Hendrik

Hello Dan, Those maker's marks are very tiny indeed (you would need a looking glass to find them) and I think there may be one or more on this part : Obviously these decorations stem from different manufacturers - notice the differences in the leaves of the wreaths etc. and, not being at all an expert in these matters, I'd say the right one in your picture is the older of the two. As this "1870" type was awarded between 1870 and 1945, there would have been quite a number of variations. The difference in colour of the centre pieces ... well, I don't know. At a guess and supposing both are silver gilt, I wonder if age and how and where the medal was kept can discolour the gilding to such an extent ... ? Small pin holding the centres in place ??? I thought either glue or wax was used so can you elaborate on what pin you are referring to ? More questions than answers I'm afraid ! Cheers, Hendrik

And the oval pinbacked slightly later one : Cheers, Hendrik

As promised, pictures of the early (ca. 1915) unofficial wound badges. Diameter across is 2.5 cm so they are pretty small. To my knowledge there's no ribbon to go with the round medal and it was probably worn on some kind of fastening pin. Note that both badges are somewhat similar in design as they show the arms of the then allied countries. First, the older of the two, the round medal :

Hello Megan, There's also a cross for 1939-45 : identical to the WWI type but for the reverse dates. Haven't a decent picture available right now but maybe another forum member will supply one ... Cheers, Hendrik

Hello Wilco, I'm sure somewhere on the forum some pictures of the well known "unofficial" medals are available. As to the 1915-16 unofficial ones ... I'll downsize my pictures tomorrow as they are currently too large to meet the forum's requirements and will post them tomorrow (dinner time here and guests arriving in just a few minutes ...) Cheers, Hendrik

It would interest me to know how you came to that date ... Quite a bit later I would have thought but I'm open to suggestions ... Cheers, Hendrik

Hello Dan, That would be very helpful indeed ... won't see them till tomorrow with the time difference but I'll take a look then :-) Also, please scan (or otherwise describe) the lower obverse of the crosses, where the wreath ends : that's usually the spot where any maker's marks etc. can be found. Cheers, Hendrik

Hello Wilco, The proper official decoration for military wounded as far as I know is the "Insigne Sp?cial des Bless?s" instituted on 11 December 1916 (and which would thus also be the official one for WW2 wounded). It consists of a ribbon bar with a red enamelled 5-pointed star on it. Normally worn separately, I have this one - mounted on a Croix de Guerre - in my collection : As you mentioned in your question, one does encounter campaign medals with either the red enamelled star on them as a ribbon emblem (sometimes even more than one, indicating the number of wounds received) or the later 1952 silvered bar with that star. For civilian wounded, the official "decoration" is similar : a ribbon bar (different colours being used) with a white enamelled star. Both civilian and military wound medals were manufactured later on (although to my knowledge not in different "grades" as you mentioned ... maybe you were thinking of type variations ?) but these have never been officially instituted although their wearing seems to be condoned. For the sake of completeness, there were also a couple of pre-1916 insignia (a small round medal and a pinbacked oval one which existed in bronze, silver and gold classes), both of them also unofficial. Cheers, Hendrik

Hello Benten, Personally I can't see any as the French 3rd Republic started in 1870 ... nice and interesting item nevertheless ! Cheers, Hendrik

Hello Megan and all, A thread on a particular order or medal can always be started if one is in need of information or wants to share details on variations etc. If relevant, posts from the present more general thread can be transferred to the new thread... Cheers, Hendrik

Hi Chris, The fact that this society or association is allowed to use the adjective "royal" in its name (call it a form of royal patronage if you will), doesn't mean its medals are considered official Belgian government medals. Anyway, I agree that - since using the king's effigy on the medal - approval quite likely had to be sought with the royal house at the time. There would have been no need to involve the then Belgian government and so the medal has to be called "unofficial". Had a look at the one I have in my collection and found the reverse wording different. I'm inclined to think yours is older because of the "centrale" on it but would like to see this confirmed one day. Cheers, Hendrik

