WWI Victory Medals - SHOWCASE of Around-The-World Variations

[stratasfan]

Hi! I am super interested in WWI Victory Medals, and would eventually love to collect some of the different countries' versions/variations. I can't find anywhere where there are nice photos of each medal design. If there is a previous posting, it isn't coming up in my long searching, but please post the link here! If there isn't, I would love if some of the Great War collectors would post pictures of the fronts and backs of medals to show the different variations for reference! So far, these are the countries that I am aware of issuing the Interallied Victory medal:

 

US

UK

France

Italy

Belgium

Czechoslovakia

Japan

Poland

Cuba

Brazil

South Africa

Portugal

Romania

Greece

Philippine Constabulary

So, I look forward to anyone's photos if they'd like to share! Would be such a cool reference! I couldn't get anywhere online to pop up that showed all the different types, either!

Thanks!

Elizabeth

[KurtA]

Here's CUBA:

 

[Johnnymac]

Hi you missed Thailand which is the rarest of all the victory medals. In my book I have illustrated over 200 medals.

 

Also all medals from Poland are unofficial and believed to be fakes.

SPECIAL NOTE - These medals all have the same designer's name, the same manufacturer's initials and the same obverse (faceplate). In other words, they are identical on the front, yet they all have a different reverse side.

 

The Polish government considered issuing a Victory Medal to its veterans, but never did. As the story I heard goes: Around the 1990s, it was reported that a few thousand of the lost (but never issued) Polish Victory Medals were found in a warehouse in Czechoslovakia.

 

If this story is true, then why are there at least three (3) different types of suspensions reported on these medals? Adding, there are three (3) different types of the reverse side having either: a "Small eagle", a "Large eagle" or the letters "RP" placed below the words, "ZA WOJNE W OBRONIE CYWILIZACJI 1914-1918", What's that all about, all these differences on one medal found in a small lot, found in one warehouse. No one has come forward with clarity.

 

 

It is possible that one or all of these medals are the Polish official issue. I will leave it up to you to decide for yourself.

 

Jim

[Sumserbrown]

Belgium

[Sumserbrown]

Czech Republic

[Sumserbrown]

Greece

[Sumserbrown]

Japan

[Sumserbrown]

Portugal

[Sumserbrown]

Romania

[Sumserbrown]

South Africa (same as GBR but bilingual reverse)

[Sumserbrown]

Brazil

[Sumserbrown]

Siam

[Sumserbrown]

France (official)

[Sumserbrown]

France (unofficial type I)

[Sumserbrown]

France (unofficial type II)

[Sumserbrown]

Poland (fantasy medal??) Type I

[Sumserbrown]

Poland Type II (I don't have the type III though, so can't post that one)

[Sumserbrown]

Italy (this is type I, but the differences to the other types are subtle)

[Sumserbrown]

Philippine Constabulary WWI Victory medal (in Laslo's book) 

[Sumserbrown]

For completeness here is a US version, although I assume everyone on the forum has seen one.

Thanks for indulging me while I posted all those -it has got my contribution number up!

Rob

[Sumserbrown]

On 12/6/2018 at 3:39 PM, Johnnymac said:

Hi you missed Thailand which is the rarest of all the victory medals. In my book I have illustrated over 200 medals.

 

Also all medals from Poland are unofficial and believed to be fakes.

SPECIAL NOTE - These medals all have the same designer's name, the same manufacturer's initials and the same obverse (faceplate). In other words, they are identical on the front, yet they all have a different reverse side.

 

The Polish government considered issuing a Victory Medal to its veterans, but never did. As the story I heard goes: Around the 1990s, it was reported that a few thousand of the lost (but never issued) Polish Victory Medals were found in a warehouse in Czechoslovakia.

 

If this story is true, then why are there at least three (3) different types of suspensions reported on these medals? Adding, there are three (3) different types of the reverse side having either: a "Small eagle", a "Large eagle" or the letters "RP" placed below the words, "ZA WOJNE W OBRONIE CYWILIZACJI 1914-1918", What's that all about, all these differences on one medal found in a small lot, found in one warehouse. No one has come forward with clarity.

 

 

It is possible that one or all of these medals are the Polish official issue. I will leave it up to you to decide for yourself.

 

Jim

 

Hi Jim,

I have a copy of your book and it is fantastic (thoroughly recommended to anyone interested in the interallied victory medals). I wanted to ask about this one though that is mentioned by Laslo but not in your book (yet). It is the small version of the France unofficial type 2, which Laslo calls the Unofficial Type 2c (See below next to the unofficial type 2). Laslo says this is rare but do you know how rare it actually is?

thanks and best wishes,

Rob

 

 

 

 

 

[mikes militaria]

Picture #1
US, 3 French, Official, Unofficial type 1, Unofficial type 2, Poland, see above post, Greece, South Africa, Great Britain set, All GB medals are engraved on the rim with the recipients name. Czech Republic, obverse one over Czech reverse, Belgium reverse, two over is Belgium obverse, Romanian official, one over Romanian unofficial type 3, wire hanger and uses “C” instead of “G” in country names. Italian obverse, two over Italian reverse, different maker. Portugal, Japan obverse, one over Japan reverse. Cuba, repro Siam. When I was young and broke I knew a dealer that had a Brazil, I looked at it for a year trying to justify the purchase, then it was gone. I haven’t seen another since.

Picture #2

Same order, reverse of the single medals.

[mikes militaria]

Three different makers of the Italian medal. Official type 2, type 1 and type 3. Same design but different makers name in the bottom right hand corner. On the reverse, the type 3 doesn’t have the name G. Villa on the bottom r.h. side.

[mikes militaria]

Whoops, on my first post I have the Czech medals wrong, reverse then obverse, doh!

[Lmcsecret]

Thank you for sharing all your medal guys. Nice to be looking at some you seen a long time ago.