JBFloyd

And Lot 3.

And Lot 2.

The first of several photos of unknown Burma/Myanmar pieces. The one with 3 stars on the obverse is described as "Peace Medal, Shan Border". Any information greatly appreciated.

Thanks again for the extra information.

Many thanks for the help, Naxos. My eyes just were not working today.

I can get the name, but after that my functional illiteracy takes over. Who is this man? This relates to an 1870 EKII document.

Upper row 4. Cruz de Toluca 1821 Lower row 1. Crus de Azcapotzalco 1821 Lower row 2. Cruz de Juchi Lower row 3. Cruz de Veracruz 1822

1. Navy Good Conduct Medal 2. Navy Expert Pistol Shot

I'd be most interested if a name can be attached to it. The group looks absolutely correct and is actually accompanied by a matching miniature set and ribbon bar (which does not include the Hindenburg Cross or Officer's Service Cross), both of which seem correct as well. It comes out an estate via an agent, so getting detailed provenance is tough.

And the back, showing the Godet tag.

A choice little morsel looking for a recipient's name to go with it, if the research gnomes are awake.

No info on provenance of the piece, unfortunately, but I'll have to check the Thiess catalog.

It looks like almost everything was added or heavily retouched after the image was taken, so identification is tough.

Unfortunately, I only have his engraved EKI.

Glenn, Many thanks for the help.

Any info on Major Konno Schruff (received an EKI in August 1915) would be appreciated.

Nice clean, older strikes like this on a slot brooch are uncommon, especially with all the bits. I see them in the market at US$50-70.

38th Infantry Division Puglie was an Italian Division mobilized in June 1940. It took part in the invasion of Yugoslavia and served as an occupation unit in Montenegro through July 1941 when it was sent to Albania. It remained there until the Italian surrender. "Monastero 731" must be a location, but I can find nothing on it.

Assuming it's gilt, it's the Order of the British Empire, officer (OBE), first type, civil division. A Major John Alexander Ferguson received an OBE. Born 2 February 1880. He was Registrar of the HIgh Court, Lahore. In WWI, he had been a captain, 5th Punjab Light Horse, Indian Defence Force. He was also the Secretary for the Punjab of the Second Indian War Loan. As a civil division award, it probably related to his court position, although certainly could have included his War Loan work.

The second breast star and the neck badge are insignia of a knight commander, Royal Victorian Order.

The 9th Division was in the area of Cotes de Meuse (Calonne trench) from 1914 through 1916. In early 1915, it took part in actions at Les Eparges, with heavy casualties.

The AG's statitical compilation is clearly wrong on this matter, but that's what the Army reported to itself. Until someone follows in Gleim's footsteps and pulls and indexes all the General Orders from the various Army headquarters, we'll not know the real number. And even that will probably miss a few "field" awards that simply were never followed up with a General Order. Ultimately, the Navy award cards will be digitized and made available. That will help answer that part of the question, but still leaves gaps, unfortunately. Each time I've tried to check the Navy cards against another source, I get a different answer.

A local shooting competition participation medal.

Honorably Discharged patch, indicating the man had been discharged from the Navy but was authorized to wear his uniform until he was home and able to acquire civilian clothes.

"Challenge Coin" has come to mean just about anything with a unit designation on it. The lore is that challenge coins were carried to demonstrate unit membership. You were given one upon completion of whatever training was required for unit membership. The real use was as part of a bar game. One could issue a challenge by slapping your coin on the bar; anyone without his coin had to buy the next round. This was even extended beyond the bar. Now, every first sergeant seems to have one that is used as a give-away to unit visitors, atta-boys, shims for short table legs, whatever. Some of these have multi-color enamel and detailed, elaborate designs, looking like Technicolor hockey pucks. These seem to collected the way folks used to collect match books. The first use of a challenge coin I ever witnessed was in 1975. A 5th SF officer was challenged in the Lowry AFB Officers' Club. He produced his coin, thereby requiring the challenger to buy the round. Many brain cells were killed that night. I've never been able to convince myself that these things are "collectable".