RobW

On 04/01/2023 at 07:37, azyeoman said:

Also two interesting books on the CLC.  James' book is the definitive work on the Chinese Labour Corps, and is a massive tome at 1,285 pages.

 

James, Gregory The Chinese Labour Corps (1916-1920) Hong Kong, Bayview Educational 2013

 

Hello azyeoman,

That's great information about Gregory James' book. I shall have to track one down for reference.

Regards,

Rob

On 12/09/2020 at 00:21, sumserbrown said:

Recently I have been photographing my medals (for insurance purposes) and it's amazing how much detail you can then see when you zoom into a high resolution photo.

What I see is that my version of the medal seems to be maybe lighter in colour but also with a great deal more detail visible than some of the other versions posted on the forum. So an obvious question - is my medal genuine or not. Is it such a good copy that it is TOO detailed or has it just had less wear than some of the others.

Open to any thoughts from the team...

Hello Rob,

Not being an expert in these Philippine issues I would say it is a good example of the 'Official Type 2' (Laslo grading). In this case the planchet should be around 2mm+).

Regards,

Rob

On 12/08/2020 at 02:51, sumserbrown said:

I bought an official type 2 several years ago but it had lost its ribbon. I can see a few people on this thread have attached a piece of interallied victory medal ribbon, but does anyone know where I can get a replacement (even if modern) piece of the original ribbon that should have been on the medal?

thanks

Rob

Rob,

I would suggest you contact the OMSA ribbon bank. They may have some stocks of the ribbon you are searching for.

https://www.omsa.org/omsa-ribbon-bank/

Regards,

Rob

To echo Paul's point,

Without better resolution images it will be difficult to see the designers initials on the obverse, nor the marks on the lettering on the reverse. Using the term 'tailors copy' is seen more frequently in older Great Britain medals, and those made in the Indian sub-continent.

Noting the ribbon is not the correct french type, but looks moreso of the Great Britain variety it is going to be difficult to tell. There are no shortage of modern and less than modern reproductions so buyer beware.

If anyone obtains larger images from Kunkers please post them.

Regards,

Rob

Thanks Herman,

A nice group nonetheless.

Regards,

Rob

On 28/01/2022 at 09:31, Ura87 said:

Interesting group with Japanese and Belgian VM. It`s possible?

Hello Ura87,

As has been suggested extremely unlikely. Unless the Japanese member in question was a Liaison Officer in Europe but that is not very likely either.

Of interest is that, at least according to the ribbon, on the Belgian vic, it appears to be a Leisek version. So doubly interesting; a Czechoslovak produced Belgian vic on a Japanese group. Sounds a remote possible but unlikely combination.

Regards,

Rob

On 05/04/2023 at 03:46, Philip.S said:

This is my small contribution to the thread.  The Italian Victory Medal has got to be one of the best looking as well.         

 

Philip.S  

Hello Philip.S,

Welcome aboard. I am confident that you will find all measure of detailed information amongst the country sub-threads to help you out.

I would agree that the design of the Italian vic is one of the more striking.

Regards,

Rob

On 13/03/2023 at 20:05, Herman said:

A picture of the medal group of US Major-General Andre W. Brewster including the Panamese Solidarity Medal.

 

Regards

Herman 

 

Hello Herman,

A very nice group indeed; noting the inclusion of the much later produced Silver Star.

I note that he has the MOH ribbon bar and neck ribbons on the top shelf. Is that item still part of the group?

Regards,

Rob

On 04/05/2023 at 01:09, Nick said:

Would you believe that as a response to this topic Triadoro has decided to report GMIC four times to his email provider over the last couple of days for sending him spam emails. All the emails in question being the notifications he signed up to and can switch off.

 

Enough is enough I have had enough of your spiteful games, your account and all your alter egos, have been banned. 

Nick,

It seems people forget that in an era where accountability for one's 'un-gentlemanly' conduct is not always called out, it can and does occur. Actions have consequences.

Regards,

Rob

On 27/11/2013 at 01:08, lambert said:

Some private companies such as M. Deland .. had in their catalog models in silver.
but I never saw such medals in silver.

 

Hi Lambert,

There is a picture of a silvered version of this unofficial French example, by Delande, in the French vic sub-forum. Not seen that often but they do exist.

Regards,

Rob

Rob,

Send me a DM with an email address and I'll forward you the article when I find it. I am not near my collection or research notes at the moment but will be in March.

