Farkas

On 02/12/2023 at 21:50, SillyOldGrandad said:

The Dorset Regiment and the 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards are the only ones I would trust.        Pete.

That about sums me up, two of those that I wrote off ‘just because’ right at the beginning  😊

Pete, Thanks for your guidance once again 🍻

cheers

tony

Hello Gents,

just a little heads up.

Ive often looked through the medal rolls etc at the national archives but not paid proper attention to what the page says…

I’ve seen the £3.50 charge and assumed that there was a fee whatever. 

 
But no, it is FREE & EASILY accessible.

To ‘sign up’

you simply give your email address and they then mail you to confirm it.

& That’s it 🤷‍♂️
 

After that it’s free for you to order up to 100 documents per 30 days, they immediately email you a pdf file

https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D5867164

Wish I’d realised this sooner 😊

cheers Gents

tony 🍻

Hi Gents,

I bought these 2 the other day, described as RAMC pair.

i noticed this was a bit different though

Something else I have to read up on now.

cheers

tony 🍻

Hello Gents,

I’m aiming to get pictures of a few bits of some IMS uniforms I have posted on here but I’m still reading up on what’s what for now.

Just sussed something…

I knew they were, Queen Victoria,King Edward vii and King George V buttons and I didn’t  focus on them yet. I thought they were bad quality designs.

Queen Victoria , VRi, with a different crown

King Edward Vii , ERVii

is ‘ER1’

(normal crown)

King George V , GRV

is ‘GR1’

(different crown)

They are in fact correct, each were the ‘first Kings Edward/George of India’…

That was new to me.

Cheers tony

On 26/11/2023 at 05:14, Terry37 said:

I wish I could say there is a book that would tell us what to look for in all fakes, but sadly I am not aware of one.

The books are good for identification but not for pointing the difference between genuine and fake as you pointed out. 
 

I see replies on here that demonstrate the need for an experienced eye.

I spent hours looking up some German badge posted on here, it looked nothing like any example I found, the quality was poor and I would have bet it was a copy.

Someone else luckily chipped in before me… it was genuine, they knew the maker and all the differences were normal 🤷‍♂️.  
 

 It’s strange because when I look back at the pictures now I think they look terrible 😊 

cheers

tony 🍻
 

On 26/11/2023 at 05:27, Terry37 said:

my fathers Air Force retirement uniform, my father's WW2 crew Chiefs uniform and an 82nd Airborne uniform worn by a dear friend who served in Afghanistan after graduating West Point.

I can see why you didn’t part with those 3, Fathers own and friends Airborne… priceless pieces.

tony

🍻

On 26/11/2023 at 05:51, Terry37 said:

I am not an expert on RN cap tally's but the back of hfe stitching is at least back to 1982 as the few Falklands Conflict tallies are like that. The newer and fake tallies  have a solid looking rectangle of gold on the back of the stitching. I'll try to take some pictures  of both and post them. Until then here are some of mine. 

 

Terry

I’m pretty sure this was claimed to be from the Falklands period, that was what I was after. As long as it’s not any newer I’m happy 😊 

tony 🍻

On 26/11/2023 at 05:17, Terry37 said:

Thank you Tony!!!

 

It's a fun hobby for me!

 

Terry

Good to see you back Terry, I was starting to worry 😊

🍻🍻

On 23/11/2023 at 10:56, Aberdeen Medals said:

His name is:

 

WILLIAM CHRISTOPHER LONG

 

Born at  Rawalpindi, Punjab, India, 22 March 1877 - Died, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England, 1 May 1960

 

 

Thanks ever so much…

cheers

tony 🍻

Hi Gents,

this is on eBay at the moment…

it’s got 63 watchers

its on £360 / €411 with 4 days left

Is it genuine Gents, I would never have thought so because it’s not the ‘best looking thing’…🤷‍♂️ but with so much interest I’m curious.
 

tony 🍻

PS I’m not thinking of buying it 👍

On 20/11/2023 at 01:37, GlennC said:

May be of some interest to Austro-Hungarian insignia collectors.

