Italy World War I Silver war Badges

[medalman90]

I am very excited to finally have added these to the collection. The one on the left is for the mutilated in war badge. On the back it says "zecca", the royal mint. And the one on the right is another wound badge from the war invalid association.

[IrishGunner]

Very nice to see some Italian "wound" badges...

[medalman90]

Thanks Irish!

[claudio2574]

These badges were used during WW2 also. There were also smaller badges without the name of the mint.

Other badges were made after the end of the kingdom, in several sizes, very similar to the original design but the Savoia's coat of arms. R.I. stands for "Repubblica Italiana"

[medalman90]

Claudio. These are all excellent examples of the badge. Other than the RI example. I never knew of all the different variants. Thank you for sharing.

[Elmar Lang]

Hello,

I would like to note that these fine badges were not the military wound badges, but those indicating that a soldier was mutilated or remained invalid as a consequence of an injury received during a war.

The royal italian armed forces' wound badges were gold and silver strips worn diagonally on the upper left arm of the tunic, resp. for wounds received in wartime or during active service/peacetime.

E.L.

[IrishGunner]

Elmar, thanks for that clarification. I thought that would be the case - thus I put "wound" in quotes.

A great thread to learn something new...

[claudio2574]

Some more details. The badge was instituted on 21st may 1916, the "Gazzetta Ufficiale" published the Royal Decree on 2nd June.

The badges, made of silver, were given for free to the recipients, together with a certificate. I don't have examples of these diplomas.

There are several coins from the Zecca, having the years:

1915-16

1915-17

1915-18 (as the one in the first image)

no dates

The first two are the scarcest.