Regards,

Rob

On 15/08/2020 at 00:11, sumserbrown said:

Hi all,

I am back on the forum after a few years away. I wanted to do a reality check on some of my medals and check with the experts whether these are genuine or fakes (as I am suspicious about some of them). Please give me your thoughts:

Here then are three Portuguese victory medals  with the descriptions given them when I bought them (left to right):

Laslo official type 2

Laslo unofficial type 1 with narrow cylinder suspension

Laslo unofficial type 1 with wire suspension

 

and here the reverse in the same order.

 

Hi summersbrown,

All good with these three. The two unofficial type 1's are both good. The one with the narrow wire suspender is a later production. It uses the same die as the central example. It also has the same die flaw on the reverse with a flash mark underneath the line of the cross next to the letter 'D'.

Of note is that the ribbon is the correct Portuguese produced variety on all three.

Regards,

Rob

To the mods,

In order to keep these country specific forum topics clean I would recommend this post be moved into the larger thread dedicated to Portuguese vics.

Regards,

Rob

On 14/09/2020 at 23:18, sumserbrown said:

Hello everyone, what do you make of these two Belgian unofficial type 3's?

The one on the left is 37mm diameter and 1.1mm thickness at the 3 o'clock. The one on the right is 36.6mm diameter and 1.4mm thick.

I have my own thoughts but interested to hear what everyone thinks....

Hello summersbrown,

Nothing unusual there on both examples. It is not unusual to see all the Belgian strikes with a wide variety of ball suspenders in differing widths. Given the large number of medal manufacturers and quantities produced there is a corresponding wide variety in the diameter of the balls as well.

It's good to have variety especially when compared side-by-side with other examples.

Regards,

Rob

On 10/04/2021 at 00:10, ThaiDave said:

Hi All

 

Here is a "covered ear" "repro" from a European auction house some time back.  The dealer was advised in advance, but sold as genuine anyway.

 

Cheers

 

 

 

 

 

Hello ThaiDave,

The Europeans are certainly not the only ones who have clear fakes/repro's in their auction catalogues that fail to amend their listings after being informed. I suppose when there is money to be made and ignorance can be claimed then some vendors will proceed regardless of the longer term impacts to their credibility/reputation.

As long as the Siam vics are as rare and/or as expensive, we will continue to see this.

Regards,

Rob

On 15/11/2021 at 17:05, Chris Boonzaier said:

Hi,

 

They were by far not all stolen, around 2000 or so you could apply for reissue... i.e. you could go there and say "I would like a trio reissued for peter jones, henry smill and thomas whatsup" ... pay the money (official reciept) and walk out with 3 trios of unnamed medals.

 

Of course, some may have been stolen, but it was possible to get unnamed trios in 10 minutes for a small price just by filling in the forms. You just needed the name and service number, did not even have to be a relative.

 

Best

Chris

That is very interesting Chris.

It would also explain why there are unnamed examples complete with the original boxes for sale on the various auction houses.

Regards,

Rob

On 20/07/2018 at 08:28, Egorka said:

Hello,

I guess, because of the symbolism. Victory having the wings resembling the famed Polish hussars wings.

Hello Egorka,

The Serbians did produce a Great War medal but not one that is part of the Interallied Vic series.

Regards,

Rob

On 30/04/2021 at 04:11, oliver860 said:

Hi friends!
My purchase!
Silver plated bronze.
Diameter 36.1 mm, thickness 2.0 mm
Yours faithfully!

Hello Oliver,

A very nice example. They are rarely seen in such good condition with little to no wearing of the silver finish.

Regards,

Rob

Hello Rob,

There is not a whole lot of information about the specific numbers of these medals actually awarded in each class. As far as my records show the medal was awarded in three classes:

1. First class in silver.
2. Second class in bronze with a rosette.
3. Third class in bronze without a rosette.

The medal was awarded with a certificate although the examples of the certificates I have seen are not numbered. Thus we are no closer to identifying probable recipient award number ranges.

I have an article by Paulo Jorge Estrela from the Instituto Geográfico Português from 4/2007 that does have a large amount of detail on this particular award. When I can track that document down I will look to get it translated from Portuguese to English. Hopefully that will provide some more context.

To your second point about I have not seen any fakes yet entering the market although that doesn't mean there won't be in the future.

Regards,
Rob

Hello frankguzzi,

To echo and add to Graham's commets; no it is not an unofficial type 1 (Laslo classification).

