French made British Military Cross WW1

[Dave A]

Hi, I recently purchased a very nice period "copy" WW1 British Military Cross in solid silver as a gap filler. After cleaning it I found the French "boars head" hallmark (.800 silver) on the cross and suspension bar, together with the maker mark AXC in a lozenge (Adrien Chobillon, Paris). Chobillon made a large number of medals, both civil and military from 1903 until sometime in the 1960s.

Does anyone have any ideas as to why a private french manufacturer might make a British MC award.

[just]

Hello Dave
a french have the answer
I hope you can translate
cordially
Didier

Bonjour

La réponse est tout à fait simple. Un grand nombre de militaires français avaient reçu des décorations britanniques (italiennes, belges, russes, etc..) à l'occasion de la Grande Guerre.

Le remplacement par les nations qui les avaient attribuées des décorations étrangères perdues était souvent difficile, parfois impossible. Et pourtant, ceci devenait nécessaires en cas de perte ou de destruction (le métier militaire est parfois hazardeux). Les firmes françaises ont tout simplement fabriqué des décorations et médailles de remplacement faciles à obtenir.

Le port des décorations "pendantes" s'est longtemps prolongé et il était nécessaire de disposer d'une "batterie de cuisine" complète dans bien des cas. Dans certains cas aussi les titulaires ne voulaient pas risquer de porter les originales et portaient les remplacement de fabrication française. .

Ceci n'était pas une nouveauté. Nous connaissons tous les Al Valore Militare de fabrication française pour la Crimée et surtout pour l'Italie qui ont existé avant la Grande Guerre. La plupart des grands fabricants français proposaient des insignes des ordres russes depuis très longtemps. Ils n'ont jamais été destinés à tromper les collectionneurs

D'autres membres du Forum vous apporteront probablement des informations complémentaires.

Cordialement
Vétéran

[Dave A]

Bonjour Didier, Je parle Francais (un peu!). Je comprend. Merci. Dave

[peter monahan]

For we monoglots, Didier's information says, in a nutshell: many French soldiers received British decorations, that some of them lost the originals or preferred to wear copies, for security reasons and so that many copies were made in France but never with the intention of fooling collectors.

Which, presumably, explains the French hallmark. It identifies the value - silver - and says 'not original' at the same time.

Peter

[Dave A]

Hi, Many thanks to Dider and Peter. A rough translation of what Didier said (using my schoolboy French from 40 years ago) is that French servicemen in World War 1 received many decorations from other countries (Britain, Italy, Russia, Belgium etc) and as French servicemen tended to wear their actual decorations (rather than just the ribbon) more often, and in active service conditions, there was a need for either replacements for ones lost or replicas as the recipient did not wish to risk the original award item.

Getting replacements from the country of origin was almost impossible so French manufacturers made these replicas in France. This was not a new idea e.g. the Italian "Al Valore" for actions in the Crimean and Italian Wars. French manufacturers continued to make large numbers of Imperial Russian orders and decorations for a long time after World War 1 as well (As Imperial Russia had collapsed and been replaced by the Soviet Union).

These were contemporary replicas for wear and use in the above context and never intended to fool collectors.

I hope I have done Didiers explanation justice. This makes perfect sense to me as the Germans did the same thing, wearing replicas rather than their original award pieces, as do a lot of modern medal recipients in many countries. I have learned something more and hope this is of use to others.

Regards Dave