please tell me that somebody other than member "jack1" is skeptical about this medal. It is a screaming die-cast piece... And i mean screaming. This thing never got struck by a stamping die!!
The medal was slightly darkened in selenious and phosphoric acid and then dipped in copper acetate a few times to produce the speckled (not natural-looking) "verde gris" finish. This process helps to make less obvious the identifying characteristics of a die-cast piece... Porosity, unsharp edges/inside corners, casting seams, etc.
I recognize this kind of finish because i used to do this stuff in our metal finishing shop!
I spent most of my adult life going to ww2 veterans' estate auctions and honestly... These guys picked up all kinds of crap at flea markets and gun shows in the 60s and 70s and 80s and then told their grandkids it was their war booty "fightin' them nazis."
being able to distinguish die-stamped pieces from die-cast pieces is absolutely rudimentary to collecting medals, orders and decorations.
Both ribbon and Medal!
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