Difference Between British vs. Canadian vs. New Zealand Medals

[jshorter]

Hi Everyone,

Since I am so new to collecting British medals, I do have to ask the question of how you tell if an award was issued to a Canadian, New Zealander, Briton, etc.? Beyond a medal specifically being of that country's design, what should I look for?

Thanks!!

Jason

[censlenov]

I am answering this asuming you mean ww1 medals. The answer is the recipients unit. The commonwealth issued medals to its troops that appeared exactely the same as their British counter parts the only feature being different is the unit naming.

[jshorter]

I am answering this asuming you mean ww1 medals. The answer is the recipients unit. The commonwealth issued medals to its troops that appeared exactly the same as their British counter parts the only feature being different is the unit naming.

For WWI, I knew there was a way to tell from the imprinted text, but is there a list of what each of these mean? How can you tell for medals that are not WWI era?

Thanks! :-)

Jason

[Guest Darrell]

Some of the WW2 Canadian Medals were struck in Silver whereas the British are Cupro-nickel. Examples include the WW2 War Medal and the WW2 Defense Medal.

Edited November 25, 2008 by Darrell

[Tony]

The South African VM is bilingual and British issue WWII medals aren't named whereas South African and Australian are. I'm not sure about other Commonwealth countries though.

Tony

[leigh kitchen]

For WWI, I knew there was a way to tell from the imprinted text, but is there a list of what each of these mean? How can you tell for medals that are not WWI era?

Thanks! :-)

Jason

There are quite a number of web sites that give abbreviation for units, ranks, trades etc -try checking these.

The alternative is to buy one of a number of books which include such information.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_One...l_Abbreviations

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documen...line/medals.asp

http://www.blacksheepindex.co.uk/GREATWARABBREVS.htm

There are thousands, listed alphabetically here:

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documen...ations-unit.asp

[peter monahan]

The South African VM is bilingual and British issue WWII medals aren't named whereas South African and Australian are. I'm not sure about other Commonwealth countries though.

Tony

Canadian WWII medals are in silver but are NOT named. Sorry.

[Tiger-pie]

An obvious indicator when in groups would be the nations service medal, ie the ASM (Australian Service Medal). These were introduced to Commonwealth countries for WW2 service.

Edited November 25, 2008 by Tiger-pie

[Ed_Haynes]

The naming is, of course, the chief difference: Is it named to a Canadian or whatever. Beyond the styles of naming (especially the WWII presence of absence of naming), the commonwealth-specific WWII medals, the Canadian WWII silver medals, and the South African WWI Victory Medal, I'm not sure what differences you are asking about. I could go on (and on) about Indian (and Pakistani) patterns, but that wasn't part of your question.

[leigh kitchen]

A few British WWII Stars etc were named privately, I've never seen any that I can recall, "Boots" offered the service so there may be A "consistant" style of naming there.

[Gunner 1]

British and Canadian World War I Victory Medals to officers did not carry the name of the unit, but if the medal is named to a 2nd Lieutenant or Lieutenant you can tell the difference between those issued to Brits and those issued to Canadians by comparing the 'I" in 'Lieut." Gunner 1