Bilco

Many thanks Rob! Bill

My latest acquisition is the 'Covered Ear' unofficial ... I think it is a genuine item, and welcome any comments. Bill

I've just received this from a seller on eBay - Obviously a mis-strike, and probably rejected, as there is no sign of a suspensiomn knob having been attached. It's well-worn, so had a lot of handling. Has anyone seen a similar -mis-strike? Bill

Pershing’s WWI Victory Medal was stamped “U.S.M. 5”. Colonel Al Gleim speculated that USM stood for US Mint and that medals #s 1 to 4 were issued to President Woodrow Wilson, Secretary of War Newton Baker, Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels and Army Chief of Staff Peyton Marsh. Other known numbered medals: U.S.M. 37 awarded to Colonel James P. Barney U.S.M. 68 (mentioned on page 92 of Laslo's book) U.S.M. 70 (figure 113 on page 86 of Laslo’s book) U.S.M. 95 awarded to Brigadier General R. Krauthoff Bill

Hi Rob, There are good photos to compare your medals with here https://www.medaillesinteralliees.fr/portugal Bill

It looks go to me Rob. My 'tell' is the fineness of the fingers, particularly the forefinger of the hand holding the baton. Bill

Hi Rob, Check your second medal against the photos here https://www.medaillesinteralliees.fr/tchecoslovaquie For the first one, there are treatments for verdigris. I use a product called Verdi-care, but I've heard that WD-40 does the job. In both case, wash in distilled water after treatment. Bill

They do come in different thicknesses of planchet. See https://www.medaillesinteralliees.fr/pologne

It has the diacritical marks on the appropriate letters, so it looks promising. https://produto.mercadolivre.com.br/MLB-1416873608-brazilian-victory-medal-medalha-vitoria-guerra-ww1-militaria-_JM#position=31&type=item&tracking_id=75e7502a-3e80-476b-be5d-7f8e734ce543

Hi Rob, There is a post about half-way down on page 23 of this thread showing a So-Called Dollar version of the US Victory medal. It's made of copper, so is a different colour to the issue planchet. Bill

Hi Rob, I'm interested to see the version with the blank central disk. It looks significantly smaller than the other medal. I have an example which is the same size as the standard : Diameter 36.5mm, thickness 2.3mm, with the Delande punch and BRONZE on the edge. I gave it a gentle clean, and it appears to be Delande's bronze doré, like yours. Bill

Good evening Gentlemen, A new web site dealing with the Victory Medals of all the Allied and Associated Nations has just come on-line: https://www.medaillesinteralliees.fr/ The author is Jean-Michel, who posts on this section of the Forum, and he invites comments, corrections and additions from collectors. I hope you enjoy the web site, Bill

The BBC News web site has an item about an exhibition of photos of German POW at Donington Hall in WW1 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-50168487 The small selection shown is from 54 exhibited at the University of Derby until 3 January. There are a few more here https://www.google.com/search?q=exhibition+of+German+POW+photos+at+university+of+Derby&tbm=isch&source=univ&client=firefox-b-d&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjvg9vD27nlAhUnRhUIHUqTA48Q7Al6BAgJECQ&biw=1594&bih=710#imgrc=_ Bill

Good evening Gentlemen, My latest acquisition ... The planchet is a straight-forward French Reproduction, with no marks on the edge as to maker or MADE IN FRANCE. The 4 clasps seem to match the description in Laslo's book, page 99, where the raised 'frame' around the wording, and the 'grained' background is mentioned. They show the M like an inverted W that Jim Michels shows in his book as a Reproduction type 3 clasp. As can be seen in the last photo, the clasps are inside the ribbon, and the bottom three are held in place by stitches of red thread. The top clasp has a narrower backstrap than the others. The top clasp and the two bottom ones have thick ends, while the second is much thinner. I can't get to see the back of the back-straps to check for a MADE IN FRANCE stamp. All-in-all, an interesting item, and I welcome your comments on it! Bill

Oliver - I think your medal is a perfectly good original Unofficial Type 1. Graham - I think the differences that you point to are just the effect of different lighting and wear. Bill

I think this is the Officers uniform of the South African Air Force, WW2 vintage. See aafww2pilots2.yolasite.com/saaf-ww2-uniforms-and-insignia.php That seems to match for Eagle & Crown buttons and lapel badges, the double button cuffs, and the Army-type rank pips on the epaulette. Bill

Not the medal - the box! On eBay at the moment is a US Vic in a box with this label ... It's actually a WW II Victory medal box, with a bit of paper stuck over the end of the description to make it look like WW I ... Item # 11332447517 - but hurry - bids are up to $19 already ... Bill

