IRAQ MEDAL - 2003

[Guest Darrell]

Another Middle East awarded medal arrived today. This is the British 2003 Telec or Iraq Medal.

This one came with the Box (labelled with recipient's name), Medal (with 19 MAR TO 28 APR 2003 Clasp), Medal bag, and Rosette in Rosette Bag with Ribbon.

This one is named to a:

25041214 CPL B S JOHNSON REME

a.

[Guest Darrell]

b.

[Guest Darrell]

c. Medal Envelope:

[Guest Darrell]

d.

[Guest Darrell]

e.

[Guest Darrell]

f.

[Guest Darrell]

g.

[Guest Darrell]

h.

[Guest Darrell]

i. Engraving:

[Guest Darrell]

j.

[Guest Darrell]

k.

[The Monkey God]

I`ll wager 25041214 CPL B S JOHNSON REME`s, RSM, would be most interested to see this. I assume it was bought on the open market?

[Guest Darrell]

I`ll wager 25041214 CPL B S JOHNSON REME`s, RSM, would be most interested to see this. I assume it was bought on the open market?

Hiya Monkey God

It was purchased through a collector in the UK in a round about way.

[Ed_Haynes]

These are not hard to find, but they're far from cheap. What is rare and very nice indeed is to get one as pristine and complete as this.

[censlenov]

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

[The Monkey God]

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.

Edited April 6, 2009 by The Monkey God