Hello Chris, No idea about the criteria : it's a non-official medal and one would have to find the criteria in the archives of that probably no longer existing society (or its successor if there is one). You are right about the time frame : the obverse mentions Leopold II as sovereign of the independent state of Congo and he relinquished the Congo to the Belgian state in October 1908 if my information is correct. Nice named medal ! Cheers, Hendrik

Hello Megan, It is ... Cheers, Hendrik

Hello Megan, Both obverse and especially the reverse of the London type are quite different from the later French issue that, in my opinion, it merits being presented on your site as the original award. Very nice pictures of the current Palmes Acad?miques. As far as I know, there are 6 other "models" (and no doubt each of them has "variations"). Three of these other types are the early embroidered patches (Empire, Restauration and Monarchy types) but the other three are wearable medals. Unfortunately, I have no time frame for those either other than 1866 - 1955). Here's one of them : Cheers, Hendrik

Jacky, I think the shimmering ones you refer to are those being produced still today by the Paris Mint and others as opposed to the original French strikes from the 1950's or 1960's. Those older ones are in bronze and don't "shimmer" at all. Some of the new strikes are gilt-coloured and one does need sunglasses to look at them Cheers, Hendrik

Here's the original London manufactured one :

Hello Megan, Here's what I have on the Resistance Medal (main source : http://www.france-phaleristique.com/accueil.htm ) : - instituted in London on 9 February 1943 by the French National Comittee - could be awarded posthumously - no longer awarded after 1947 (with the exceptions of deported/interned Resistance members or posthumous awards) - criteria : a. taking an especially active part in the resistance against the axis forces or their allies on French soil (including overseas French territories) b. taking an effective and important part in rallying French territories to the Free French cause or rendering signal services to the war effort in those territories c. playing an eminent role abroad in the propaganda and actions of organisations grouping or supporting resistance efforts d. rallying troups, ships or planes to the Free French forces in exceptionally difficult or dangerous circumstances e. rejoin the Free French forces in particularly difficult or meritorious circumstances - could also be awarded to non-French under the same conditions as above - some 64,000 medals were awarded, about 20,000 of them posthumously - collective awards could and were made to military organisations (ships, units, etc.), towns, schools, hospitals etc. and to a few selected societies, the list of which can be found on the above website. No idea what the criteria for the Resistance Medal with Rosette entail. Its recipients received the title of Officer of the Resistance (instituted on 2 November 1945) The original medals were produced in London (J.R. Gaunt) and differ from the later (ca. 1950) model depicted above. I'll have a look for a couple of pictures of one ... Cheers, Hendrik

Thanks Belaruski, that's helpful information ! Cheers, Hendrik

Hello usairforce, Can you tell me why it is a fake ? What, in your opinion, are the points that make the badge I have different from an original ? Regards, Hendrik

Ahem, Erik, ... this is not an inexpensive medal ! Taken from a 2002 sales catalogue : 183.00 Euros Probably can be found for a lesser amount but it gives one an idea of what to expect ! Cheers, Hendrik

Hello Megan, I know you know those things (sorry if my previous post was casting any doubts on that) ... just wanted to make the point that I didn't think an "unofficial stuff" section was necessary on the page concerned. As to the wound ribbon, it's either part of a ribbon bar when ribbons only are worn or, when medals are worn, can be either affixed on a medal's ribbon (as in the CdG picture) or on a bar (one with a little ball at each end). The latter is, as far as I know, the correct and official way of wearing. Hope this helped, Hendrik

Hello Megan, The full-sized fourrag?res are, as you know, official unit awards whereas the miniature ones worn on medals are indeed unofficial. However, the wound ribbons (both those for military and civilian wounded) are 100 % official ... whereas the corresponding wound medals are not ! Perhaps a note on the proper pages would suffice ? Cheers, Hendrik

Megan, An afterthought : you may want to use the picture in http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?s=&showtopic=7482&view=findpost&p=71272 ... I see it's missing on your Legion d'Honneur's 3rd Republic page. Feel free to call on me or others on this forum as you continue on your list of French awards ... Cheers, Hendrik

Hello Megan, Certainly ... and you might also want to add in the text on your webpage the existence of a silver palm, which replaced the award of 5 bronze ones. Cheers, Hendrik