jzab

Hi Miguel, thanks for the information you sent. can you tell me what time period/for which war you are referring to as i don't want to speculate and put down the wrong years. if you come across any further info or pic's of the items i will be pleased to hear from you again.

I think that this is a non official "sweetheart" issue...The black rectangle with the six pointed star is the insignia of the "Alferez" grade ...the lowest junior officer grade one can find in the spanish army...He cames from the civil war when volunteers of some education were, after a brief period of "condensed" officer instruction go to the rangs as "Provisional" officer (or acting officer) as a "fill the gap" war mesure, due to the shortage of career officers(Alferez provisional, similar to: = Fahnenjunker, ensign, etc... provisional).

The grade was only for the duration of war time and it was supposed that after this, the acting officer will be discharged and return home...a civilian again...

I hope this will be of some help

Miguel

This last set of pic's are of the orginal canadian award medallion.

The first medals were for the BC Corps. I am now attaching the ones for the rest of Canada.

AS ANOTHER NOTE THE CANADIAN ONES ALSO CAME IN SEPARATE ENGLISH AND FRENCH VERSIONS UNTIL THEY DECIDED TO COMBINE THE ENGLISH AND FRENCH ON A SINGLE MEDAL.

RE: The commissionaires Medals.

The ones pictured here are British LSM's. All the Commwealth countries had their own distictive design and Canada had 2 [one being the British Columbia CC and the rest of the country]. However, the Canadian one had the same ribbon as the British LSM. I am attaching pic's of both the Canadian medals. But as a point of interest the Canadian one comes in a variety of metals during different periods and originally it was a presentation medallion not to be worn. The current medal is used throughout Canada including BC when they amalgamated with the rest of the country. Hope this has been of some use. p.s bars were awards for each 5 additional years of service on both the corps' medals.

looks like i will have to send 3 replies as my pic sizes are to big for one. i will paste tham all in my album as well.

uote name='GraemeR' date='Mar 21 2008, 02:42 ' post='250466']

The 2nd photo is of The Corps 1st Class LS&GC. They come in 3 classes in the UK and are still awarded today.

The Canadian Medal bears no resemblance to the UK one and I believe that they use Clasps to signify further service.

Below is a small write up I did a long time ago.

The Corps of Commissionaires was formed in 1859 by Captain Edward Walter, who established the organisation to provide gainful employment for those servicemen returning from the Crimean War. Captain Walter was of the view that ex-servicemen were being shabbily treated by the government of the day and recognising that these people had much still to offer, provided them with an opportunity to earn a wage and make a useful contribution to society. In 1901, His Majesty King Edward VII consented to head The Corps list of governors in the office of Chief Life Governor, an honour the reigning monarch has continued ever since.

Even today the Corps still draws the majority of its staff from ex-servicemen.

3rd Class Award

This is awarded for 10 years exemplary service. It comprises the Corps Crest, which is an Anchor with Cannon crossed by a Sword and Rifle to demonstrate that the Corps drew men from the Navy, Artillery, Cavalry and Infantry. This award is worn on the right sleeve almost midway between elbow and shoulder. To receive this award the recipient must have savings of ?30.

2nd Class Award

This is awarded for 15 years exemplary service. A Black coloured metal 16 point star bearing a central medallion with the Union Jack in the centre surrounded by the Latin Mottoes: 'VIRTUTE ET INDUSTRIA' (by valour and industry) and 'LABOR VINCIT OMNIA' (work conquers all). Fitted with a plain ring for suspension from the ribbon, which bears the Corps Crest of an Anchor with Cannon crossed by a Sword and Rifle. The Crest is also a Black coloured metal. The ribbon consists of a broad red central stripe flanked by a narrow white and blue stripe. To receive this award the recipient must have savings of ?60.

1st Class Award

This is awarded for 20 years exemplary service. A Silver coloured metal 16 point star bearing a central medallion with the Union Jack in the centre surrounded by the Latin Mottoes: 'VIRTUTE ET INDUSTRIA' (by valour and industry) and 'LABOR VINCIT OMNIA' (work conquers all). Fitted with a plain ring for suspension from the ribbon, which bears the Corps Crest of an Anchor with Cannon crossed by a Sword and Rifle. The Crest is also a Silver coloured metal. The ribbon consists of a broad red central stripe flanked by a narrow white and blue stripe. To receive this award the recipient must have savings of ?100.

I started looking at this category on the frontiersmen and thought it should be really interesting and that I could find some more tidbits to go with the book I am doing, on " The Legion of Frontiersmen - Their Badges & Medals & Other Memorabilia ". The book would cover all the countries [conlonies] where they were organized. I have hundreds of pictures I have been collecting for years now. For me to load up on pics on the forum would defeat the purpose of me doing a book. I have a couple of very nice groups in my collection but will download pics of soom others. I would appreciate any help provided and if material or pics used will give credt to contributors.

