Paul L Murphy

Here is the second badge that I have got. It does not have a numeral and is definitely earlier than the 200th Anniversary badge. If anyone can advise the purpose of this one I would appreciate it.

There is also a badge issued for the 175th Anniversary, which is identical to the 200th but with a different numeral. It is, however, a screwback badge and I believe serial numbered on the reverse. I do not have one yet but I am hunting !

An excellent idea ! After going to the Bolshoi about 30 times in the last season I really wanted to get one of the little badges that some of the older staff wore in their lapels. I eventually found not one but two different types.

The first type is attached below and is for the 200th Anniversary of the Bolshoi. This was in 1976. It is pinback and marked by the Moscow Mint on the reverse. It appears to be gilded brass with the building in silver. Some of the really old babushki that still work there wear it proudly in their lapels.

All of the 1916 period insignia, cap badges etc. have been copied by a certain individual in Dublin. He sells them as copies but refuses to stamp them as such, hence they get passed on to the unsuspecting.

Hi Geraldo,

Unfortunately the short answer is that you cannot, there is no published roll and the relevant Department in Ireland will not release the information.

Regards,

Paul

Ceallach,

Many thanks for your comments. I am aware that my research is not perfect and apprecaite the corrections. There are generally recognised to be 88 1916 casualties, not including people who later died of wounds. I have medal number 89 (and a few others) and it is to a non casualty who died prior to 1941. Hence my assumption that the first 88 medals were all proper posthumous awards.

Cheers,

Paul

Ulsterman,

I published a list of the 88 numbered awards in the journal of the Medal Society of Ireland a few years ago. At that stage it was still speculative but new research has shown that it is broadly correct. I will see if I can dig it out.

The non com IRA medals were given to people who were either politically active during the 1919-21 period or who provided support services such as safe houses, information gathering etc. but who did not actually fire a weapon. Apart from the few named Tan war medals in my own collection I do not have access to a list of named awards.

I hope this helps.

Paul

That is just plain criminal fraud and the seller deserves to be punished. I only buy 1916 Medals if they are named or otherwise attributable so I tend to buy from reliable sources, not e-bay. However it is distressing to know that you have people out there prepared to rip off collectors in this manner. To my mind it is even worse than selling fakes !

Gentlemen,

I would like to comment on some of the opinions expressed here regarding 1916 and Anglo Irish War Medals since they are one of my main collecting areas. The 1916 medal sold on e-bay appears genuine. The top suspension bar is the wider bar used on the 1917-21 Medal but these are often found on original 1916 medals, especially late issues. The price is in line with those that sold in Adams and Whyte's auctions in April. Prior to those auctions EUR2,000 was the market price for an un-named and unattributable 1916 Medal. Since the auctions that has jumped to EUR4,000. The price for an attributable 1916 Medal now seems to be from EUR8,000 upwards.

The box is not a box of issue for the 1916 Medal, it is most likely for an Emergency Service Medal. The correct box is larger, well padded and a darker shade of green with a gilt inscription on the lid.

With regard to Tom Clarke's medal, it came from the family. Furthermore, 403 of the 1916 Medals were officially named and numbered. These were awarded to the next of kin of recipients who died before the medal was issued (or in some cases to next of kin who made late claims for deceased participants). Since the medal was issued in 1941 most of these are not actually to people who died in the Easter Rising, in fact only 88 of the 403 are true "posthumous" awards. The true posthumous awards are numbered 1 to 88 and the names are in alphabetic order. Thise numbered from 89 onwards are in order of the application being processed. Tom Clarke's medal, and the medals to all other signatories of the proclamation, are officially named and numbered. All officially numbered and named 1916 Medals should be considered very rare and expensive. It is impossible to speak of a market price for these since they are seldom sold. I am only aware of three proper Posthumous awards that have been sold, ie. numbered below 88, the Clarke medal in April and two others that were sold a number of years ago.

There are also offically named and numbered 1917-21 Medals, about 1,500 each of the combatant and non combatant versions. These were also given to the next of kin of recipients who died before the medal was issued. They are difficult to find and are expensive.

Most named medals from this period, such as those on e-bay in this thread, are privately named. Authenticating the naming is always a problem since by its very nature it is easy to fake. On the subject of fakes, there are a number on the market. The best come from Australia but even these are easy to spot if you have experience in handling the original medals. They are produced for display in frames so the obverse is good but the reverse is pretty poor. I should point out that there are at least three main die variations of 1916 medals. The early awards are noticably thinner than late awards, which has lead some novice collectors to pronounce some of these as fake. In actual fact they are genuine medals and scarcer than the early thinner version.

The price rise in Irish medals has been tremendous over the past few years. I cannot decide whether I should be happy, since my collection is now worth a lot more than I paid for it, or sad since it is getting very difficult to add to it !

Feel free to ask any other questions about these medals and I will do my best to answer them.

Regards,

Paul L Murphy