Russian Front Medal

[Todd Gylsen]

What are your thoughts on this Frozen Meat medal? I'm 99% sure it is a bad one. Should I toss in the scrap metal pile or put it in the display case? I cannot tell you if the ribbon glows or not, no blacklight.

[Todd Gylsen]

The reverse.

[Todd Gylsen]

Overall view.

[mr. triatic]

the ring is way bad, and the overall feeling i get is that this one is pure crap, but i am by no means expert on these

[AWwaterhouse]

what is the medal made out of?

I can see bubbles on the surface of the medal which would appear to be oxidisation, zinc?

Without further information I would say the medal itself is actually good.

[greg.hays]

I own a good number of these medals, and I am on the fence. I've seen a few in this type of condition around the flea markets of Germany the last couple of years. By this type I mean those having the same flaking of the finish exposing that dull grey under color. In hand I just didn't like them, the finished practically crumbled when handling the medal. Has anyone else seen this type of thing happen?

[mrg]

Hi guys I have to say I can see nothing wrong with the medal itself, just a heavily worn ost medal. The ribbon original ribbon loop has been replaced but the medal itself looks fine. the distortion I believe comes from the pics (probablyly the flash? thats is giving the award its appearance) Better pics in natural light would help but the medal looks like a heavily worn original to me. All the best.

[greg.hays]

I agree I think pics in daylight would eliminate the glare that is possibly skewing the way the finish looks. The ones that worry me, and which look very much like this one it terms of finish, in my opinion are cast copies with a glossy laquer finish. They all have had that brass colored ribbon ring, just doesn't sit right with me.

Looking at this one again, I also don't like the area where the grenade and helmet meet on the reverse. The other details seem fine but.... For me though,I think it would be fairly easy to find examples of this medal that are in far better shape and less suspect. JMHO .

[AWwaterhouse]

You have to remember that millions of these would have been produced, tens of firms would have been involved in producing this medal so varations and various qualties of the silver finish and base metal will be encountered, some of which have lasted longer than others.