Butt to get back to the topic I wanted to speak about, it really seems a waste of time to argue about it or start printing hundreds of pages of a book [of which you could find in any organizational booklet] and wasting time as I thought the forum was to provide useful information for collectors to help them in their collecting interests rather than turn them away. thank you

I recently purchased this item INSIGNIA DE LOS ALF?RECES PROVISIONALES (VIUDAS) on ebay from Spain. A literal translation reads ' STANDARD OF THE PROVISIONAL LIEUTENANTS (WIDOWS) '. I had previously seen this badge and a very short description stating that it is a type of military NOK badge. I also have a pic of one that was described as a civilian NOK badge. I have them both pictured in my album but will paste them here as well. I am looking for information on these items for the 2nd volume of my Wound Medals, Badges & NOK awards book. Any assistance will be acknowledged and very much appreciated. thanks.

But then there were a very few bakelite badges produced during the war by the british ? canadian forces. So who knows for sure. :blush:

Has there ever been any notation of any other German badges ever being made of lucite. Seems hard to believe that they would only make the wound badges of this material. Have these supposed dug items come in all three levels of the badge. With the technology today anything can be created and created to look ancient or buried or whatever. Some even go so far as to making items more pristine than the originals ever were poroduced. I am still looking for information on the German cloth wound badges. i have seen pic's of them in the different grades and do have a black cloth wb. jzab

hi norman,

on ebay i charge $9.00 for overseas, but i will give members of the GMIC a discount rate and will charge only $20.00 for the book and P&H anywhere.

are you going to pay via paypal, if so i will need your email address to send an invoice. and do you want the book autographed.

have a good day

john

Morning John

Can you give me an indication of what shipping costs to Pretoria, South Africa would be.

Will US$20.00 cover purchase and shipping or will it be more.

Regards

Norman

hi norman,

on ebay i charge $9.00 for overseas, but i will give members of the GMIC a discount rate and will charge only $20.00 for the book and P&H anywhere.

are you going to pay via paypal, if so i will need your email address to send an invoice. and do you want the book autographed.

have a good day

john

Morning John

Can you give me an indication of what shipping costs to Pretoria, South Africa would be.

Will US$20.00 cover purchase and shipping or will it be more.

Regards

Norman

hi all,

is there someone out there that can translate the inscription ont the suspension bar.

john

hi ed,

yes i know about that book as well as i am amember of OMSA as well. however, their book only covers WW I as my title was copywrited 10 years previous. in the process of doing my book i had been approached as it was suggested that i should hold off on doing my book. i didn't understand why at that time until i have approached OMSA for including my book in their books for sale section and i got told they were not interested in it as OMSA was putting out a new monograph on the same topic and didn't want my book competing with theirs. i also noted in thier monograph that the authors had purposely misspelled my name when using references because one of them knows me very well as he belonged to the MCC of C as well and we have met at different conventions over the years.

not to dwell on the above, i am working on volume 2 of my book. my computer crapped out on me with my files gone i have to piece the book together from some previous backups not so current and then try to fill in the blanks. i have also cleaned up most of the pics to show better detail. i am also rewriting my first volume to follow the same format as volume 2 which is much better and i will have corrections made to items from comments i have rec'd over the years from interested readers who have purchased a copy of my book.

since i have been selling my book overseas i have had people from there tell me that people have been copying my book and selling it. i have even come across an obvious photocopy of my book for sale on ebay. but then i do come across original copies of my book as well.

there are also a few good books out there as well that only delt with one county, namely William Hammelman's book on German Wound Badges. afterwards he stated that the book was incomplete as he forgot to include the cloth wound badges of WW II. There is a book on French Wound Medal only, but is long out of print and expensive to pruchase. i have only seen one for sale on ebay in France. however the book is in french. there are 2 more books on german wound badges, one from germany [in german of course] which is also out of print and hard to find and then there is the other book on german wound badges from italy [in italian of course] but is avalable on ebay, italy and is listed now and then.

if anyone knows of any other books written on wound medals, badges, i would be pleased to hear from you.

hi ed,

yes i know about that book as well as i am amember of OMSA as well. however, their book only covers WW I as my title was copywrited 10 years previous. in the process of doing my book i had been approached as it was suggested that i should hold off on doing my book. i didn't understand why at that time until i have approached OMSA for including my book in their books for sale section and i got told they were not interested in it as OMSA was putting out a new monograph on the same topic and didn't want my book competing with theirs. i also noted in thier monograph that the authors had purposely misspelled my name when using references because one of them knows me very well as he belonged to the MCC of C as well and we have met at different conventions over the years.

