Reproduction medals

[Hussar100]

Originally Posted by grey_green_acorn

They look very good, a worthy tribute to and commemoration of your father.

Tim

Thank you so much for your thoughtful response. That was indeed what we were trying to do. Unfortunately we lost dad when we were very young and my brother, just 18 months younger than I, can't remember him at all. So it's very important to him to have pictures and memorabilia. The medals were what he was really after but he lacked the knowledge to put the set together.

[Frank Kelley]

That is something that I always like to see, it offers that little bit extra when the box of issue has not survived, very distinctive too, you seldom see any such groups these days!

Originally Posted by 54Bty

If required WW2 Medals and Stars could be engraved with the relevant details free of charge at any branch of Boots.

Marc

[Frank Kelley]

Glad you got it sorted, the medals are very easy to get, as has already been pointed out, originals are not only far better, but, are normally somewhat cheaper, in particular, the War and Defence medals, I'd actually rather do without than buy a copy of anything!
Did you use period cotton ribbon rather than that awful polyester rubbish?

Originally Posted by Hussar100

Thank you so much for your thoughtful response. That was indeed what we were trying to do. Unfortunately we lost dad when we were very young and my brother, just 18 months younger than I, can't remember him at all. So it's very important to him to have pictures and memorabilia. The medals were what he was really after but he lacked the knowledge to put the set together.

[davidwyke]

Hi Chaps

Interesting thread. I would like to reiterate what has already been said and mention a few other points.

Firstly, if you are looking for replacements for the basic WW2 medals and stars then I certainly agree that it's far better to obtain originals rather than copies and the commoner originals may well be cheaper than the copies. Most of the original medals are readily available, some will be more expensive than others; the Air Crew Europe Star definately will be and the Pacific and Atlantic Stars probably will be also. If you are looking for an Air Crew Europe Star then use caution, there are copies of all the medals circulating but particularly this one.

There is also the question of replacing the clasps issued to some recipients for wear on the medal ribbon, these were often lost. These are more of a problem as some of the original clasps are now scarce or even rare and can be expensive. Copies of all of them are available very cheaply.

As already mentioned, none of the British issues were officially named, I think it was considered but it was decided the cost would be prohibitive. Of course, this is good news if you are looking for replacement medals. I think it was Marc who mentioned the naming service offered through Boots. Few people seem to have taken advantage of this, I always assumed it was because a fee was payable, I didn't realise it was a free service. Other recipients had their medals named privately but they were very much in the minority.

Commonwealth forces who were awarded the same medals often got a "better deal" from their respective governments than our lads and lasses. For example, most of the medals issued to South African recipients were officially named before issue, I believe the same applies to some of the medals issued in India. Also, the Canadian issues of the War Medal and Defence Medal were in silver, unlike the cupro-nickle British issues.

David

[Ian B]

Good day all,

I have been looking for the medals issued for WWI service to my maternal grandfather and his brother, my great uncle. G.F. received 14-15 Star/BWM/VM, and G.U. received MC/BWM/VM.

Would the costs involved for WWI medals be the same as for WWII medals, in that originals would be cheaper that repros (as previously discussed)? How much would I be looking at for originals that my relatives were issued?

You may quote prices in GB pounds, I'll use a web currency converter to change to Cdn $. I'm just trying to come up with the most economical solution, so that I can make up displays as part of my family military history.

Thanks.

Ian

[manchesters]

Ian,

All WW1 medals were named to the recipient, so you wont be buying the originals.

If you want a representitive original 1915 Trio named to someone else you can pay as little as £70 at the moment to a Corps.

