The Monkey God

The Medal named to 25192652 SIG A A CRESWELL R SIGNALS. The medal has been court mounted so no longer fits in its box, the original box is named to Signalman Cresswell and contains its envelope containing the silver rosette. There is also 8 photos of Cresswell in Afghanistan and a printed T Shirt with OP HERRICK AFGHANISTAN ON THE FRONT & Op Herrick Afghanistan, Kabul, Kandahar, Lashka Gah, Gereshk & Camp Bastion on the rear. The Nato medal that he also had has been mislaid but once found will be offered to the winning bidder first. This is not a copy or a replacement medal.

The Operational Service Medal (OSM) for Afghanistan (formerly known as the OSM for service on Op Veritas)

Medal

Silver and circular in shape. The obverse of the medal shows the crowned effigy of Queen Elizabeth. The reverse (shown here) bears the Union Flag, surrounded by the inscription ?For Operational Service? and the four major points of the compass, with four Coronets: Royal (top left), Naval (top right), Mural-Army (bottom left), and Astral-Royal Air Force (bottom right).

Clasp

?Afghanistan?. Awarded with the Medal for service specifically in Afghanistan. When the ribbon alone is worn, a silver rosette denotes award of the Clasp.

Ribbon

A broad central red stripe, flanked each side by a stripe of royal blue and one of light blue, to represent the three services, with an outer stripe of light brown to reflect the landscape of Afghanistan.

Qualifying criteria

Complex criteria govern the award of this medal, with varying lengths of service required depending on the operation and location.

To qualify for award of the Medal with Clasp, personnel must have served in Afghanistan for either 5, 21 or 30 days continuous service between various dates depending on the operation, between 11 September 2001 ? 1 August 2002 for Ops Jacana and Bandog, or to a date to be decided for Ops Veritas, Fingal and Landman.

Service of varying lengths depending on the operation on Ops Landman, Veritas, Oracle, Ramson or Damien in other Middle East countries during certain specific dates will qualify for the OSM for Afghanistan without clasp.

I was under the impression, that the clasp was issued for Herrick, but this medal box shows Veritas?

And just to confuse matters further came across this on Ebay.........

Back view....

The hall marks....

Cheers Guys,

If the Royal Mints involved then you can rest assured that it`ll be well over priced!!!

I don`t think this ring is a fake, mind. I have other pictures of it from different angles, and its certainly got all the hall marks extra.

Hello,

Not sure if this is relevant to this topic, but its sovereign related

Basically I was recently out bid at the last moment, on Ebay. I was bidding, on what I thought was a nice half sovereign ring. I`d never seen one like this which is why it caught my eye anyway, I`m curious to know has anyone else seen one like this, and can they tell me where I might find another like it?

Hope this isn`t too `chavy` :unsure:

The numbering relates to the "mark" of production, rather than the number of times a stripe was awarded, the different styles of attachment & the like.

DOH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So how would they cover Pte unlucky and his 27 wounds?

Cheers for the link Leigh, that certainly is a very interesting thread. My next question was going to be how did they get over the multiple `winner` vertical wearing thing. But it appears they`ve thought of everything, by having the bar numbered!!!

The likelihood of an additional clasp is very slim. As for making sense of the logic behind ribbons clasps and rosettes on the various OSMs? Don't bother. It was designed by a committee who made it up as they went along in between rounds of golf.

Cheers Tony, that speaks volumes!!!! I think your right on both accounts.

Call me a sceptic, but I feel that if there was 60 million in gold sovereigns within salvagable depth, then they`d have been recovered by now, or at least attempts made to recover them.

Whats the most wound stripes ever awarded? How bad did a wound have to be to qualify for a wound stripe? What happened if you got wounded again during your medical treatment?

Haven`t heard any more about this, assume its been a none starter, unless anyone else has heard different?

Why can`t I find stuff like this at car boot sales!!!!

Isn`t there a K.I.A medal being issued now? Haven`t seen what it looks like, has anyone got a picture?

I was reading somewhere about a mass of new records that have been found in the Red Cross archives, given that this guy is RAMC might be worth further investigation? Also ahve you tried the AMS museum at Keogh Barracks?

World War One, I would say. But as to who?

What a guy!!!!

The Northern Ireland medal (with 40 REGT RA AS 90) Op Granby medal (The queens own hussars Challenger MBT. Disbanded now) the medal does not have a bar as soldier was in Cyprus at the time as a BCR battle casualty reserve. Nato medal 3 tours of Bosnia (14 SIG REGT Electronic warfare. 40 Regt RA .and 3rd RHA ) UN medal (for OP Tosca Green Zone Cyprus with 32 Regt MLRS ) Iraq medal ( AL Alamara Iraq with 4th Regt RA AS90 )Queens jubilee medal. Afghanistan medal Southern Helmand province. Nato medal ISAF They all have REME on the medals..the rank is CPL

Well....they were issued according to certain criteria, so the military, police, fire service etc unit should have a record of who they went to within the unit. Presumably there is nothing like a centralised record, but there should be one in each police force etc?