not to dwell on the above, i am working on volume 2 of my book. my computer crapped out on me with my files gone i have to piece the book together from some previous backups not so current and then try to fill in the blanks. i have also cleaned up most of the pics to show better detail. i am also rewriting my first volume to follow the same format as volume 2 which is much better and i will have corrections made to items from comments i have rec'd over the years from interested readers who have purchased a copy of my book.

since i have been selling my book overseas i have had people from there tell me that people have been copying my book and selling it. i have even come across an obvious photocopy of my book for sale on ebay. but then i do come across original copies of my book as well.

there are also a few good books out there as well that only delt with one county, namely William Hammelman's book on German Wound Badges. afterwards he stated that the book was incomplete as he forgot to include the cloth wound badges of WW II. There is a book on French Wound Medal only, but is long out of print and expensive to pruchase. i have only seen one for sale on ebay in France. however the book is in french. there are 2 more books on german wound badges, one from germany [in german of course] which is also out of print and hard to find and then there is the other book on german wound badges from italy [in italian of course] but is avalable on ebay, italy and is listed now and then.

if anyone knows of any other books written on wound medals, badges, i would be pleased to hear from you.

There is also an OMSA monograph on the same subject. Their online store is, unfortunately, out of order at the moment.

hi norman and perce,

sorry for taking so long to reply. below is the info i have on the book that i list on ebay for sale. if you are interested in a copy you can let me know. they are $15.99 plus post. i take paypal for easy payment and faster shipping. i give dealer discounts on multiple books ordered if interested. thanks for your interest. i will autograph your copy if you should want. see pic of cover in my album on this site.

ISBN: 0920030270Complete Book Title: Wound Medals, Badges, and Next-of-Kin Awards of the World: A Study of these awards from the Boer War to Current issued items.Author: John M. ZabaryloBinding Type: Spiral bound soft coverCopyright Date: 1988Number of Pages: 60Size: 15cm x 22.5cm [5 1/2" x 8 1/2"]Book Subject: Militaria: medals, badges

I am the authorized, direct-from-the-author/publisher/retailer of this NEW book, which is ALWAYS ON HAND and available for immediate shipping. IF YOU WOULD LIKE YOUR COPY AUTOGRAPHED, PLEASE LET ME KNOW....

' WOUND MEDALS, BADGES & NEXT OF KIN AWARDS OF THE WORLD ' is a long awaited book on the topic that was a long time in coming to collectors.

• It is the first ORIGINAL compilation of its kind concerning all the countries and how they recognized the sacrifices of their dead and wounded service personnel. None of the countries were prepared for the appalling number of casualties suffered and few countries had any established medals or awards to offer them.
• Though by no means comprehensive, this book represents a very great effort on the part of the author to bring together the various scattered and diverse recognitions for services rendered on behalf of the Allied Nations and for the Central Powers as well.
• This publication offers the collector and historian a new perspective on the wars being covered from the Boer War to present.
• Format being soft bound with spiral binding makes for easy looking so that the pages do not flip by themselves. There are lots of photographs of seldom seen medals, decorations and orders, as well as those awards commonly encountered, with their details captured in B&W as well as line drawings, and descriptions for the novice, the opportunity to identify items in their collections.
• Some of the medals covered are from: Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Columbia, Croatia, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, India, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Vietnam, Spain, and the United States.

Interesting-

If you wish to get rid of that merit medal, let me know.

I strongly suspect the Derg medals were made in the DDR.

All the medals I have encountered so far have had blank, "pebbled" reverses.

Is there a difference in weights?

hi, i don't have those medals in my collection but rather it was a pic of a group that i didn't win on ebay duue to the fact that there are so many ghost collectors of wound medals that they seem to pop up when i am bidding on an item. but i don't see them jumping to purchase my boo on wound medals that i did.

The bottom medal-is that not the Military Merit medal 2/3rd class?

i am not sure what the bottom medal is as i was only interested in the wound medals. if you have a close look at them you can see a lot of little minor differences in that they may have been made by different manufactures. on the backs of the ones i have they are all blank, no marking at all.

jzab

I would love to see them!!

Just loaded a pic up in my album, note that the bottom medal is not a wound medal. jzab

Hi, as a note the medal also came with a painted heart as i have one in my collection. when i have the time and can figure out how to download pic's i will get some put up in my album. jzab.

I was recently browsing online and I saw this badge offered as "WW1 ITALY WAR WOUNDED VETERANS BADGE MUTILATI INVALIDI". Has anyone seen this badge before?

This badge is for members of a military veterans association. they come in a couple different sizes and in different colors. i have no idea of the signifigance for doing that. there is also a similiar badge for a civilian association. there are also badges for orphans and orphan associations. in the facist period they had their own medals and badges for wounded which are extremely scarce and expensive to purchase.

i have noticed in the 20 odd years of collecting WMB that the countries that have lost the wars seem to put out them most stuff for the wounded. jzab