IrishGunner

It certainly has the ring that soldier's in the line are not the "fortunate sons."  Interesting that it was sold for the benefit of the unit fund.  One would think it would have had a more patriotic tone.  Perhaps it's meant more in humor than as criticism.

I missed seeing DrakeGoodman's name in the corner.  If I had noticed it, I would have cited it in my post.  DG is the source for a lot of great images with immense research value and with his name on the photos, I believe due credit is afforded to him.  Too bad he's removed many of his best photos.  It's just my opinion, but I see no point in owning such a photo, if it's not shared under fair use for its historical value.  Now, if someone is out there reproducing them for sale, that's an entirely different story...

The attached WWI postcard was sold to support the unit fund of the II. Batl. 1. bayer. Fuß-Art.-Regt.  Any help with the meaning of the text?  Dankschee!

23 minutes ago, Paul R said:

It is a great looking bar.  What is the era of the last medal?

Paul, you are so right - a great looking bar!  The Bulgarian Silver Merit Medal has Ferdinand I as "Tsar" - so it dates 1908-1918. It has the wartime ribbon; so, an award for WWI service.

A very nice NCO bar with Eastern Front service with the Bulgarians.

Here's another image I found in the internet with a good opportunity to revive this thread.  Of note, I came back to this GMIC thread by Googling "Grabenkanone" - showing we are still one of the best sources on the internet!

I always thought these were infantry weapons, but found an image from 1914 on the internet that is interesting since it has artillerymen posing with a Grabenkanone...(as evidenced by ball topped Pickelhaube).

Image deleted by IrishGunner.

Thanks, Paul.  That is helpful to explain why the BWM and VM aren't on this MIC.  Still lots of research to do - spent some time yesterday reading about RFC balloon sections.

I found a reference that da Fonseca attended the Kaiser Maneuvers in Germany in 1910, which I believe were in northern Germany near Stettin.

From a San Francisco newspaper article in 1910:

KAISER TO ENTERTAIN BRAZIL'S PRESIDENT

Marshal Fonseca to Be Guest at . • Naval Maneuvers BERLIN, July 30.~Emperor William «has invited Marshal Fonseca, president elect of Brazil, who is in Germany, to be "his guest at the German naval maneuvers off- Kiel at the end of August. The invitation: has been accepted. . After a two weeks' stay in Germany^ where Fonseca will be entertained by I various persons, he expects to go .to Paris, returning for the naval maneuvers. Following the maneuvers he will go to^England. . " " . ....

With the Army maneuvers in Stettin and the naval maneuvers in Kiel; a Zapfenstreich in Danzig...  It was a busy summer vacation.

da Fonseca would have been President-Elect in August 1910 - election in March, inauguration in Nov 1910.

Great document!

I picked this medal up in 2007 simply because of the unusual name and the desirable unit (R. Fus.); now that I'm doing a bit of research, I think I've discovered my man became a Balloon Officer with 37 Balloon Section in 1917 and moved to 2nd Balloon Company in 1918.  Both serving in France.  If so, another serendipity find...as that would make him an observer for artillery! 

Nice pick up.  I really enjoy these finds - you think you bought just a medal and end up with a bit of history.

Recently located this 14/15 Star along with about 40 of it's missing brethren (I knew they were in the house, just couldn't locate them after the move two years ago)...  I am hoping one of our MIC experts can help decode the "Remarks" box.  I presume "Com. RFC 25/9/16" suggest he was commissioned from Flying Officer to an officer rank; I think I found a Gazette entry for a Joseph Toulmin being appointed 2nd Lieutenant, but it's dated 16 October.  The remainder of the comments in the Remarks box are a bit of a mystery to me...  Any clues or other information about F.O. Toulmin appreciated.  (Sorry for the poor scans of the medal; working with new scanner software since the conversion to Win10.)

Nice photo with the Order of the Iron Crown with swords...along with the Military Merit Cross with war decoration and swords.