Ignoring (as if that were possible) the constraints of data protection, security considerations etc, it might well be possible to compile a list of, say, the recipients in each police force?

I can see where your coming from but what if.......

A guy was who had 2 years service in the police, but 20 years service in the TA? Got a medal from the army,but not the police, or indeed visa versa? There are endless possibilities, I don`t think it would be possible to compile a 100% acurate list, but I maybe wrong? :cheers:

ACC cool!! Hardest course in the British Army, the chefs course, no one has ever passed it...

But seriously going back onto topic. I`ve heard talk of RAF guys, who never left Cyprus & got this medal, don`t know how true it is mind. But it beggars the question which medal is worth more a chefs or an RAF guy who never went anywhere near the `sand box`?

It never ceases to amaze me the prices that medals command. Who decides what a certain medal for a certain action is worth anyway?

I would not touch a Telic with a 10 foot pole right now. It's common knowledge in the world of UK medals that several key factors which will affect the long term price are currenty happening.

1. Duplicate issues are numerous in fact i know of a person locally who was awarded 2 of the same medal. He recevied one after his first tour and another after his second apparently this is a very common occurance which should not occur.

2. Fakes and forgeries with naming and boxes etc. are common but of very good quality. (Yours looks OK and i'll tell you why in a moment)

3. Quite afew soldiers have been caught selling their or their fellow squadies medals online and then replacement issues get issued.

4. I've heard that The Telic without bar is going to be just as common as the GSM bar Northern Ireland given time. (Yours has the date clasp so thats good)

The reason i say yours is good is because that discoloration around the naming is caused by the heat (and fumes generated) by the Laser used to engrave it. Copies havn't been laser engraved (that i know of).

Cheers

Chris

Your certainly well informed as regards to double medals being awarded this is certainly very common, I?ve also heard of medals being incorrectly issued with bars when they shouldn?t have bars, interestingly to a REME TA unit.

I don?t however, think the Iraq medal will be as come as the GSM for Ireland when you consider that the later campaign lasted 30+ years, and Iraq has last what 6, with the official end being the 31^st May 2009.

It will however be interesting to see how common the OSM for Afghan becomes, as this campaign certainly appears set to last a long time, it might even transpire that the OSM for Afghanistan without the bar will be rarer how ironic would that be in medal collecting circles.

Your also very right about the discolouration, it?s a dead give away for the genuine article you can also tell a copy straight away by the naming, and the feel of the medal, copies just don?t look right, there not aw well struck even the good ones.

Selling your medals on eBay and getting caught is big pooh time, a recent example is the S/Sgt from the RMP, reduced to Cpl for this heinous of crimes.

The "Afghanistan" Clasp is awarded for service specifically in Afghanistan. Rosette on ribbon denotes clasp when no medal is worn. There are two types of 'Afghanistan' clasps to date, the first initial issue from 2002-2004 the clasp had a smooth background behind the writing and from Op Herrick onwards (2005 to present) the clasp has a 'dappled' effect behind the writing, just like the 'Northern Ireland' clasp on the 1962-2007 General Service Medal. The medal is issued without the clasp for service outside Afghanistan in support of ongoing operations, i.e Pakistan and Oman.

This is what sparked my interest in this topic.....

The Operational Service Medal (OSM) for Afghanistan

Medal

Silver and circular in shape. The obverse of the medal shows the crowned effigy of Queen Elizabeth. The reverse (shown here) bears the Union Flag, surrounded by the inscription 'For Operational Service' and the four major points of the compass, with four Coronets: Royal (top left), Naval (top right), Mural-Army (bottom left), and Astral-Royal Air Force (bottom right).

Clasp

'Afghanistan'. Awarded with the Medal for service specifically in Afghanistan. When the ribbon alone is worn, a silver rosette denotes award of the Clasp.Ribbon

A broad central red stripe, flanked each side by a stripe of royal blue and one of light blue, to represent the three services, with an outer stripe of light brown to reflect the landscape of Afghanistan.

Qualifying criteria

Complex criteria govern the award of this medal, with varying lengths of service required depending on the operation and location.

About the OSM

The new Operational Service Medal (OSM) was introduced on 1 January 2000 and at the same time the General Service Medal (GSM) was discontinued, with the exception of the award of the GSM for Northern Ireland.

Since its introduction, three OSMs have been issued: for service in Sierra Leone, Afghanistan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Although each OSM will look the same, separate ribbons will denote each separate award.

A Clasp may be awarded with the OSM to signify service in a more dangerous area or period of conflict.