Austria-Hungary Wound Medal

[hunyadi]

Gordon and All - In the original picture of Sz?gyi in question he is wearing the rank of Major - notice the extra "squiggly" on the interior of the tab - this is "border" for the gold tress field where his star is mounted incidcating an "upper" officer. He is wearing a pre 1939 tunic as it still retains the "standing up" collar.

[Gordon Craig]

Charles,

I though this might be the case but wanted to show the picture to Tamas tomorrow and get his opinion. Not sure that I see the "extra squiggly" you mentioned so I'll have to prnit ou the picture and study it under a glass. Thanks for your input.

Regards,

Gordon

[Gordon Craig]

Ian,

Seems that I was in error. Thanks for pointing out the salient points of the photo. I didn't respond earlier as I could not argue what appeared to be your very valid points. As I mentioned in the previous post, I have an apointment with the Curator of uniforms at the Military Museum in Budapest tomorrow morning and I wanted to show him the picture, and get his views before responding to your comments. I don't have to wait for that now! Thanks for the interesting dialog. A good learning experience for me.

Regards,

Gordon

quote name='Ian' date='Nov 24 2008, 14:01 ' post='304854']

Gordon,

You may well be correct and I hasten to add that I am not an expert on the uniforms of the Horthy era either, but I offer up this comment. The last ribbon depicted on the uniform looks very much like the Austrian 'ERINNERUNGSMEDAILLE fur WELTKRIEGSTEILNEHMER 1914 - 1918' and as I understand it this medal was not issued until the very late 1920's/early 1930's.

Also the devices worn on the other ribbons are not something that I have seen worn on war time ribbon bars. The order of precedence seems to indicate Hungarian as opposed to Austro-Hungarian.

Regards,

Ian

[Gordon Craig]

I've borrowed some Austro-Hungarian ranks for an earlier thread which may be of use here.

Date of promotion to Major was 01.11.37 so this places the picture much later than I had at first thought.

Regards,

Gordon

Edited November 27, 2008 by Gordon Craig

[hunyadi]

Here is what I am talking about...

[Gordon Craig]

Charles,

I thought that was a possibility. Thanks for the clarification.

Regards,

Gordon

[Gordon Craig]

Two more medal bars with the Wound medal included. These photos are from Die Militariscen Auszeichnungen der Republic ?sterreich by Walter A. Schwarz.

Regards,

Gordon

[graham]

Wound medals from my collection with different rim mint markings. Does anybody know what these mint markings signify?

This medal has no 2 mm red wound stripes and is marked 'B.18'

 

The next medal has one wound stripe and is marked 'GW 18' 

 

This one has two wound stripes and is marked 'WAA 918'

 

 

[graham]

A few more: -

This medal has three wound stripes and is marked 'HMA 1918'

 

This medal has four wound stripes and is marked 'GW 18'

 

Lastly this medal has five wound stripes and is marked 'WAA'

[922F]

A fascinating thread!  Is the fiver aluminum?   Years ago someone reported that wound medals marked 1918 or '18 indicated post-war issue--cannot now locate that reference.   Could initials indicate manufacturers?

Recently saw an 'extremely rare' aluminum one [twoer] offered at $250...which seems an extreme price to me.  Or is that now the going rate? 

[graham]

922F,

Thanks for the feedback. The fiver is Zinc.

I really do not know what the rim markings are, whether they are manufacturing markings or not . Would love to find out though.

[graham]

After a little more digging, I think the WAA rim markings may be W&A for the manufacturer Winter & Adler, Vienna.

[Elmar Lang]

the "HMA" mark, is that of the Hauptmünzamt, or the State Mint.

I'm curious to know more about the opinion that the "1918" medals could be post-war pieces...

[tifes]

"HMA 1918" and "GW 18" are absolutely war-time pieces, so I subscribe to the previous request for clarification...why "1918"/"18" medals should be post-1918 ones... 

[ChrisKelly]

I found this out there in "cyberspace".  Nice comparative image of the wound medal ribbons.