It is close in appearance to the unofficial type 1 but it is not the same. The give-away is the base metal that has a very dark chocolate brown appearance. The entire vic series was produced from this poor quality base metal in the early to mid 1980-1990 period and are commonly sold on ebay like platforms.

In particular to this specific romanian example there are a number of well identifiable casting bubbles on the lower 6 o'clock position the obverse near the feet. You may also want to check the rim of the medal for a casting line.

Regards from Australia,

Rob

To the mods,

It would probably better if this thread was moved into the main Romanian vic thread to keep everything in the one location.

Regards,

Rob

Graham,

Without close-ups of the obverse/reverse it is difficult to tell from the posted pics.

Give-away points are the J.S. marking on the obverse and the diacritic markings on the reverse. The images posted by Lambert on 13 November 2013 has a couple of well-lit pictures which can help with identifying the close-up details required.

Having seen one or two of these items close-up it looks okay but you would really want to obtain some close-up pics before making any decision.

Regards from Australia,
Rob

Hello Oliver,

Altogether not unusual to see the naming too see the naming inverted. What is more interesting is the size of the smaller name stamping on the 1793 example.

Also interesting to see an unnamed example. Are there any signs of naming removal or differences in the obverse die?

Regards from Australia,

Rob

Hello Rob,

Your item is an unofficial type 2 (Laslo classification). Of interest is the main planchet appears to be of a different composition than that of the unique suspender. This is most noticeable in the reverse pictures. It also looks like someone has cleaned just the main planchet but not the suspender. Irrespective of that it is an unofficial type 2. They have been seen in a variety of different finishes and with planchet variations that are extremely minor so I wouldn't read into that too much.

Things to look at would be gently cleaning both the obverse of the suspender to remove the verdigris in between the roundels, as well as making some attempt to remove/reduce/clean the verdigris spot on the reverse.

As this type of unofficial medal has been attributed to French manufacture I would recommend that you replace the ribbon with some french produced silk ribbon as then it would be true to type.

A nice example in relatively good condition.

Regards from Australia,
Rob

Hello David,

There are numerous close-up pics of official strikes for you to be able to make a direct comparison on the Portuguese Victory Medals sub-thread.

In regards a price range, that is a vexing question only limited by what the individual collector is willing to pay to obtain a piece.  Everyone's price range and limit will be different.

Welcome to the forum.

Regards,
Rob

Hello Oliver,

It is not unusual to see die differences on the reverse planchet of the Pautot-Mattei unofficial variety.  Even in the two examples you have illustrated there are very minor die differences on the reverse.  It is also not unusual to see the absence of a makers mark and BRONZE on the rim.  There is another strike that has the square makers mark of M. Delande with the word BRONZE as well although that particular variety is becoming quite difficult to find.

Thanks for adding to the list of examples.

Regards,
Rob

On 07/09/2019 at 18:53, Bilco said:

Good evening Gentlemen,

My latest acquisition ...

The planchet is a straight-forward French Reproduction, with no marks on the edge as to maker or MADE IN FRANCE.

The 4 clasps seem to match the description in Laslo's book, page 99, where the raised 'frame' around the wording, and the 'grained' background is mentioned.  They show the M like an inverted W that Jim Michels shows in his book as a Reproduction type 3 clasp. As can be seen in the last photo, the clasps are inside the ribbon, and the bottom three are held in place by stitches of red thread. The top clasp has a narrower backstrap than the others. The top clasp and the two bottom ones have thick ends, while the second is much thinner. I can't get to see the back of the back-straps to check for a MADE IN FRANCE stamp.

All-in-all, an interesting item, and I welcome your comments on it!

Bill

Hello Bill,

A nice French produced US vic with some rarely seen French produced clasps.  These specific variety are rarely seen and are rare even among French collectors. There is a complete set of clasps including the rarely seen SOMME clasp.

A great pickup of a French produced US vic with rarely seen clasps.

Regards,
Rob

On 30/07/2019 at 23:31, jhvelez said:

One question I have a CCharles Victory Medal but no triangle or bronze on the edge.

Hello jhvelez,

This question has already been asked, and answered, in the main French medal thread. In short examples of the Charles vic variety that do not have the edge/rim markings do exist but they are more difficult to find.  A good place to start would be the French medal thread as it has much more detailed information posted there.

Regards,
Rob