Czechoslovakia WW1 Victory Medal

[Guest Darrell]

The second one that arrived today. Czechoslovakia WW1 Victory Medal:

Obverse:

[Guest Darrell]

Reverse:

[Guest Darrell]

Closeup of the Designer Maker Mark "O. Spaniel" ...

[leigh kitchen]

I think that there were 2 or 3 different manufacturers of these, but I can't remember the details off hand. I have one but can't remember the maker, I'll dig it out.?

[redcross]

I believe 2 manufacturers of the official type

Leisek & Kremnice and this is the Kremnice

as it has the designer name

[Kev in Deva]

Hallo Gents

Here is a list of the Czechoslovakian Inter Allied Victory Medals of WW1.

Official Type 1 was without the name of the designer on the obverse, but carried a "L.A" hallmark of Alexander Leisek in the field between Victorys hand and helmet and below the branch on the obverse and to the right of the "1919" on the reverse.

Diameter 35mm- Cylindrical Suspension.

Official Type 2, Has the name of the designer, "O. Spaniel", in incised letters on the obverse,Struck by the Kremnince Mint.

Diameter 36mm, Cylindrical or Barrel Suspension.

Reissue Type 1. Without the name of the designer on the obverse, Struck by the Kremnice Mint after WW2.

Diameter 36mm Cylindrical Suspension.

Reissue Type 2, Same as Reissue Type 1, but with a gold gilt or brassy finish, Struck by the Prague Firm of Karnet & Kysely between 1945 and 1948.

Diameter 36mm Cylindrical Suspension.

Unofficial Type 1. Same as the Belgian Unofficial Type 1.

Diameter 36mm+ Narrow Ball suspension.

Unofficial Type 2. Same as the Belgian Unofficial Type 2.

Diameter 37mm+ Ball suspension.

Unofficial Type 3. Same as the Italian Unofficial Type 1. 34mm Staffa suspension.

REPRO:

Type 1. Official Czech design but without the name of the designer on the obverse, has Chobillion (A.C in triangle) hallmark and "BRONZE" impressed on the edge (on some pieces the edge is NOT marked!) A softer striking with thicker leters, numbers and wider Linden leaves on the reverse than on the official types. Also the Lion rampant is more massive.

Diameter 36mm+ Ball suspension.

REPRO

Type 2. Silver-finished, poor quality zinc and aluminum cast copy. The designer name is barely present, and the planchet is thinner at the seven o'clock postion. Probably contemporary French manufacture.

Diameter 35mm with Cylndrical suspension.

REPRO

Type 3. A cast version of the Repro Type 1.

There has been in the last 3 years a futher REPRO, being sold out of Birmingham, England, usually on Ebay UK, the seller declares it for what it is a REPRO, its manufactured in a chocolate brown colour and hangs on British Repro Victory Medal Ribbon.

Kevin in Deva.

[RobW]

To all,

Here is a Czech Re-issue Type 2, with a brassy finish. Once I find the gold-gilt version I will post pictures of that as well. This is generally found with the later style Czech ribbon. More pictures of a Czech official type 1 to follow soon.

Regards,

Rob

Edited July 8, 2009 by RobW

[RobW]

To all,

Here is a Czech official type 1. This particular medal has a matte bronze finish. Another official type 1 in my collection has a more shiny bronze finish and has a slightly more compact cylinder suspender. When I have time I will scan the other one as well. It has the original coarse weave Czech ribbon that is commonly found on the Czech produced Belgian victory medals as well as early issues of the official type 2 before the ribbon was changed in the mid 1930's. Of note is the lack of the 'O.Spaniel' designers name at the base of the obverse, as well as having the 'LA' mint mark of Alexander Leisek on both the obverse and reverse.

Close-up pictures of both the obverse and reverse to follow.

I hope these pics are of use.

Regards,

Rob

[RobW]

Here is the close-up of the obverse and reverse.

Regards,

Rob

[karnet]

Hello!

Very interesting - here is a medal of my Czech Collection. What is this for Type?

Thanks.