Very interesting, nice one Glenn 🍻 

On 20/11/2023 at 02:14, graham said:

Some info on these two sites:

 

https://collections.museumsvictoria.com.au/items/1214528

 

This site has the award document:

https://dutchmilitaria.com/product/wwi-osterreichische-kriegsehrenkreuz-citation-cross-with-swords/

Thanks Graham, 👍👍

On 10/07/2023 at 12:28, Chrisvo said:

I found these at a flea market and was hoping for some help in identifying them. Looked in my reference guides, online and so forth but didn't find any confirmation. Posted on the British and Colonial Police part of the forum but also thought that someone here might be able to help. Thank you.

 

Regards,

Chris

Hi Chris,

there was a Hong Kong police section called the ‘PTC’ between 1958 & 1968.

Then renamed PTU.

Police Tactical Contingent.

I haven’t checked if they wore shoulder titles but I reckon that’s a likelihood knowing us Brits…

tony 🍻

Hello Gents,

I’ve got a few pieces of uniform named to different IMS officers, the earliest is Victorian, that lead me to find out a little more but of course I found more questions than answers…

So, is anyone out there interested in the IMS? or RAMC in India?

cheers

tony 🍻

Hi Gents,

a friend is considering buying one of these and asked me what I know about it.

I said I’d find out but have drawn a blank using Google

Can anyone shed a little light on the organisation and possibly the criteria for its award if any other than membership?

cheers 

tony 🍻

On 17/11/2023 at 10:06, svapr said:

Greetings,

I have a request for you. I got one groupe medals (Iraq, Northern Ireland etc.) on the name J. M. Beveridge and Afghanistan medal on the name K. W. Rushton. Can you advise me where to get information on their owners? 

I’m the last person you want looking but I had a go, I searched a newspaper database I have access to but had no results using just names nor when I tried with RLC, RA also.

Looking for them as civilians, if you are after that information, will probably be successful on ancestry or a similar site but as you may know UK armed forces records for them are not accessible, we still can’t access ww2 records.

tony 🍻

15 hours ago, Graf said:

Yes it is very nice

Cheers 🍻

6 hours ago, Hendrik said:

Hello Gents,

 

The Emile Bousquet of Richard's certificate survived the war as indicated by the mention "a fait la campagne". He was still alive to receive the two medals created in 1920 and 1922 ...  Bousquet is not an uncommon name in France and those soldiers on the Memorial pages were all KIA.

 

Regards,

Hendrik

Ah , thanks Hendrik 👍

I didn’t realise what it meant, i’m glad for the man Emile but that’s a couple of hours I won’t get back 😁

cheers

tony 🍻

Welcome to the forum Richard.

This bit of the forum is seen by members only and most probably don’t check in here that often.

So it would be worthwhile also posting his details in the British section which can be seen by non members too, that way anyone who may ‘Google’ search his details will be able to see your post now or in the future.

You may for now with a bit of luck get some new information from members with access to the war records.

It sounds like he has a story to be found which may be as deserving of preservation as his medals.
He would have at least 2 maybe 3 campaign medals as well as any further medals he earned, do you have any of them?

When you share his story over in the British section, I hope you do 👍, it would be a good move to include the citation and photo if possible, the details will be useful. The missing medal(s) will have details on them that you will need to have the best chance of finding them.

- service number

- rank

- G.A. CROWTHER

- unit

Of course, If you like… You’re welcome to reply here before starting all that 👍

cheers

tony 🍻

Hi both,

I had a search using the page that Rich’s link goes to. 
Using his name and entering the occupation as ‘soldat’ it had a few matches but most with a middle name so I started with the ones without one.

Each name links to information held elsewhere, some didn’t work but because those that did showed the unit and I was able to rule each out.

Then I found this close match

Obviously this says 22 BCA

& The certificate says 63 BCA

The 63rd BCA were the reserve battalion for the 23rd.

The 62nd BCA were the reserve battalion for the 22nd.

