Coffin Cases

[Eickhorn61]

Hello, this is my first post .

 

I have a bunch of leather coffin cases. But, i don't know how to determine if they are Amry or Navy.

Can someone help?

 

Thank you!

[Eickhorn61]

Just now, Eickhorn61 said:

Hello, this is my first post .

 

I have a bunch of leather coffin cases. But, i don't know how to determine if they are Army or Navy.

Can someone help?

 

Thank you!

 

[Bruce Linz]

The cases the Army used usually have a place at the top of the case for the lapel pin to slip into.  Also, because of the space for the lapel pin the Army cases are slightly longer in length.  Do a search in the Medals & Decorations section of the forum and you’ll find lots of great information and photos about them.  

[tdogchristy90]

I pulled this from another thread...

 

 

[Eickhorn61]

Thank you

[easterneagle87]

I've been curious about this as well. How about some shots of the insides to show the differences. 

[tdogchristy90]

I pulled these from Dave’s wonderful book Sacrifice Remembered. In order...

 

Army box. You”ll see the little notch for the lapel pin.

 

 

The classic Navy Purple box.

 

 

 

Navy “short” coffin box. You’ll notice it is shorter and does not have a place for the lapel pin. These were later war, late 44/45 issue.
 

 

...

[gunnertwo]

IMNSHO, the term "coffin cases" is being misused. The term should refer to the colored Navy/USMC/USCG untitled colored medal cases and not any others. I've seen numerous eBay auctions that call the titled Army cases- "coffin". This muddies the waters and calls something what it is not. The army / navy titled style cases are far more common and were in use long after the colored cases ended production. I might be picking nits here but introducing confusion where it is not needed is not good for the collecting community. 

Rant off.

 

G2

[Eickhorn61]

Question,

Does this also apply to Silver Stars, Bronze Stars?

[Allan H.]

19 hours ago, gunnertwo said:

IMNSHO, the term "coffin cases" is being misused. The term should refer to the colored Navy/USMC/USCG untitled colored medal cases and not any others. I've seen numerous eBay auctions that call the titled Army cases- "coffin". This muddies the waters and calls something what it is not. The army / navy titled style cases are far more common and were in use long after the colored cases ended production. I might be picking nits here but introducing confusion where it is not needed is not good for the collecting community. 

Rant off.

 

G2

Actually, the term "coffin case" predates the colored cases and relates to earlier cases like the WWI DSC and DSM cases. These cases have a crown and slope to the sides just like a coffin. As collectors, we tend to lump all cases that aren't cardstock boxes into the term- correctly or incorrectly.

 

Allan

[gunnertwo]

Allan, yes I agree with your comments on the early cases. The exception being the quantity of the awards issued compared to the early WWII examples that tended to be posthumous. There weren't that many awards except for the DSC and NC and many of those came in boxes. It's a collector term, obviously not a true naming or title. My "picking nits" comes from the frequent ads calling the WWII army titled cases "coffin" style. Continuity should apply in our collecting world. Ok, the horse is dead.

 

G2