Study of TWMs - BB&Co.

[Greg B]

Thankyou Tan,

Its all you fault and yes I was really happy to aquire it. Inhand it really looks and feels like it hasn't been touched or cleaned since the end of the war.

Greg

[Tan Berk]

Now that you have one more of them I shall start a Turkish made TWM thread (:

Thankyou Tan,

Its all you fault and yes I was really happy to aquire it. Inhand it really looks and feels like it hasn't been touched or cleaned since the end of the war.

Greg

[Darrell]

As posted elsewhere, here is my example:

[Darrell]

closeup of Obverse/maker mark:

[Tan Berk]

Darrell, thank you for your contribution with this solid BB&Co. star.
t

[Tan Berk]

Here is one in wear.

[Tan Berk]

Here are some general info on the Turkish War Medal from http://antique-photos.com website. I edited the text because there were some mistakes in it. Text in Italics are my notes.


Harb Madalyasi, a.k.a. Türkischer Eiserner Halbmond
War Medal a.k.a. Gallipoli Star

Instituted on March 01, 1915 by the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire Mehmed Reshad V (reigned from 27.04.1909 to 03.07.1918) for gallantry in battle to military personnel, not being an award for an exact campaign, and exceptional merits for non-combatants. This decoration was awarded for the duration of WWI to Ottoman and other Central Powers troops, primarily in Ottoman areas of engagement.

Turkish War Medal is mainly referred to by two informal names – while Commonwealth nations call it “Gallipoli Star”, it is widely known in Germany as a “Türkischer Eiserner Halbmond”.

Harb Madalyasi is an a way an “entry level” gallantry award of the Turkish military in WWI ranking below the silver Liyakat Medal. Even though it’s a low-level award German troops unofficially regarded it as a Turkish equivalent to the Prussian Iron Cross which led to its nickname, “Iron Crescent”. It’s worth mentioning though that War Medal was never made of iron.

This award is the only Ottoman decoration which was not awarded by authority of the Sultan but rather was authorized by the Commander-in-Chief of the Ottoman military, Enver Pasha. That’s why award documents do not bear the tughra, i.e. calligraphic monogram of the Sultan. Due to political reasons Sultan Mehmed VI Vahideddin officially recognized these medals after the war as having been awarded by his will.

Any recipient had an opportunity to purchase fine award from numerous German jewelers who kept on producing medals during WWI and Weimar Republic-era.

The award includes a badge, ribbon, miniature and campaign bars. (Not in every case)

The medal has a vaulted star-shaped badge, 56 mm across the diagonal span of the arms. (This measurement suits the BB&Co but there are bigger and smaller sizes) The tips of the star are capped by ball finials and enclosed in a raised silver edge with the field in red lacquer or enamel. A raised crescent, open at the top, encircles the center of the badge. Inside the crescent is the tughra of Sultan Mehmed Reshad V over the date “1333” (1915). The reverse is flat, unadorned and has a straight pin.

29 mm wide medal ribbon for combatants is red with two 5 mm white stripes. For non-combatant recipients the colors are reversed.

Wear of the badge was exclusive and for everyday wear the ribbon from the second hole in the tunic button was used. For Austrian and German recipients the award took lower precedence to Iron Cross 2nd class and the ribbon of the Iron Crescent was placed beneath that of the Iron Cross.

The ribbon could also be fashioned into a chest riband for placement on a ribbon bar when in undress.

The campaign bar designed to be worn on the ribbon is a right-pointing trapezoidal clasp of white metal at 56 mm in length and 7 mm in height. In the field is red Arabic script denoting the specific campaign or theaters of operations during the war. The most commonly seen battle clasps are “Chanakkale” or “Chanak” (Gallipoli), “Kafkas”, “Kanal”, “Sana”, and “Kut-ul-Ammara”. “Irak” clasp also exists but it seems it may be a post-war invention as the nation of Iraq didn’t exist until the Middle East was divided by the allies after the war. These campaign clasps had no official status but their wear seems to have been accepted at the time of the war.

There are a huge variety of German-made private purchase examples that were manufactured by virtually every German court jeweler from the WWI-era through the Third Reich period. Private purchase badges were made of silver, white metal, silvered bronze, bronze and aluminum with a variety of pin attachments, screw back attachments or rings at the top for wear on a medal bar. A few examples of a much larger size are known almost certainly private purchase pieces.

[Darrell]

Some good information and research Tan

[Thoms]

B.b&co

Here is the one that i will buy tomorrow!

Thomas!

[Thoms]

B.B.&Co

[Tan Berk]

Congrats on your new piece and thank you for adding it here Thomas.

Tan

[Tan Berk]

My caliper arrived and finally had some time to measure the three BB&Co. s I have.

This one is the BB&Co. with the original pin on the start of this thread.

h: 57mm w: 56.85mm

All the BB&Co. pieces differ in measurements due to their variable curvature, the size of the balls (yes balls) so I tried to be precise with the scaling as much as I can. Some reliable sources like Demir Erman's book also gives similar measurements so I can not so much off the track.

[Tan Berk]

This one is the BB&Co. with a replaced or repaired pin at the beginning of the thread.

h: 56.59mm w: 56.75mm

The difference on the height to regular 57mm seems to be from the high curve on this one.

[Tan Berk]

This is the BB&Co. with the Meybauer screwback disc.

h:57mm w:56.85 same with the regular BB&Co.

[Tan Berk]

Another fine BB&Co. example.