apart from the title so not sure how it fits into the set. I'm fairly confident it is the one man's complete set as it was passed down by the relatives. These also came with 2 Austrian bravery decorations and a Cross for being wounded or being in combat I can't remember which anyhow I'll post pics of those as well. Thanks. Jeff

Thank you for the welcome I'm very glad to have discovered this forum, it is definately the most comprehensive I've seen with helpful feedback. The variety of theories and opinions makes researching that much more fascinating. Jeff

I never thought about the colour of the backing, as it is a military MBE I suppose it could be Navy or armoured/cavalry too

From what I've learned from other collectors the detail looks correct - pebbling behind the lettering looks ok, positioning of the words matches, and the letter "E" looks genuine - I've learned from some collector's websites that that is a good way to tell - on an original the middle dash on the "E" is shorter than the top and bottom dashes whereas with fakes the three dashes on the letter are all the same length. Hopefully someone with more expertise can see more details. Jeff

Thanks for the info Gunner 1.

Hello all, thanks for the replies, The Bronze Star was awarded for both heroism/valor (signified with a bronze "V" on the ribbon) and meritorious service while involved in military operations and was given for a variety of services. I was disappointed that it was not named on the reverse, that would have helped considerably, but from what I can gather I would agree there is no standard for naming, if anyone has anymore info on that please send. This BS was no doubt awarded for some kind of merit during the war rather than combat heroism. Hi Chris from Medicine Hat, yes I bought this set on ebay, do you have a link to your previous posts about this set? I posted a pic of the reverse of the Bronze Star and LdeH, I can send the whole back if you'd like. It has a long pin for wear attached to the black backing. The MBE - Bronze Star combo doesn't seem that uncommon, I've found quite a few from the London Gazette, but so far having that Officer of the Legion of Honour and just the two basic service medals has made it a challege to match up but hopefully the searching will pay off. Something like SHAEF still seems plausible.

It is interesting, I found a War Office list of Legion of Honour recipients and all the Officer degrees were awarded to Brigadiers and Major Generals, which makes it unusal to see the MBE and not a promotion in that order. So you could be right in it being awarded as a civilian after the War. The research is a challenge but very enjoyable, I came across a group called the Monument Men, a mixture of British, French, and American personnel with history and art backgrounds who served during the War recovering art work taken by the Nazis, which is plausible for this recipient and just one of many areas they could have served in so the search continues.

I can't seem to get a clear picture of the edge but I can definately tell it was two pieces of metal placed together, however the edges don't appear too sharp.

Thanks for your input, when I first saw the group I was impressed too by the fact that there were no campaign stars. Having a British, French, and U.S. decoration made me think this person was connected in some way to operations in NW Europe possibly with a headquarters like SHAEF. I managed to trace down some recipients of the MBE-Bronze Star from the London Gazette for the RAFVR and their awards were for work in areas of technical and signals intelligence. I started with the air force as it seemed to me to be the most plausible for someone to remain in the UK or at least in a non-operational area for the duration of the War, but I know it could just as easily be someone in the army or navy; I thought I would start there and see what I could find. Its proving to be a real challenge especially since the Legion of Honour was not listed in the London Gazette. I did find a good reference of Legion of Honour recipients to the British Army but not one name matched any MBE-BS combo, and I went through a list of well over a hundred names. If I could find similar lists for the RAF/RN it would certainly help narrow it down. In the end I think it will be a lucky break if I do manage to find someone to attribute it to but I think the story behind the medals will be worth the searching. And you're very right it could easily be a woman recipient which would be fascinating, I sure hope the searching pays off, it would be too sad to see these medal's story go untold.

Thank you all for the input, it was pointed out to me that there were some holes on the grenade and "M" that looked suspicious does it raise any concern from you? Jeff

I appreciate the proper translations! Thanks for helping me shed light on this unknown medal and giving an insight into swedish history a bit. Jeff

Hello, Could anyone tell me if this looks genuine? Found it in Sicily, pretty sure the ribbon is not original but would like an opinion from someone with more experience in German awards. Thanks. Jeff

Hello Jonas, Thank you very much for the reply and the information! Yes there is engraving on the reverse: 3. lag Korps M (and makers mark in the lower left bottom: Westins Stockholm) On the obverse surrounding the crossed rifles are the words: For Hem Och Hard. I was able to roughly translate that as "went home and hard". Skytteforening translated "shooting former assesion" so I'm not sure exactly what it means but hope this info helps a little more in determining what it is. Thanks again! Jeff

That's interesting, thanks for the info, Dave.

sorry for the multiple posts, computer was giving me trouble, picture is on the earliest post.

Has anyone seen this medal before? It says Stribergs Skytteforening on the front, I tried to translate it using iGoogle and I can only gather that it is some kind of shooting medal, any info would be apprecieated. Jeff

Has anyone seen this medal before? It says Stribergs Skytteforening on the front, I tried to translate it using iGoogle and I can only gather that it is some kind of shooting medal, any info would be apprecieated. Jeff

Has anyone seen this medal before? It says Stribergs Skytteforening on the front, I tried to translate it using iGoogle and I can only gather that it is some kind of shooting medal, any info would be apprecieated. Jeff

Hello, this is an interesting set that was given to me about 10 years ago and has a bit of a story. It was given to me by a lady who knew I was interested in medals, the family who gave them to her were going to throw them out! The first medal is the bronze Al Valore di Marina with the inscription on the back: A. Magliano Alberto - studente - S. Bartolomeo (Arcola) 17 Agosto 1912. I have tried and tried to research this man, even requesting information from the Italian government; the only reply I recevied from them is that they wanted me to return the medals to them! I checked with other collectors and they said I didn't have to thankfully. The only information I was able to find from that inscription is that Arcola is another name for La Spezia, one of the larger naval ports in Italy, so that made me think he was awarded it as a naval cadet. Anyway if anyone has any comments that would be great, I haven't seen many WWI Italian sets complete before so I thought it was worth posting. Jeff

Hello, I'm new to this forum and have a few items I'm posting to find more info on. Just wondering if anyone would happen to know the time period this particular medal was awarded? The inside of the award case says: Cejalvo - Cruz, 11 - Madrid. Thank you. Jeff

I picked this medal up in Afghanistan, and from what I can find it is the Afghan K.h.A.D. (KGB) service medal during the Soviets time in Afghanistan. The only others I have seen all have a red ribbon with black and green stripes which is seen on other soviet-afghan medals of the time. Does anyone know anything more about this medal and the ribbon? Thanks! Jeff

Hello, I am a new member from Canada and just wanted to show this group of medals I recently aquired. It is a group of five consisting of MBE, Defence Medal, 1939-45 War Medal, Officer of the Legion of Honour, and Bronze Star. There is no name on any of the medals and I am just wondering if anyone has any ideas on how I may be able to find the recipient. I understand there is no proper list of Legion of Honor recipients in the London Gazette however I did manage to accumulate a list of MBE-Bronze Star recipients. If anyone has any feedback or suggestions that would be great. Jeff