Dirk

Edited July 10, 2009 by karnet

[RobW]

Hello Dirk,

According to Mr Laslo's reference this type is classed as a Reproduction Type 1. It, as your picture shows, does not have the designers name 'O.Spaniel' on the obverse, as is seen by the picture at the top of this thread. It is suspended by a ball suspender instead of the cylinder or barrel suspender normally seen on the official issues. On the reverse the letters are thicker and the linden leavers are wider than those seen on the official issues. Some, but not all, of these repro's have a small triangle shaped hallmark, which will look like 'AC' inside a triangle with the word BRONZE in capitals somewhere on the edge. While this hallmark is usually seen at the 6 o'clock position it has also been seen in other positions on the rim. This hallmark is of the Paris firm of Adrean Chobillon. This Paris firm produced a lot of reproductions of a number of the Victory medal series. There is also a further variety of this reproduction, classed as the Reproduction Type 3 which is a cast version of the type you have displayed. It has a slightly pitted appearance and lessened detail and is slightly smaller in diameter. While this reproduction is more commonly seen with the accompanying French ribbon it is also seen with the later style of Czech victory ribbon (as is the case with your example, as well as the example at the start of this thread). This ribbon was introduced in the mid 1930's and is also seen on the Czech Re-issue Types.

If you are at all interested in the Interallied Victory medal series I would suggest that you try and locate a copy of the late Mr Alexander Laslo's book 'The Interallied Victory Medals of World War 1', 2nd Edition, 1992. It is a must for the victory medal collector.

When I have time this weekend I shall scan pictures of the example of the Repro Type 1 in my collection and post it here for your comparison.

Hope this helps.

Regards,

Rob

Edited July 11, 2009 by RobW

[RobW]

To all,

For those not aware where the Leisek hallmarks are on the official type 1, they are located next to the hand of victory on the obverse and immediately following the date 1919 on the reverse. They will look like 'LA' dependent on the angle they are viewed.

Regards,

Rob

Edited July 11, 2009 by RobW

[RobW]

Dirk,

Here is my czech repro type 1 for comparison.

Regards,

Rob

Edited July 11, 2009 by RobW

[RobW]

To all,

For those that have not seen a colour pic of one, here is an award certificate for the Czech victory medal. In this case it is to a soldier of the Czech-Italian Legion. When I can find my similar certificates for the Czech-Russian and Czech-French Legion I shall post pics of them as well.

The earliest certificate I have seen is dated August 1922 with this one dated in 1935 one of the latest that I've seen. Any comments on later dates or higher numbered awards would be gratefully received.

Regards,

Rob

Edited July 18, 2009 by RobW

[Tim B]

I can see Darrel is trying hard to get me to drag out my camera again!

Tim

[RobW]

To all,

Here is a Czech official vic, with 'O. Spaniel' makers mark on the obverse, with a cylinder suspender. These types were replaced with the more commonly seen official vic with a barrel suspender. Note the coarse weave Czech style ribbon.

Regards,

Rob

[RobW]

Here is another Czech official vic, with 'O. Spaniel' makers mark on the obverse, but this time with a barrel suspender. These types are much more common than the previous cylinder suspender types. Note the coarse weave Czech style ribbon and the unofficial single linden leaf device.

Regards,

Rob

Edited August 30, 2009 by RobW

[Tim B]

Beautiful examples Rob!

I have three that I need to take PICS of and post. All three are O. Spaniel types and now that I see the differences between the barrels and cylinders, I will have to look closer and see what I got there!

Love those ribbons, wish my examples still had those colors to them.

Tim

[RobW]

Tim,

The first official Czech vics were produced with the cylinder suspension, as for those produced by Alexander Leisek. At some indetermined point in time the Kremnice mint changed the suspension to the more commonly seen barrel suspender. The vast majority of the Czech vics I've seen have had the barrel suspender. I have the medals awarded to members of both the Czech-Italian and Czech-Russian legion and they were both vics with barrel suspenders. Subsequent to the official strikes all the remaining re-issue strikes produced later after World War 2 have also got the cylinder suspender. It is good to have some variety.

In regards the ribbon colours I obtained most of my Czech vics direct from dealers in the present Czech Republic hence the nice non faded ribbons. There is a large variety of coarse ribbon types seen with the Czech vic as well.

Regards,

Rob

[Tim B]

Hey Rob,

Thought I would post these three over here as well as I discussed them earlier.

Tim

Here's my first O.Spaniel with the lighter colored ribbon like Darrell's old shot.

[Tim B]

Sharp designs front and back; closeup:

[Tim B]

Another O.Spaniel with the coarser type ribbon.

[Tim B]

Guess I'll have to look for some with the cylinder style suspension.

[Tim B]

Last one, again, an O. Spaniel but with later replacement style ribbon.

[Tim B]

The original finish appears more gilded, but has worn on all of mine. Still nice!

Tim