JimZ

Nothing sacred these days is there! What a butcher!

Would actually be interesting to see if the shiny type veteran of labour medals were actually issued at one particular period or other. Alas, as the medal is not numbered there is the usual problem of matching medal to document. My idea is to see if this was just a 'freak' manufacture on a number of medals or just a different grade of manufacture. Would a different chemically applied patina (or lack of) constitute a variation in the same way as a different ring would? Also interesting to see the small differences in manufacture Mondvor pointed out.

Agreed. The riveted version I was referring to is in fact the one on the right and my belief was that it was fake. I have even seen it serial numbered once. Good to have it confirmed though.

Seen a number of Mother Heroine Orders with large rivets - mostly on ebay. As far as i know it none of the Mother Heroine Orders have large protruding smooth silver rivets. Could it be some budding entrepreneur out there? Or is it something I am missing? Will post a pic of them next time i see one.....

Cool Dave I assure you no regrets on that one. Jim

Cheers Doc. Very good to know........!!!! Jim.

Test parachutist? How many could there have been and would they really issue some sort of award for them? Its amazing what sort of awards seem to crop out of nowhere sometimes. On the subject of testing parachutes.....would this also have been awarded posthumously?

Yeah - its quite a mouthful I reckon a very interesting exercise nonetheless. Maybe something one can take up hoping that other members are helpful enough to help with the pooling of information. Really worth its while at the end! So all the more appreciative of your efforts and work. This here collector put them to good use. Thanks Rick!!

Gentleman, Whilst on the topic of veteran medals, I have come accross medals for Veteran of Labour both with a dark patina applied to the obverse of the medal as well as with no patina at all (i.e. obverse and reverse both silver cloured). There is no mention of this medal with no patina in the "Red Bible" and yet these medals seem to be around. Can anyone help with this? Cheers!

Is there a new updated version of the book or is it still the 1997 edition? Not that there is much to update on although more info on spotting certain fakes as well as more info on the award docs would make the book that little bit more complete. Interestingly my very treasured copy came all the way from Russia a few years back. It cost my mother in law much more than the price on the dust jacket. but she could never go wrong such a gift!

Interestingly 86497 found its way into my collection some months back.