Hendrik

Jacky, I fear that must be considered a fantasy one : that particular legend is not official at all. The closest official one would be "Mutualit? - Onderlinge Bijstand". Note that "Moralit?" is part of the legend found on the Industrial Decoration but does not signify "Onderlinge Bijstand" in Flemish at all and, as such, cannot even be called a bilingual legend ! Quirky phony one in that group of yours ! Cheers, Hendrik

Sorry Jacky, can't read the legend around the central medallion ... there's a few of those special decorations for long service and they are only distinguishable through the obverse legend : Health Assistance, Cooperative Societies, Trade Unions, Social Security. Cheers, Hendrik

Certainly, here's one : the Medal for the Widows of the Fallen. Awarded to widows (or the next-of-kin) of those that were killed in action in Russia (i.e. KIA of the Spanish Blue Division). Instituted on 18 July 1954, this medal could also be awarded to POW's on their return home and is quite likely a non-official award. The medal's reverse is blank. If anyone has more information, feel free to share it ! I've also seen an example of this medal with a narrow "Rusia 1941" bar on its ribbon. Any information on the requirements for this bar would be welcome as well. Cheers, Hendrik [attachmentid=42478]

Hello Igor, Very nice set this ! The additional documents tell a good story, especially the citations for 2 of the three palms and the one star on the Croix de Guerre ribbon. A brave NCO, later commissioned - great stuff ! Cheers, Hendrik

Hello Erik, Welcome ! Great to see you joined up here !!! Not even a specimen or drawing of it ever made ? Cheers, Hendrik

Hello Christophe, And right you were - thanks for the tip : I visited three shops at the Palais Royal ... At shop No. 1 : "No, we don't have that bar; it was never made as there were too few recipients ..." Shop No. 2 : "Euh, no, never heard of it ..." Shop No. 3 : "No problem, here's one ... 4 Euros please" [attachmentid=42151] Sorry for the bad picture, it took some tweaking as the glare on this spanking new bar is not helping at all !

Hello Sam, I have occasionally seen examples of officially incorrect types of wearing medals by veterans from Belgium, France and indeed Italy. Even seen examples of Belgian active senior officers wearing their decorations in the wrong order etc. I can only deduce that, sadly, in some countries the military are not fully informed on how to properly wear their gongs or don't bother to check. Your ribbon bar appears to me as if the recipient wore his WW2 medals first and then his postwar awards ... it could be he personally valued his war medals more than the long service ones (and can one blame him for that ?). Cheers, Hendrik

Regretfully I can't : the only one I got in my collection is a later repro ... would love to lay my hands on an affordable genuine pre-1960 one

Hello Sam, If one considers the ribbons to have been added on in chronological sequence instead of the correct order of wear, the ribbon could be the Italian Republic's Order of Merit, Knight Class. Cheers, Hendrik

Hello Jacky, A palm on a Belgian order always stands for a wartime act and can thus denote bravery but may also have been awarded for a meritorious distinguished act in wartime. Modern palms wouldn't have the "A" cypher (of WWI King Albert I) on the front ... different styles of palms should be attributed to various manufacturers making these palms at the time. It is, however, pretty hard to judge on the authenticity of such ribbon devices from a picture : one needs to be able to closely inspect the quality of them : restrikes do exist and are - as far as I've encountered them - thinner than period originals. Cheers, Hendrik

Only the MSM has a maker's mark : LIGI on the back of the suspension (Lordship Industries, if I'm not mistaken). The DSM and Mariners' Medal have no markings at all that I could find. I believe them to be post-WWII restrikes, quite possibly only some 10 - 20 years old though well-made. A friend of mine in Chicago "found" them for me locally but I've no clue where he actually bought them. Cheers, Hendrik

and last but not least, the Gallant Ship ribbon [attachmentid=40823]

The Mariner's Medal [attachmentid=40821] [attachmentid=40822]

The Merchant Marine Distinguished Service Medal [attachmentid=40815] [attachmentid=40816]

Nice ones !!! Allow me to add a few more ... The Merchant Marine Meritorious Service Medal [attachmentid=40811] [attachmentid=40812]

Hello Pat, Hard to judge from pictures but I fear yours may be a copy. I sincerely hope I'm wrong but the "black" finish has me worried : I have a recent copy of the Newfoundland Volunteer Service Medal here (purchased it as I expect never to be able to find a rare genuine one) and it also has a black finish ... And now that Laurence kindly posted the picture of the one his father received, I can't help but noticing the more detailed and finer striking of such an original medal as compared to the one in your picture or, indeed, my known copy. Regards, Hendrik

Thanks for the link, Chris. I'm a bit puzzled by this one sentence there : "At some time after 1950 it was decided to add the year in which the medal was struck, giving then the cornucopia, the name of the metal, and the year in arabic numerals." Never seen the year marked on a Paris Mint medal yet. What I have encountered is the cornucopia mark, followed by a numeral indicating the quality of the metal and the name of the metal as in 1 ARGENT or 2 ARGENT (1st grade, 2nd grade silver). Also, more recent strikings have an asterisk behind the numeral. There's actually quite a variety in those Paris Mint cornucopia period markings, amongst them those where the name of the metal is not present but where the medal is marked with the metal grade numeral only or where two cornucopia marks were used etc. To my knowledge, the cornucopia era markings can be dated as follows : Pre-1906 : ARGENT or 1 ARGENT 1906-1913 : 1 ARGENT or 2 ARGENT between two cornucopia markings 1913-1975: 1 or 2 1975 - now : 1* or 2* Similarly, the metal markings for gold were resp. : OR - 1 OR - 3 - 3 within the same timeframes. Cheers, Hendrik

Great set of documents, Chris ! And with a very nice citation to boot : I'd say the citation entitled him to two palms and two bronze stars on his French Croix de Guerre. The Belgian document shows his entitlement to a batch lot of CdG that was sent to France, never seen such a document before - Great stuff and thanks for sharing it !!! Cheers, Hendrik

Yes, they did exist. Have a look at the entry under "France" on Hendrik's Medal Corner

Many thanks for posting this one Gerd. I've enjoyed my first (and certainly not last !) visit there and have happily added it to my site's links. The multimedia feature is a magnificent piece of work ! Hendrik

and reverse of same : [attachmentid=38382]

And for still being alive 10 years later : 60th Anniversary of the Victory etc. etc. Obverse : [attachmentid=38381]

And to make matters "worse" (well, not really if one likes these), not only regiments had their commemorative medals, even battalions did ! Below is my one and only : 5th Jaeger Battalion with clasps for WWI Verdun and Eastern Front campaigns. Happy sliding that particular slope ! Hendrik [attachmentid=38185]

Same here and always happy to explore a new watering hole I'll send you a PM on that later ... Prices : quite right and the same goes for medal purchases here in Belgium. Nothing to be found at flea markets, only at militaria sales and with specialised dealers. My remark on the general rise in prices is based on what I've encountered at the Rungis (formerly Baltard) militaria show in past years. Hopefully (and my wallet agrees with that completely), the present level will stay with us for a while Hendrik