ribbon rack questions

[Michael Page]

I was going to tack this on to the "Ribbon Bar Placement" thread but thought I'd start a new one.

The fact that these ribbons are in perfect order isn't too suspicious IMO although the stars' placement looked a little too perfect. The DFC and AM stars look bronze...I wonder if the gold washed off of them(?) There is slight fading on most of the ribbons, especially the Commendation. Almost all have the old paper tags on back, so I'd imagine the whole rack was created at the same time from the same manufacturer's ribbons.

It's conceivable that someone put this together although it would have been many years ago.

The clear plastic mount is typical 1950s and almost identical to an attributed Naval aviator's rack I saw from the same era.

Thoughts?

[NavyFCO]

My thought is that this is a gorgeous, orignal set of ribbons. I have no complaints about it. Just because something isn't out of order doesn't exactly mean that it's bad - my personal ribbons are in exact order and the devices are perfect, and they're 100% real! Interesting to note on this rack is the up-side down stars. I've never seen these on Army ribbons, but I do see them on Navy (and Marine) ribbons from time to time which is a neat added touch (copying the "naval" star, as on the Navy MOH.)

Dave

[Kurt A.]

I agree with Dave - nice original set of ribbons. I feel the "out of order is good" ribbon theory primarily applies to WW2 enlisted uniforms where you had millions of discharged guys coming home who were in many cases probably given a handfull of different single pinback ribbons whose placement was left to individual or small unit preferences. But from the Korean War on, I would think out of order ribbons to be the exception rather than the rule.
Kurt

[Allan H.]

I believe that you do have ribbons out of order on the rack- specifically the Korean PUC which trumps the Korean UN medal. The ribbons appear to be Viking Quick-Set's which seem to have been predominantly used by Naval and Marine Corps officers.
I also agree that the rack is a perfect example of something that was worn by a true hero and doesn't look like it was put together by a collector.
As an aside, mounting Viking Quick-Set ribbons SUCKS! The bars have little "barbs" on them to keep the ribbons in place. Once they go together, they do not want to ever come apart.
Allan

[cbuehler]

Nice ribbons! KurtA has it right on the out of order theory. The ribbon bar placement thread was with regard to ww2 (mostly army) bars where mixups and such are the norm. By the 50's one does not see this much and it was never as prevalent in the Navy anyway. Its incredible what US soldiers were able to get away with regarding their uniforms in ww2.
BTW, the stars on the ribbons shown in Mike's photo should be bronze and it doesnt mean anything whether they are upside down or not.

Conrad

[Michael Page]

[QUOTE=cbuehler]
BTW, the stars on the ribbons shown in Mike's photo should be bronze...

Thanks for the input. Actually I was referring to the stars on the DFC and AM; but I just realized they only make those 5 1/16th" stars in gold or silver, so I guess the finish on this one wore off over time.

[Allan H.]

BTW, the stars on the ribbons shown in Mike's photo should be bronze and it doesnt mean anything whether they are upside down or not.

Conrad

Conrad,
We were referring to the award stars on the DFC and Air Medal and not the campaign stars and they should be gold, or silver to denote the fifth award. Bronze star devices are only worn on campaign ribbons.
Allan

[kastauffer]

During WWII the stars on the ribbons of USN decorations for additional awards were generally applied with the point of the star in the down position, but I have seen them both ways. The earliest issue of the full sized WWII stars are quite impressive , ( nice dome shape ) made of 10K gold or gold plated sterling.


Kurt