Chris, thanks for that...  I only remember seeing references to a Transvaal Horse Artillery that I think was in GSWA.  I also don't think I've seen anything about a South African horse arty unit in France as you note.  Abbreviation references are often guesses themselves. 

If I ever motivate myself to get back to writing articles on WWI artillery, a South African piece would be a good one.

Brett, I too thought S.A.H.A. was for South African Heavy Artillery.  However, the source from the National Archives posted by Bill in Post #30 seems authoritative.  I went back to my notes on the lone S.A.H.A. medal in my collection (a BWM) to a Gunner, but I did not record the source I found then for the abbreviation.  Of course, if you look at medals for sale on the internet with the S.A.H.A. abbreviation, they usually state Heavy Artillery.  So, there still is some doubt on my part.   But even with that, I would have to go with the source provided by Bill that it's Horse Artillery vice Heavy Artillery. 

Other thoughts?

Bill, out of curiosity, what is the regiment/corps of the recipient?

I think the fact that you chose to share this with us says more about you...

Nice.  I would think these veteran badges could be a good collecting theme...(thinking of another thread)

I think that Mitglieds-Ausweis for the Tapferkeitsmedaille has to be a fairly scarce item.  Thanks for sharing.

Have a medal or ribbon bar that includes a Victory Medal?  Let's use this topic to cover those full or miniature bars of interest.  Nothing says you can't show/discuss it under the appropriate country heading as well, just a place for those looking at bars specifically.

Enjoy!

TimB

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Above is Tim's post starting this new topic, edited to specify that the bar can be from any country but has to include/feature a Victory Medal or ribbon. Thanks!

Tim, the issue was brought "public" by another member in the British thread in response to your initial suggestion.  Therefore, I decided to open the discussion to the entire membership and not just a selected few in private messaging.  As moderator, I should take into account all views.  I see your view.  And as a member I have my own view, which is a "nay" vote for the reasons stated.

We do not need a poll, but rather an open discussion, which is what we now have... 

Stefan, thanks!  I wish I knew all this stuff when I lived in Europe - I could have logged another few thousand kilometers on my car!

Posted 5 hours ago (edited) · Report post

By "substantial" do you mean the approximately 6 posts of 231 that show mini's - less than 3% of the total - in this British Vic tread?  Even the few posts in response don't qualify as "much discussion" in my opinion.  Maybe semantics, but I don't see that as substantial. For me, minis are an integral part of the overall discussion on British Vics and should not be separated into a new thread.  It's valuable context and breaks up the sometimes long discussion on Types in the thread (don't misunderstand - it's valuable discussion to the specialists, but not all of us are type specialists). Do we break those discussions out for the specialists as well?  Full size bars and ribbon bars are reflected throughout the British country-focused thread also. Do full size bars and ribbon bars deserve their own thread too? 

It seems to me that would take the Victory Medal forum back to where it was before the structure/organization we have now... Is this new thread to be just for British minis or minis in general - mixing minis from other countries into the same thread as well?  Doesn't that go against the structure of the forum as requested some time ago by the collected body to organize all threads about a country's Vics into one topic?  The unique combination of types, minis, bars, and ribbons shows a complete story. I believe that is the value of having everything from one country in a topic.  It's like having a very thorough and detailed book.  Rather than a bunch of separate pamphlets.

So, while a new thread on minis would serve the "specialist miniature collectors that only collect mini's", I don't believe it serves the interest of the broader Victory Medal collecting community.

That's what I have to say...  What do others have to say?  Should we start breaking apart the country threads into specialized threads?

I think the world is sensitive to a Bavarian Gefreiter with an EK1.  Maybe that's why one doesn't see as many photos.

I've seen that 1er somewhere before...  With that Karbine, maybe a Fussartillerie kanonier.

Eh, a 21 cm Mörser M1916. Nothing special.  Bertha was 42cm.  Interestingly, this standard WWI Fussartillerie piece is similar in caliber to the NATO M110 203mm Self-Propelled Howitzer. But very different in its appearance.

He's smiling.  Imagine how much tougher he must have been compared to those tall guys.