France Colonial and Overseas medal

[Hendrik]

At what point did the bars change from silver to gold colour?

Hello Chris,

No, that's not the way it worked : most Colonial Medal bars were silver(ed) but a few of the Maroc bars (around 1925-26) were made in gilt from the start. The same goes for the "special operations" bars who originally were in genuine gold. The Overseas Medal bars are all gold coloured.

Cheers,

Hendrik

[Chris Boonzaier]

Just got this today....

[Chris Boonzaier]

11

[Hendrik]

Nice one, Chris ! It commemorates participation in the so-called "Rif War" in which some well-known commanders took part ... amongst them the then colonel Giraud.

Cheers,

Hendrik

[Chris Boonzaier]

Here is a document for it...

[Chris Boonzaier]

Just got these...

of course, the first thing I did was visit Hendriks site... could not find the Atlantique bar though

[g_deploige]

H?llo

See here a beautiful picture of the M?daille coloniale

[Hendrik]

... could not find the Atlantique bar though

Hello Chris,

You were looking with the wrong medal : the Atlantique bar belongs with the WW2 Commemorative Medal ...

Cheers,

Hendrik

[Chris Boonzaier]

OK, thought it was strange not to find it anywhere.

Thnaks

Chris

[Bison]

Just for additional information in this huge topic, here are the 13 official current bars for the overseas medal :

and some non-official ones :

A never ended subject for collectors...

Regards

Bison

[Chris Boonzaier]

A colonial medal doc to a highly decorated WW1 vet...

[Chris Boonzaier]

This is a nice one....

[Chris Boonzaier]

A very faded Algeria bar Colonial medal (dated 1895) for a guy in the 49th Inf regt....

[Chris Boonzaier]

I have decided to collect these (medals and bars) for the African continent... thats a large enough field...

[Veteran]

An excellent choice indeed ! You will have a large range of bars and an infinite number of combinations. Some are very scarce, such as this DE L'ATLANTIQUE A LA MER ROUGE given to members of the French cross-Africa expedition which bumbed into the Anglo-Egyptians lead by Kitchiner at Fachoda.

If you persist with your plan, you will want the "bible" on the subject "La M?daille coloniale" by Jean HASS. It has been out of print for some years, but you might be able to get a second hand copy.

Best wishes

Veteran

Edited April 9, 2008 by Veteran

[Chris Boonzaier]

A really nice loose Tonkin bar in this week...

[Veteran]

Hi Chris

This is a good looking TONKIN bar..... the 1900 CHINE 1901 bar really belongs to the China campaign medal, which is different.

Best regards

Veteran

Edited April 19, 2008 by Veteran

[Chris Boonzaier]

Hi,

just on the looong ribbon so I dont loos it.

Best

Chris

[Chris Boonzaier]

Not the greatest example, but one to a train unit "Tunisie" signed in 1894.

[Veteran]

Congratulations. This is a very early Chancery registration number !

Regards

Veteran

[Chris Boonzaier]

What do you think of this one ? ;-)

[Veteran]

Certainly very scarce. Never seen one before.

The fact that it was issued to an officer is significant. I don't know if any of the men in the ranks ever were eligible to the m?daille coloniale, or any other award..

Congratulations

Veteran

[Chris Boonzaier]

A nice one indeed :-)))))

[Chris Boonzaier]

Here in the middle is a very, very nice quality small medal. I assume privately made?

[Chris Boonzaier]

Here is a close up... it appears to be hand finished, the edges rounded off and the whole thing is not flat with the head being the relief feature... the whole thing is slightly convex, front and back.