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    Wessel Gordon

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    Posts posted by Wessel Gordon

    1. Any idea on the manufacturing date/year of the medal?

      To my very untrained eye the medal seems to be in pristine condition for a medal that's, for argument's sake, 20-30 years old.

      But it's better if the more knowledgeable members voice their opinion...I might be completely wrong and in that case will gladly accept being corrected.

    2. Thanks Peter.

      Just waiting for us to be settled in our new house (which might take a while since we have to sell the old one first) then my collection is going in a shadow box. I'm in contact with a local guy that cleans and mounts medals for a living to help me clean them properly but when it comes to mounting me and him have very conflicting ideas so I'm waiting till after the move to decide.

       

    3. Daniel,

      Thanks for the interesting information.

      I attach a copy of my PLM so as all those that joined in the discussion can see it's the ordinary PLM without Oak Leaves. 

      If the lowest ranking officer that got the Oak Leaves version was a major I guess the highest appropriate insignia for the ordinary PLM would be a captain.

      That begs another question: the last PLM was awarded on 22 September 1918 should it be a Prussian captain or should it be German?

      During the German Revolution in November 1918 the Kaiser and all the other monarchs of territories consisting modern Germany abdicated and the Treaty of Versailles was signed by Germany.

       

      Pour le Merite Obverse.jpg

    4. I have a collection of South African, British and US medals as well as a single copy of a Pour le Merite. With the three other groupings I'm planning to include the insignia of a high ranking officer of the appropriate military. What would be an appropriate rank (and date of that rank) be to display with the Pour le Merite?

      For the SADF collection I have a full colonel's shoulder boards, for the British collection i am working on getting a full general's ''parade dress'' insignia and for the US collection I have the insignia of a four star general.

      Any suggestions?

       

    5. 922F

      I do know about the ban on noble titles as long as a citizen remains a US citizen but for instance Bill Gates is a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire so if for some reason he decides to relinquish his US citizenship and accept UK citizenship he would be entitled to be called Sir Bill Gates.

      Strictly speaking ''Sir'' or ''Dame'' is a honorific and not a noble title which in the British system starts with Baron which would entitle the holder to use the title ''Lord Gates of Microsoft'' to use a very stupid example.

    6. muckaroon,

      Thanks for the reply.

      After a refreshing afternoon nap I suddenly remembered the old South African General Jan Smuts. Despite fighting against the British in the Second Boer War (1899-1902) at the end of his life in 1950 he was a British Field Marshall with the following medals: 1914-1915 Star, 1939-1945 Star, Africa Star, British War Medal, Defense Medal, France and Germany Star, Italy Star, Order of Merit, Order of the Companions of Honor and War Medal 1939-1945.He was also a member of the Privy Council.

      So it definitely happened that South African soldiers was appropriately awarded by foreign nations in times of war.

       

    7. As some of you might know I have medals of South Africa, Britain and the United States and the following question suddenly popped up in my mind: is there any UK/SA medals/decorations that are officially allowed to be worn on a US soldier's uniform? According to Wikipedia there isn't any but dear old Wikipedia's information isn't always infallible. I'm thinking in terms of say, a US senior officer, that worked closely with his British/South African counterparts on some sensitive mission/issue and the foreign country decide to reward the US soldier with an appropriate medal.

      Obviously the soldier in question's US medals will always take precedence in terms of display either in the form of the medals themselves or their appropriate ribbons as seems to be the rule in all countries militaries.

       

    8. Exactly what I thought except he did not notice that the design of the ''France and Germany Star'' in his collection differed substantially from all the others. All the other medals themselves in the WW2 series he had for sale had exactly the same obverse design so the difference immediately caught my eye.

      And to be honest: I don't feel bad for asking him to break up the set to sell the Silver Star separately since it clearly wasn't a France and Germany Star so in fact it wasn't a bona fide full WW2 set as claimed.

    9. I'm still new to collecting medals and i tend to buy medals that catches my eye.

      In the case of the Silver Star (and it's miniature I also have) in this picture it was part of a group by a seller as a WW2 group that the seller thought was the  France and Germany Star. Luckily I spotted the difference and he broke up the set and sold the Silver Star set to me.

      Just shows what kind of thing can pop up if you do some research and have sharp eyes.

       

    10. Here's a picture of my US collection.

      Left to right: Congressional Medal of Honor (Air Force), Air Force Cross, Silver Star, Legion of Merit, Bronze Star and Purple Heart.

      Enjoy and if you want clearer pictures please feel free to ask.

       

      Collection.jpg

    11. Here's a picture of my entire SADF collection. Please excuse the miniatures and poor zoom but it's hard to take a picture of 12 medals in one picture.

      Left to right: Honoris Crux (1975), Danie Theron Medal, Pro Merito Medal, Military Merit Medal, Pro Partia Medal, General Service Medal (GSM), Southern Africa Medal, Unitas Medal, John Chard Decoration, De Wet Decoration, John Chard Medal and De Wet Medal.

      I have full-size medals of all of these except the first two so that's why I took a picture of the miniatures. If you want clearer pictures feel free to ask.

       

      Collection.jpg

    12. Gordon,

      No problem. I was so pumped on adrenaline when I got the MOH that i only noticed afterwards the picture is out of focus.

      And you have a pair of very very sharp eyes: the Medal of Honor and Victoria Cross are indeed copies. The Honoris Crux miniature was advertised as a ''restrike'' so strictly speaking I guess that falls under the category of ''copy'' as well.

      I'm still an amateur/novice collector with only so much cash laying around and part of the thrill for me at this stage is saying ''I have that medal'' be it a copy or original.

      As far as my full-sized SADF medals go: They are all numbered and I approached a local expert and gave him the numbers. He confirmed that they are indeed genuine SADF medals but the numbers I have are so high that it makes it unlikely that some of them was actually issued. Sadly our SADF records for medals aren't as transparent as it seems it is in some overseas countries so I could never find resources that could tell me medal number this and that belonged to that soldier. 

       

       

    13. I'm not sure if this is the right forum but since I'm mainly a South African Military collector it seems like the right place.

      Today I received the US Medal of Honor pictured below with the old South African Honoris Crux and the UK Victoria Cross. I'm not sure how many collectors have the highest valor/bravery medals of several militaries so I'm pretty sure this picture is a pretty rare sight.

       

      IMG_20190808_155125.jpg

    14. I have some British medals and would like to have a ribbon rack professionally assembled for them. I wandered all over the internet but could only find sites that provide the service for US medals. Could someone perhaps recommend a site/person that would be willing to build such a rack for for the following medals:

      1. Member of the British Empire (Military Division)

      2. Victoria Cross

      3. George Cross

      4. Distinguished Service Order

      5. Distinguished Service Cross

      6 .Military Cross.

      Kind regards,

      Wessel Gordon

       

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