campaign stars , copy or original

[dcollect]

hello there

I am sorting out of my collection of britisch and i am looking for some information or sites where i can find out if my stars are good or not , i have them for about 15 years now and never looked at them if they are good .

they all come from groupings and non of them are named .

on the 1st pic are all the medals i have now

on the 2nd pic is a closeup and i see 2 differend cyphres VI and differend crownes , is this a sign of coy or original ?

thanks , bjorn .

[Rayjin]

Have a look at :-

http://www.lancs.ac.uk/staff/hartleyi/acediscussion

it might help with the Air Crew Europe Star

[Odulf]

In the 1990 volume of the British magazine Medal News, Nr.12 p.26 there is an aricle about recognising fake WW2 Stars

[dcollect]

thanks for the information

i see there is not a big amount of information about this subject on the net .

i checked avery medal i have and only 1 of them ( aircrew europe star ) have 5 dots on the crown and the others are 4 1/2 dots , is this a sign on evry campaign medal or only on the ( aircrew europe star ) ?

and what about the VI on the 1st pic i put on the topic

thanks , bjorn .

[jeffskea]

Hello,

Just looking at the first picture of the France and Germany Star - in my opinion I would say that it is not an original - as you noted the crown doesn't look right, the font for the VI is too small and not correct, and the "E's" - the middle dash on the letter should be shorter than the top and bottom dash of the "E". In addition I can't see much pebbling behind the "France and Germany Star" writing which is suspect as well. The suspension ring seems larger than the others and the top of the star which attaches to the ring is too small. It does not look legitimate to me. From what I've learned those are some things to look for.

Jeff

Edited November 14, 2011 by jeffskea

[Spasm]

dcollect

Sorry mate, bad news I think.

The Air Crew Europe Star looks like a copy to me. The letter U in Europe looks to be too wide. Some better pictures would help a lot and then we could help you. The France and Germany Star is a certain copy.

If they were all original, the Air Crew Europe Star would be worth all of the others put together. But a copy is a copy is a copy. Sorry.

Spaz

[censlenov]

^{Yes bad news the F&G is bad (lots wrong with it most glaring obvious is the VI as its not serifed) the aircrew may be and from the overall photo there is some red flags that go up on afew others. Would individual obverse pics be available for review?}

^Cheers

^Chris

[dcollect]

thanks ,

for the aircrew europe star i kew it was a copy thanks to the http://www.lancs.ac....i/acediscussion site

and now i can sort the medals out and telling the strange VI is a copy to

i will put some more pics tonight of the medals that make a change of being good

thanks ,

[dcollect]

I found someone that helped me to sort them out

3 of thelm are copys and the rest are OK

thanks for everything .

[Ulsterman]

Good stuff!

So what were the factors that declared them fakes?

I got mine all in the late 1960s when they were still 1' - 6d apiece.

I have always been leery as the Indian mint also made some stars and Ed Haynes pointed out that variation, but I can not remember what he said.

[peter monahan]

I can't recall what the difference in the Indian made ones is either but many/most of them would have been named, as issued to the Indian Army. I believe that the South African stars were named on issue as well, but that may be old age and a faulty memory!

Edited November 18, 2011 by peter monahan

[Retired1811]

http://gmic.co.uk/uploads/monthly_02_2012/post-10950-0-68988600-1329161498.jpgHello Everyone,

Would like opinions about this Air Crew Medal if so inclined. Appears to be the real deal to me based on my reviews of what the experts say.

There is a nick in the "I" of the "VI".

The pictures are better than the scans, but to large to upload.

The medal has nice pebbling and the correct number of beads/perals in the center part of the crown, the V points to the left side of the "W" in the word crew...............

[censlenov]

From that pic i'd say it looks promising. I don't want to say for sure based on such a small picture but i do see some good signs.

Cheers

Chris

[Odulf]

In the OMRS several severe studies about the Stars have been executed and the results were published in the past Journals. On the internet there are mainly opinions kicked about. Can any one scan and put these OMRS articles on the forum (my Journals were lost in a home fire) that would add more to the discussion than every one posting opinions about every Star put on show here ...

Does any one ever use past information, or do we only rely on the quick reply service via forums?

Edited February 13, 2012 by Odulf

[Mervyn Mitton]

Odulf - I agree that this would be good info. to have pinned. However, the copyright will be owned

by OMRS and I am doubtful that they would give permission for it to be reprinted outside of their forum.

[Aberdeen Medals]

Bjorn,

Your illustration of the group of stars is not of sufficiently high enough resolution to assess the authenticity of each of the medals however from what I can see the below following should be noted;

1. Top row the Star without riband is a later post 1980's official replacment - note the larger suspension ring

2. The Africa Star on end of top row is a copy

3. As others have suggested, I would here affirm that the Air Crew Europe Star is a copy

4. As others have suggested, I would also here affirm that the France and Germany Star thrid from left in bottom row is a copy

Interestingly, a couple of the above copy stars appear to of the distinctive 'Continental' manufactured Stars that medalists and military tailors in the North Continent countries of Belgium, Netherlands, France, retailed in the post-war years to local veterans who had served in the British forces - At any rate I have encountered those types of medals most commonly in Europe and quite often mounted with other contemporary private purchase continental medals

As information.

Mark

[dcollect]

a great thank you for everybody

for all the reply's

thanks ; bjorn .

[Ulsterman]

very cool. Aberdeen- by any chance do you have a picture of any of the Continental groups you mentioned?

Have you ever encountered an Ethiopian group at all?

[Aberdeen Medals]

Ulsterman,

I have tried to post a high resolution image - but have failed. The attached reduced size image is all I can do.

Attached is a composite group of WW2 medals that includes examples of 'continental' type private purchase medals - see attached illustration.

The group comprises;

1. Poland: Virtutie Militaire - this is an un-numbered post war commercial replacement

2. Poland: Cross of Valour - this is a 'Spink' made issue (Spink were contracted by the Polish government in exile to supply awards)

3. 1939-45 Star and clasp - a continental copy

4. Air Crew Europe Star - copy

5. Defence Medal - original

6. War Medal - original

The above group was the subject of an OMRS Journal article several years ago

Regarding Ethiopian medals, I have handled quite a few - but not including groups that contained Second World War stars (though the latter undoubtedly exist. If you have such a group I would be interested to see an image, and or learn details of same.

Mark