A pair is around £40 and an MC can be had for £550.

regards

[davidwyke]

Hello Ian

As Simon has said, WW1 medals are a completely different situation., given that they are usually officially named. As regards the three basic medals: 1914-1915 star, British War Medal, Victory Medal you probably have three options -
1) as Simon says, you could buy replacement individual or groups of medals which are named to someone else.
2) You could buy individual "erased" medals, in other words the naming details have been removed for whatever reason. These would (or should) be cheaper than the above and I think this is the option which most people in a situation such as yours go for.
3) You could buy individual medals which have never been named. These turn up very occasionally but are rare and tend to be considerably more expensive than named medals.

The Military Cross should be less of a problem as none of them were officially named before being awarded, although many have been privately named. So, there are plenty of un-named examples around (obviously you need a George V example) but named or un-named all genuine medals are expensive. There are copies around so be sure to purchase from a reputable source.

All the above comments apply to genuine medals, you can obtain copies of all of them quite inexpensively.

David

[Ian B]

Thanks Simon and David. I guess my first question should have been "were WWI British medals issued unnamed?" I have the second maternal great uncles medals and the medals of paternal great uncles, so I'm trying to 'complete the set', as it were. Nobody in the family seems to know where the other two sets of medals have gone.

Strange that British medals would have been named In WWI and not WWII. Larger numbers of personnel serving 39-45?

Thanks again.

Ian

[davidwyke]

Hi Ian

As regards the lack of naming on WW2 medals, as far as I know it was strictly down to cost. It was decided it would be too expensive, it's a pity because the basic WW2 medals would be much more collectable if they were named. The situation was the same in Canada, incidentally - the basic WW1 medals were named, but not those for WW2.

I should have mentioned that before obtaining replacement family medals, have you tried advertising for the originals? I think the British Medals Forum has a section for people trying to trace "lost" medals, as does "Medal News" magazine and there are probably other methods.

Good luck with your search!!

David

[Frank Kelley]

You can on occasion certainly buy original unnamed Great War medals, as opposed to erased examples, the 1914-15 Star can be found, the BWM likewise, but, you would certainly struggle to find an unnamed 1914 Star and either of the two AVM's.

Originally Posted by manchesters

Ian,

All WW1 medals were named to the recipient, so you wont be buying the originals.

If you want a representitive original 1915 Trio named to someone else you can pay as little as £70 at the moment to a Corps.

A pair is around £40 and an MC can be had for £550.

regards

[davidwyke]

Hi Frank

I agree. I've certainly never seen an un-named 1914 star but it's the 1914-1915 star which Ian is looking for. As regards the Victory Medal, I've seen a couple of examples which were supposedly never named but I think in reality they had been carefully erased.

I think Ian could settle for un-named 1914-15 star & BWM and an erased VM but it would probably be a lot cheaper to have erased examples of all three!

David

[Eddie Parks]

I'd just like to point out that medal collectors react badly to anybody suggesting the purchase of erased medals. Erasing a medal effectively deletes the memory of the soldier it was issued to and does little to enhance the memory of the soldier it is re-awarded to.

I'd suggest you join the British Medals Forum http://www.britishmedalforum.com and ask for help to find your families original medals. They are quite often successful

Best of luck

Eddie

[davidwyke]

Hi Eddie

I would NEVER suggest erasing the naming details from a named medal, it's something which I'm totally opposed to for the very reason you mentioned.

I'm just referring to medals which have been erased in the past, of which there are many. As I'm sure you know, it was a common practice for soldiers from the award of the Waterloo Medal 200 years ago onwards to replace a lost medal with another example of the same medal, having first erased the original recipients details. It seems to me that if the naming details have been erased 100, 125 years ago or however long ago it was, then what is done is done. In the past I've purchased partially erased medals simply to try and determine who they were originally awarded to. Isn't it better for such medals to still exist in some form? What other fate awaits them? They would go for scrap or be turned into a brooch or something and be lost forever.

So, everyone, just to be clear: if you are thinking of erasing the naming details from a named medal, please don't even consider it!!

David

[Ian B]

Thanks to everyone for their advice. I'll definitely keep the British Medals Forum in mind.

Stay safe and have fun.

Ian