Medal question

[ROBB]

How can you tell if the gallantry medal in a gallantry medal group is the original or a later replacement ? For example a MM in a ww1 group ,thankyou Rob

[yellow]

Sometimes medals are marked R, REPLACEMENT, DUPLICATE, or even not at all and have a later naming style.

Sounds to me that you thinking of buying an example. Try not to get sucked in by dealers prices you can shave 60 - 70 percent off the book price if a gallantry award is a duplicate. MOst medal collectors tend to shy away from them.

[ROBB]

Hi Yellow I would never buy a duplicate ,if I was going to hand over the dosh for a MM group I would definitely want one with the original medal and ribbons the dustier the better . But before I do I just wanted to know if there were any checks one should perform to see if the galantry award was a duplicate or not . I know there are a shifty bunch out there and I want to avoid them .Cheers Rob

[yellow]

A "shifty bunch" indeed.

One of the best WW2 pairs I have ever seen was a period jewelers copy of a DCM and MM to a WW2 Commando. The dealer hadnt even bothered to check to see what they were awarded for. I should of bought those. 150 was a lot to a student in 1997. Perhaps Ade saw them in Dereks shop in Nottingham?

If you want this particular MM badly it wouldnt hurt to post a photo so the guys on here can give you the green light. Try and get a photo of the rim if you can.

Steve.

[Mons 1914]

Hi Rob,

Steve's right try to get a picture, if their's not Replacement or duplicate around the rim, the only other way is it will be impressed with a slightly larger style of naming, I'll try to find a picture which shows this for you.

Here's a genuine named GV MM.


Scott

[yellow]

Another way to check is by looking at the Medal Index Card for that man.....assuming he was a member of a British unit. Sometimes there are notes which refer to the issue of duplicate medals on those.

If you would like me to post photos of MM's let me know.

Steve.

P.S. Mons do you now collect Gallantry to the Yorkshires? My Grandads brother in law won the DCM with them. I would love to find it one day. His other medals were sold at DNW a number of years ago.......the DCM was missing.

[Mons 1914]

Steve,
I did collect medals for a number of years not anymore, the scan was an old one I have in my reference.
How come the DCM was missing? - their's always hope with single Gallantry medals, if it was the BWM or Victory not really much chance.

Scott

[yellow]

I think the reason why the DCM was seperated was because the Regiment and number were different on the DCM to those found on the other medals. It was common practice to split groups in the 70's making such rash assumptions.

It was won for running over fire swept ground to retrieve Lewis ammo.

Steve.

[Mons 1914]

I have the DCM book if you need to know the full citation or date, etc

Have you tried contacting www.token-publishing.co.uk they have a lost medals database.

Scott

[yellow]

Hi Mons,

I used to subscribe to the Medal News and as a result take advantage of their free Medal Tracker. Sadly I never had any luck with any of my adverts.

Yorkshire Regiment gallantry medals for WW1 appear to be rather rare. I assume the museum has most of them or perhaps there are some very large private collections out there?

Many thanks for the offer of the citation. I managed to find it using the LG web site. I was able to track his number switch from the Lincolns to the Yorkshires using his MIC.

Thanks,

Steve.

[Mons 1914]

I agree they don't turn up often at all I've only ever had one the below MM I posted it also had the second award bar 1914 Trio.


You could try www.britishmedalforum.com


Scott