Maybe he transferred ?

from the 22👉63   or from 63 👉22 🤷‍♂️

So, In my opinion it’s worth trying to find a connection that may put this soldier in both units…

On 13/11/2023 at 07:36, Hendrik said:

Hello Richard,

 

Your soldier seems to have survived the war as he's not in the list of those killed during the war at the end of the unit's war diary (see https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k63409679/f1.item.texteImage ). Which two medals do you have there ? Pictures would be nice, especially of the diploma ...

 

Regards,

Hendrik

hi Hendrik, I don’t suppose you know, or are able to find a connection between the 22nd & 63rd can you?  I even thought maybe 22nd was actually a brigade or division that the 63rd belonged to, but its a new area to me and I’ve not had any luck yet.

On 13/11/2023 at 21:36, Rich said:

Hi Hendrik 

 

Thank you for replying and also for the war diary. That's an amazing find.

 

He has a common surname, similar to 'Wood' in English, so there are many of them!. Here is a photo of the diploma and medals. I only have the photo the vendor listed: Paid less than 20 euros so I cannot complain. It has the original two medals; I assume he also qualified for the later Croix du Combatant.

 

Best,

Richard

 

 

 

Nice group to have , well worth a little more time trying to get him identified and remembered properly.

cheers

tony 🍻

On 10/11/2023 at 20:55, Carlo said:

You're right, the photos aren't the best, but you should see better from this one.

Another detail that I noticed is that in the second pair of acorns starting from the bottom there is not one on each side, but one on the left and two on the right, something that I only found in this specimen.

I have to verify who the engraver of the decoration was, I don't remember his name at the moment, but it certainly could be.

Most definitely a Z 👍

I’ve found this article, I don’t know which language it is in but I think it’s safe to guess the meaning of the relevant bit,

the reverse is by : Johann Pfeiffer

so the Z almost certainly isn’t for him.

tony 🍻

PS

I think I just realised the reason for both anomalies ! 👇

There are many variations of this medal, both sides, but I don’t think they are intentional.

I think the stamp/dye got worn and was re-etched but the worn down design remaining was interpreted and repaired slightly differently over time…

On the reverse. In all of them the leaves or acorns are in the same ‘footprint’, they overlay each other.

So… The Z is actually an incorrect interpretation of the edge of the ribbon on the original.

& I think the acorns were originally in pairs so one of the 3 acorns on yours should be a leaf.

I noticed mine 👇 coincidentally has a similar upper unusual acorn but is missing the lower outside one, it’s been turned into a leaf.

Yours 👇

These are a few others below.

This first one particularly you can see different it is, in my opinion a worn dye.

tony 🍻

3 hours ago, Carlo said:

Good evening everyone,
with this topic I wanted to share with you this kriegsmedaille which is marked with a small Z at 6 o'clock on the back.

Does anyone know if it is indicative of any manufacturer?
I immediately thought of Zimbler, but I have another marked J.Z. and it's different, so I don't think it's the same manufacturer.

hi Carlo,

I’ve got two of these, the same design with the C not the Z, and neither has the mark yours has.

nor any mark (maker or otherwise) on the rim or elsewhere that I can see…

One thing I wondered is whether it could be the number 2 ?
Obviously the photos never do the details justice so it may well be clear to you that it isn’t 👍 but you know me, I like to mention my random unlikely thoughts 😊

whether a Z or 2 it’s clear there is an intentional difference to the actual design of your medal (to that of mine for example), rather than a stamp or punch mark added post production such as those we find on the rim.

If I only had your example here to go from, or if they all had it…  I would be tempted to say it was the artist/designers  mark or initial… however I would then expect, most likely, two initials 🤷‍♂️
 

An interesting find, well spotted.

tony  🍻

On 23/10/2023 at 23:22, Mike Huxley said:

Very nice groups indeed. The QSA's are particularly nice. 

I agree 🍻

10 hours ago, gfh said:

I think a lieutenant in the Saharan Companies.

A perfect match 👍😁

Or it may just be modern I guess...

which only just occurred to me 🤷‍♂️
 

tony 🍻