Many thanks Paul. I contacted the Academia Falerística de Portugal to ask about buckles on Portuguese medals. Senhor Paulo Estrela of the Academia sent this reply: The buckle, a Portuguese type device, usually is a part of Portuguese decorations; but after 1971 regulation Portuguese military medals lost it and nowadays almost none is award with. So, for Portugal’s Victory Medal a bronze buckle is required according with regulation. After one year, it was decided to issue a small silver star (to be wear on the buckle’s center) to distinguished the combatants from the so-called non-combatants veterans. However, many combatants never applied to receive it, even because it was decided after many people returned to their civilian status. So, there we have it - all Portuguese WW1 Victory medals should have the buckle ... Bill

I contacted the Academia Falerística de Portugal to ask about buckles on Portuguese medals. Senhor Paulo Estrela of the Academia sent this reply: The buckle, a Portuguese type device, usually is a part of Portuguese decorations; but after 1971 regulation Portuguese military medals lost it and nowadays almost none is award with. So, for Portugal’s Victory Medal a bronze buckle is required according with regulation. After one year, it was decided to issue a small silver star (to be wear on the buckle’s center) to distinguished the combatants from the so-called non-combatants veterans. However, many combatants never applied to receive it, even because it was decided after many people returned to their civilian status. So, there we have it - all Portuguese WW1 Victory medals should have the buckle ... Bill

I have a Portuguese WW1 Victory Medal ... It has a buckle on the ribbon, which makes it too wide to fit in the box. I assume that the buckle was put on after the issue of the medal, and I have seen pictures of other Portuguese medals with buckles on the ribbon. Why are they put on? Is it just a piece of bling that the recipient fancied, or is it significant in some way? Any help gratefully received. Bill

Gentlemen, I regularly look through the US vics offered on eBay, and over time I’ve noticed that in some cases the suspension knob seems to be very insecurely attached to the planchet, with a very small area of solder. I started to look at all the examples offered on eBay, as well as those on this thread and in my collection, and I think I’ve identified 3 variants of the knob-to-planchet soldering: Type 1 – the solder bead extends almost the full width of the knob, or even wider. Type 2 – the solder bead extends over approximately half the width of the knob. Type 3 – the solder bead is very narrow. Having identified these three types I started to wonder if they were just due to inconsistencies in the manufacturing process, or could they be attributed to one or other of the 3 firms that received contracts to produce the medals for the US Government. In an attempt to investigate this possibility I started to collect photos in which the medal and its box can be seen together. Now, I know that sellers can ‘marry’ an empty box with a medal in the expectation of getting a higher price, but I hoped that if I had a good number of examples I might be able to detect some trends. The results for the examples I’ve collected so far are shown in this table: Manufacturer Type 1 Type 2 Type 3 Total No % No % No % No % Art Metal Works 5 62.5 8 27.5 7 50 20 39.2 S G Adams 3 37.5 12 41.4 2 14.3 17 33.3 Jos. Meyer 9 31.1 5 31.1 14 27.5 Total 8 15.7 29 56.8 14 27.5 51 So, it seems that there are not many Type 1 in the sample, most of which are in Art Metal Works boxes and none in Meyer boxes; the most common is the Type 2, with most in Adams boxes and the rest evenly split; and most of the Type 3 are in Art Metal Works boxes. It has to be said that the Type 2 were sometimes bordering on one or other of the other Types, so the result is somewhat subjective. Maybe it does all come down to inconsistencies in the manufacturing process after all. Of course, the number of examples I’ve collected is quite small, and the analysis is offered in a light-hearted spirit. However, I’d be interested to hear your views, and maybe if you have examples of boxed US vics where the provenance is known, and you can be sure that the box and medal belong together, you might like to post pictures to see if it fits my analysis – or not …

Just acquired is a Portugal Official Type 2, together with the lid of the box from the firm Frederico Costa of Lisbon However, the buckle on the ribbon barely fits into the lid, and would definitely not fit into the bottom half if it were present. So, I'm wondering if the buckle is a piece of bling fitted by the awardee after receiving the medal. Maybe that's why there isn't a bottom half to the box - the medal no longer fitted, so it was discarded. I'd be interested in any thoughts or insights you Gentlemen may have on this. Bill

Something a bit different on eBay today ... According to the seller the medal was to a recruiter. Item #153138460248 Bill

Hi Oliver - a very nice named example. Congratulations! Bill

Hi Gents, In post # 62 I showed a French-made reproduction of the Czech vic with ball suspension and the Arthus Bertrand triangle mark (incorrectly identified in the post as Chobillon) and BRONZE on the edge. My latest acquisition is this version, also with ball suspension, but with no markings on the edge ... obverse reverse. As bought it was rather dirty and had dark patches on the reverse. I cleaned it with a non-toxic, non-acidic, non-corrosive, non-caustic, and non-abrasive cleaner, which took off a reddish tint and showed some verdigris under the dark patches. I'll treat those next. It had a modern ribbon as bought, and I'm sourcing a French ribbon for it. Any thoughts on a maker? Bill