Antique Store Buy

[mott5ranch]

Since this is Spring Break for my school district I have alot of time on my hands during the day. I decided to hit the Antique stores in Corpus Christi and here is what I found. I know it is British and from the first part of the last century. Can anyone help me out with a description and a value?





I paid $18 bucks because the owner said he had a nephew who would buy anything with a rainbow..........hmmmmmm, I wonder if...never mind I won't go there.

[Eric Stahlhut]

First off, the medal has the wrong ribbon. The ribbon depicted is for the Victory medal. The correct ribbon has an orange center with white and black stripes at each side and blue borders.

The medal itself is the British War medal (1914-1920). Pretty common piece usually issued in conjunction with the Victory medal.

Is the medal named on the rim?

[mott5ranch]

Wow!

Yes, it is named on the rim! Thanks for the information, Eric!

The rim reads....."65875 FTE. W. Moore M.?.G" that is all I can make out for these old eyes. I didn't even snap to look on the rim.
I just buy old things that I have no idea about.

[Eric Stahlhut]

No Problemo

The thing with these medals is the recepient: if it was from a famous group it would be worth more. Perhaps the anglophiles amongst us will be able to elaborate far more....if not, I have some data that I can dig out which will help you a little bit as far as in what capacity this fellow served. I'm rather lazy, so I hope the anglos beat me to the punch!

p.s. Are you sure it isn't PTE rather than FTE? Pte signifies the rank of private.

p.p.s. Gary,

Rule of thumb for British and Commonwealth stuff is: pre WW2 British medals were always named. During and after WW2 they were not.

Commonwealth (Rhodesia, Aussie, NZ, Canadian) stuff during WW2 was also named. Am I correct in this assumption, guys?

[Adam H]

Eric is correct in many parts of his description but I think I can expand on/clarify some of it and add to some "facts" about British and Commonwealth medals.

This is indeed the "British War Medal 1914-20" The correct ribbon for it is described as:
Orange watered centre with stripes of white and black at each side and borders of royal blue.

It is made of silver, although versions in bronze were issued to some "Native" troops...Mainly Chinese, Indian and Malays in labour battalions. I've seen others for Macedonian translators and other "oddball" units. There were 6,500,000 (approx) medals awarded in silver and about 110,000 in Bronze.

The obverse of the medal is the uncrowned left-facing profile of King George V. The reverse is St George on horseback trampling underfoot the eagle shield of the Central Powers and a skull and cross bones, the emblems of death. Above, the sun has risen in victory. The figure is mounted on horseback to symbolise man's mind controlling a force of greater strength than his own, and thus alludes to the scientific and mechanical appliances which helped to win the war.

This medal was instituted to record the successful conclusion of the First World War, but was later extended to cover the period 1919-20 and service in mine-clearing at sea as well as participation in operations in North and South Russia, the eastern Baltic, Siberia, the Black Sea and Caspian.

The correct naming on the edge is likely to be:

"65875 PTE. W. MOORE MGC" (MGC representing machine gun corps) I will check to see if I can find anything on this man for you.

Some general points on British medals. Pre WWI campaign medals were named in the majority of cases. However, as is the case with most things there are a fair number of exceptions to this rule.

WWI medals are all named, unnamed examples should be considered to be unissued or possibly replacement issues from unnamed old stock. Britain and all Commonwealth countries used the same medals for WWI service (the exception being the WWI Victory medal to some South Africans has the reverse legend in english and dutch, rather than english only) and all are named accordingly. The naming is generally the only way to determine the nationality of the recipient i.e. British, Australian, Canadian, etc.

Inter-war Campaign medals, eg. India General Service medal, General Service Medal, were invariably named to the recipient

WWII Campaign Medals and Stars. British, Canadian and New Zealand issues were officially UNNAMED. South Africans named their medals, and MOST Australian stars, and ALL issued medals were named. Some Indian units had their medals named in an easily recognizable style, however, no regiments that formed part of the new Pakistani army post 1947 named their medals. Some Indian army units did but some did not.

Post WWII British Campaign Medals, e.g. Campaign Service Medal, Naval General Service Medal, South Atlantic Medal (Falklands), Gulf, etc. are invariably named to the recipient.

Long service medals were almost always named, and Gallantry medals (DCM, MM, DFM, AFM, DSM, etc.) were invariably named to the recipient.

Some officers awards for gallantry (AFC, DFC, MC, etc) or long service (Efficiency Decoration, etc) were officially issued unnamed although a fair number of examples were privately named at a later date.

Of course this info is not extensive nor are the examples exhaustive, but I hope it gives non-Brit collectors some helpful points to consider when examining these items.

Let me know if I can be of further help.


Good Hunting!


Adam

[mott5ranch]

T H A N K S

Eric and Adam,
One never knows what one will find in these estate clearing houses. How this nearly 100 year old piece ended up on the Texas Gulf Coast is probably a story in itself.

Does anyone know where I can find a replacement ribbon and correct clasp? I feel the old item should be restored to what it was meant to be.

So ther were 6.5 million awarded. That is an awesome amount of medals. Did I pay too much for this not rare at all medal?

Adam, you were right. My sons younger eyes confirmed MGC.
Eric, you too are correct, it is PTE. As we get older men loose things from the top down. Hair, hearing, memory, eyesite, teeth, in some sort of order are the first things to go.

[Rick White]

I have a reseacher in England that is top notch if you are willing to pay a reasonable amount for his time. It is amazing what he digs up for a friend of mine who is a Brit. Medal collector.

Email me for more info: psychotherapist@hotmail.com

Rick

[Tony Farrell]

BWM Ribbon

There are no records of him as a casualty, so it looks like Mr Moore got lucky. Send me your address and I'll pop a piece of the correct ribbon in snail mail.

[JensF.]

Hi,

I just saw your interesting discussion. I've got a three medal "standart" group of a british soldier with the following naming:

DVR J. Hood R.F.A.

consisting of a Victory Medal, British War Medal and 1914 Star.
I think DVR maybe Driver and RFA Royal Field Artillery. Anyone got more informations about this guy/group?

Best regards

[Tony Farrell]

RFA trio

It looks like Mr Hood got lucky too, as there's no sign of him as KIA. DVR is Driver, and yes, RFA is Royal Field Artillery.