Strange (?) 1914-20 War Medal

[Dieter3]

Gents - got this recent odd ball and need opinions on it. Sorry this pics. aren't a little better, but hopefully they offer decent enough in showing contrast bewteen what I'm used to seeing and what I find odd. This one looks as though it has been painted, and seems to show some characteristics of both the 1914-15 medal and the 1914-20 medal. 1st pic. - the one on the right is glossy, and you can see the wearing of the black, whatever it is, and the underlying medal coming through. Dimensionally, the medallions seem the same.

[Dieter3]

The obverses and bars:

Edited April 24, 2010 by Dieter3

[Dieter3]

X

Edited April 24, 2010 by Dieter3

[Dieter3]

Reverse:

[Dieter3]

The catch for the hook is different. I don't think that it indicates anything in particular, but it is interesting (to me anyway).

[Dieter3]

This is interesting - the suspension on the "normal" medal does not have exposed pins, the "painted" - one does! I don't have a lot of examples of these medals; I have 3x 1914-15 and they all have exposed pins. Not including the oddball, I have 3x 1914-20 medals - none of them have these exposed pins. ???

Normal:

"Painted":

[Dieter3]

For what it's worth, the ribbons look identical, and unmessed with. If this was painted or touched up somehow, it was done very nicely - and the ribbon must not have been in place - meaning this was done before assembling the piece, or the ribbon was replaced. It shows no signs of whatever the finish is on the ribbon. It would have been hard to apply in my opinion with the ribbon in place. It doesn't have an unusual odor, or anything that an old medal doesn't smell like, so it wasn't done recently, pretty sure it is paint though.

So - this must be some type of early, prototype medal - the makers wanted to visualize what it might look like in darkened bronze before finalizing the product so they simply painted it black, and utilized the earlier construction of the 1914-15 medal, and it is worth thousands upon thousands of dollars. :lol:

-OR- more likely, it's nothing special!! Some dude just colored it in with a Sharpie to make it look pretty!

Anyway, I'd really appreciate any opinions or info on it. Anybody else encounter something like this???

Edited April 24, 2010 by Dieter3