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Specially Meritorious Medal - Let's see 'em


usmedalman
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Allen Menke and I are putting the finishing touches on a 30-page article on the Specially Meritorious Medal. Our research has yielded some gems and valuable information from forum members. It has also uncovered some great looking medals. So, I thought I would start a topic to share some of what we have found, and provide a forum for others to share their pieces. By the way, I have not submitted a final draft to the publisher yet, so if you would like to email me high quality jpgs of your medal for possible inclusion in the article I would welcome them until about 20 August.

 

Here are some previews of possibly unseen medals we uncovered:

 

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Rare BB & B strike from their own die. About 1918 this example was on a Liberty Loan display board. Very close to the Mint die but with minor variations in lettering on the inscription band and oak branch. Brooch is close to the Mint type but with completely different pin.

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That BBB is certainly a unique specimen....I'd be interested to see how this compares to what has been referred to as a 2d die SMM...in terms of finish, detail, and proportion of the details all with respect to the original strikes. And does this fall into the replacement/copy category or is it a variation?? More rhetorical than anything else

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That BBB is certainly a unique specimen....I'd be interested to see how this compares to what has been referred to as a 2d die SMM...in terms of finish, detail, and proportion of the details all with respect to the original strikes. And does this fall into the replacement/copy category or is it a variation?? More rhetorical than anything else

 

I would simply categorize the BB&B piece as an unofficial strike, since BB&B made their own die. My guess, and it is just a guess, is that BB&B made the die for publicity purposes since they were producing the Navy campaign medals at that time. What was commonly referred to as a Type 2 die was probable the die created by J.K. Davidson for George Studley in about 1939. The Davidson die is not as close to the Mint die as the BB&B die, but the type of bronze is much closer and the patina/coloring is nearer to the Mint medals.

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MMcollector

Here is a Studley piece I picked up a couple years ago. Fine details and I love the color of the metal used to make it.

 

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  • 3 weeks later...
Javelin4life

Here’s one that i acquired recently. From both the suspension brooch and comparing with a couple of the examples in here, it would appear this is a BB&B strike, albeit a darker planchet than the one already shown by usmedalman.

 

 

Posted ImagePosted Image

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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Javelin4life

However, im not 100% sure it is due to a couple of small imperfections; i doubt BB&B would let a product out onto the open without it being near if not 100% flawless.

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  • 2 weeks later...

However, im not 100% sure it is due to a couple of small imperfections; i doubt BB&B would let a product out onto the open without it being near if not 100% flawless.

 

The fact that the "S" in SPECIALLY does not clearly break the inside border decoration line is a characteristic of the BB & B piece. I love the patina on your example. The brooch is also identical to the brooch on the BB & B medal I posted. Since these medals don't appear to be part of any government contract I would speculate that the quality control was not at the same level as that of their contract pieces.

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Javelin4life

 

The fact that the "S" in SPECIALLY does not clearly break the inside border decoration line is a characteristic of the BB & B piece. I love the patina on your example. The brooch is also identical to the brooch on the BB & B medal I posted. Since these medals don't appear to be part of any government contract I would speculate that the quality control was not at the same level as that of their contract pieces.

Thank you for your input! This is exciting news as I wasnt 100% sure of its maker origin. In regards to comparison to the Studley variant, is the BB&B strike rarer?

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Dave, I was wondering where you were on this post. It's one thing to have an authentic, named Specially Meritorious Medal (rare), it's another thing to have a complete medal group (rarer), and another thing for that group to be rim engraved (6th element territory). The Corino group you found at the right time and an incredible price on ebay, is one of the great all time ebay US medal purchases that I'm aware of. And that group could not have been in a better home (or vault! lol) when you bought it two years ago. Sorry to hear that you sold it, but thank you again for giving us all the opportunity to see it here, when you owned it.

 

http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/294858-specially-meritorious-service-medal-group/?hl=%2Bspecially+%2Bmeritorious

 

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