paul wood

You don't want it, give me the details of the seller and I will buy it to stop you wasting your money. Seriously it is a Royal Egyptian merit medal, Owain knows the exact details. Atb. P

I can see no obvious problem with the enthronement medal of 1907, however without physical examination or high resolution photographs I cannot be 100% certain, I would be a liar if I said I could. I work for a London auction house, A person from a certain former British colony south of Canada and North of Mexico sent me some quite good photographs of an extremely rare Italian Renaissance coin, I could see nothing wrong with it, even when it arrived it didn't say fake; however it sold in the auction for a very high price- three weeks later it returned with a report from a highly respected Italian specialist which confirmed, undoubtedly, it was an exceptional quality turn of the 19th/20th century copy, commissioned by an Italian collector, who, if he was unable to acquire a piece would commission the finest forger available to make him a copy. When I broke the news to the seller I was threatened with life changing litigation, hence I am prepared to give opinions with caveats but nothing definitive without proof. P

I can see no problem, certainly during the First World War, when France and Japan were allies, P

The award was founded by King Sisavang in (or around) 1909, therefore certainly i can see no reason why a Japanese soldier could not have one, especially if he was a member of the Japanese military legation in Phnom Penh, which would have been part of the consular service, from say WWI to the 1930s, does your Japanese soldier have any other medals or is there a piece of paper with the Order or is it a piece of E-bay bullshit? P

One at the end is the India O St J merit medalbwith portrait of Gandhi P

What period are we talking about and what other awards does he have? P

I have bought many medals from Jeff, you get no unpleasant surprises from hin, and as to grading if he says something is VF it is at least that if not better. He was in London 13 days ago and I had a very enjoyable chat. Maybe, as the aborigines say, he has gone walkabout, give him a chance to shake off the jet lag, like yours truly, he is not in the first flush of youth, our brains work just as well, but like a classic car, we take a bit longer to get into gear but once we are there we keep going for ever. P

God knows, Siberian mammoth hoof glue?

last Imperial type, third class, definitely, Second Grade (I think). Sorry books not to hand P

The first Korea War medal was issued in 1953 and has the first Britt Omn legend, those issued from 1954 have the second obverse type DEI GRATIA REGINA and the third type also issued in 1953 has CANADA below the bust. Paul

I have always found that the worse the economic situation the more money is invested it collectables. As a collector of medals relating to Indian recipients of campaign and gallantry medals during the HEIC and British rule the prices, unfortunately for me, don't seem to decrease. Still when I decide to relinquish the pursuit, as I own over 1,000 medals, my bank manager with not be too disappointed. P

Nice story P

It's a better than average example of this Orthodox Order, and 100% fine, they are not official governmental awards, but awards created by the various Greek Orthodox Patriarchies and are awarded to services to them (which may or may not involve financial contributions). There are many types of these orders, it's really a case of whether you wish to collect non-governmental awards, the further you go down that road you could end up filling several truckloads of non-governmental and privately established ODMS, these are at the higher end of the spectrum. P

Yep, correctly identified but arsy-versy layout. P

This appears to be typical treasure hunter B/S, a bit like the fraudulent Oak Island treasure (Believe in that then you believe in fairies, goblins and bigfoot). It's all designed to get retards to part with their money IMHO P

The second class would be worn as a breast badge when on riband bar. P Or it may be his oreviously awarded Third

Obviously a senior russian officer, he has the officer's insignia for 25 years . I think the gold star is St George, would be a Crimea period award I suspect. Could not be many 2nd class awards (second class had stars). P

It's a commemorative of Stepa Stepanov who was commander of the 2nd Serbian Army in WWI, interesting, P

Interestingly they share the HQ with the London Scottish (or vice-versa). P

Alas he died a few months ago, I have no idea how the collection will be disposed of. P

Victoria was a latin name and as you say Elizabeth, is Elizabeth, monarchs names on coins from 1483 Richard Ricardvs, Henry Henricvs, Edward Edwardvs, Mary Maria, James Jacobvs, Charles Carolvs, William Gvilielmvs, George Georgivs. But if you are having D:G: Dei Gratia (by Grace of God) F:D: Fidei Defensor (Defender of the Faith (interestingly a title given to Henry VIii by the pope on his refutation of Luther's teachings)) sudely hd should use his latin name of Carolvs. P

Bought one the other week for our reference library, highly recommended. P

Point taken Dave. P

Not necessarily Austrian, triangular ribbon was popular in the Balkans, especially Serbia. P

The awards if Coronation medals have never been limited to just those present. Usually Mayors and Provosts vc and gc holders and various officials of his majesty's dominions and overseas posessions and members of the royal household and those involved in policing the event and military in the Coronation procession. Which I thinks is reasonable Mayors, provosts, Dominion and overseas possession officals will all be in charge of organising coronatipn festivitiies in their area of remit. VC and GC winners just deserve it. P