Indian Army Victory Medals - lighter?

[IrishGunner]

I saw a Brit Vic Medal in an antique mall today - it seemed a bit lighter in heft than other Brit Vic's I have in my collection. It was named to an Indian Havildar. Were medals to the Indian Army minted differently?

The unit marking was - I.G.A. (or at least I think), but looking at the UK Archives site's list of unit abbrev's - this one doesn't appear. I was thinking it was Indian Garrison Artillery - but that does appear to be a unit.

Any thoughts?

[Bilco]

Hi Rick,

I assume you mean the WW1 Victory medal? I've wondered about them, as I've seen some Indian Army ones that seem to have much less detail in the figure of Victory.

I suggest you repost your query in the Victory Medal section (if I have understood correctly) - http://gmic.co.uk/index.php/topic/48253-british-victory-medals/page__st__60

The real experts can comment on it then!

Bill

[IrishGunner]

Bill,

Thanks for your reply. Appreciated. I forgot about the Vic Medals specific forum.

[peter monahan]

The Victory Medals to the Indian Army were minted and named in Delhi and may well vary slightly in weight from those made elsewhere. I've owned several, including one to a sowar of cavalry which is still somewhere in the rubbish tip I call 'my study' but I can't say I ever weighed it against a British example. One distinguishing mark of the Indian issues is the very small, thin font used in the naming, often irregular [some letters higher or lower and wonky spacing].

Technically, they were called the "Royal Garrison Artillery, India" in WWI and included mountain batteries, so "I.G.A." would be quite likley on a medal IMO. Sounds like a nice gong. What was it going for, do you recall?

Peter

[IrishGunner]

Peter; thanks for the reply.

I turned up on possible MIC based upon the last name and Regt #; a Gunner in the Royal Artillery and a Pack Battery. It was selling for $35 US; not much for a Vic actually. I'll be back in that area in 3 weeks and might just go ahead and buy it for the sake of argument.