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Odd first type Legion of Merit. Fake or real?


Dave
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What I really like about the image of this one is you can see clearly the edge of the arrowhead (red arrow pointing to it). 

2022-02-18_12-27-00.jpg

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What is also interesting to compare the dots between the words at the reverse of the medal. The dots on the reference pictures about BB&B pieces have smaller and better pronounced appearance, but the eBay specimen has bigger and flatter dots.

 

The reference photos by Dave shows the BB&B manufactured piece (small ring, this has the small serial number and what is also worth observing is the upper arm - even the small section was enameled where the white color is visible). On the other contract by Joseph Mayer the ring is the generic, bigger size, it has the bigger serial numbers and as I observed the small portion is not enameled with white color because of the placement of the wreath.

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Maybe I am wrong but these latest pictures show a Joseph Mayer piece. These have the zigzag pattern behind the red enamel on the obverse and reverse as well, however the BB&B manufactured ones have flat backgrounds both front and back.

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It just doesn't seem to be of the proper quality, in my opinion.  And this is just mid way through the production.of 200!?c I can not believe the die and hub would be in such poor shape already.  And the color doesn't seem right for an early one.  How many have that much gold plating still on them?  And I am assuming they were also sterling base metal and this one has NO tarnish of the underlying metal. 

Years ago I thought about making one for display.   And for that kind of money I may just do it now, for display and MARKED as a fake of course.  Should I go that route I will post my process here like I did with the Rickenbacker display.  They are beautiful pieces of art in my mind!

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Here are two rare pieces. The one with the split brooch is one of the actual prototypes, and the second is an absolutely genuine 1st type LOM. Perhaps these will help in providing examples of what the correct originals look like.

 

 

LoM-1st.jpg.7964ddbaa4024a3710885523d330e744.jpgPrototype.jpg.bd171fdf2827bb54c8dff46c312c35b8.jpg

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1 minute ago, manayunkman said:

Did anyone else make this medal?

Joseph Mayer had a run of 100 of them. The numbers on the brooch run from 6001 to 6100. 

 

Allan

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38 minutes ago, Allan H. said:

Joseph Mayer had a run of 100 of them. The numbers on the brooch run from 6001 to 6100. 

 

Allan

No one else besides Mayer and BB&B? 

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If this piece is authentic the only explanation is that someone at BB&B did this for who knows what reason.

 

Could they have made a double sided planchette without the struck arrows and then drilled them out to see what it would look like?

 

 

 

 

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An old list that was being accumulated years ago for Legionaire and Officer grades. I can confirm the Irons & Russell as I have a WW II numbered Officer example with their hallmark on the top of the suspension that falls into the number range:

 

Makers

BB & B
American Emblem
Irons & Russell
UNCAS
Dieges & Clust
Robbins


These are the main manufacturers of the numbered variations:
BBB 1 thru 1895/1900
Irons & Russell 2600 - 2700
Jos Mayer 2800
UNCAS 3100 to 3600
American Emblem 3600 to 4000
Iron & Russell 4100 to 4300
UNCAS 4300 to 4600
4700 to 5000 large # (?)
Jos Mayer 6000 to 6600
Jos Mayer 7200 to 7300
8000 large # (?)
Diegest & Clust 10,400 11,000
Jos Mayer 11,000 to 13,000
Robbins 14,000 to 16,000

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MottTheHoople

This medal was 100% pierced intentionally by hand to deceive collectors.  It was done by hand and not by a piercing die as it should be.  The enamel on the back looks awful and the brooch has clearly been messed with.  There is not a single thing I like about this medal.

 

Without holding it in person I would guess they probably used an unfinished planchet & just enameled both sides themselves (that would the smartest move).  They could have easily matched it, though.  Just plain white & clear enamel with a touch of red.

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Check out the 2nd (darker) LOM in post #32.   Stated to be 100% original prototype.   The arrow finishing is not as clean as some of the other “uncontroversial” examples . 

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1 hour ago, KurtA said:

Check out the 2nd (darker) LOM in post #32.   Stated to be 100% original prototype.   The arrow finishing is not as clean as some of the other “uncontroversial” examples . 

 

I don't think the scans are that good. I'd be interested in better scans before making a declaration one way or the other. 

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Here are my two examples of this medal.  The left is the Bailey, Banks and Biddle #2 to Colonel Thomas H. Lowe and the right is Joseph Mayer #6100, which would be the last one of the production.

190884FF-6C38-4939-A9AC-1AB1973F9B03.jpeg

E5E597AD-F4DE-4B82-B629-3EAC6C520ED8.jpeg

DB5676FE-64BE-4169-8EEC-E67D9A284D2D.jpeg

CC8DA163-0DF7-4846-851D-94B7AED06EC9.jpeg

2CCE5B4A-54FE-4EA3-9351-6BAC07FB346E.jpeg

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2 hours ago, MottTheHoople said:

This medal was 100% pierced intentionally by hand to deceive collectors.  It was done by hand and not by a piercing die as it should be.  The enamel on the back looks awful and the brooch has clearly been messed with.  There is not a single thing I like about this medal.

 

Without holding it in person I would guess they probably used an unfinished planchet & just enameled both sides themselves (that would the smartest move).  They could have easily matched it, though.  Just plain white & clear enamel with a touch of red.

I took another look at the enameling on the questioned medal and you can see where the white enamel has spilled out of its boundaries.

 

 

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Interesting discussion.

 

I'll make one point. From what I can see on EVERY SINGLE MEDAL shown above, the voiding around the arrows has been DONE BY HAND. When you actually look very carefully, no two medals have exactly the same cutouts. Even the voids on individual medals are not EXACTLY the same and if using any sort of die, they HAVE to be exactly the same.

 

There is imo no way the arrow shafts would have survived any attempt at being punched out by a finishing die. If they could have, then the voids around a given pair of crossed arrows would be exactly the same from one medal to the next (from the same manufacturer of course), but they are not.

 

To me, it is obvious that the process for voiding the arrows was to first drill a number of small holes and then use a very fine flat file to tidy up the edges. This was not an uncommon practice and was used by jewelers in many countries - it still is! It's labour intensive though, which is imo why later LoM versions (WW2 onwards) produced in much higher numbers do not have voided arrows.

 

For me, the medal in question, #112, was finished after the holes were drilled but before the voids were FULLY filed/finished, plain and simple.  Some filing is evident on most (not all) voids. Poor QC from a collector's perspective in 2022, but even the best make mistakes from time to time.

 

 

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MottTheHoople
13 hours ago, MikeK said:

There is imo no way the arrow shafts would have survived any attempt at being punched out by a finishing die. If they could have, then the voids around a given pair of crossed arrows would be exactly the same from one medal to the next (from the same manufacturer of course), but they are not.

 

The legion of merit chief commander is a currently produced medal that has a pierced planchet, also made from red brass, with arrow shafts fully intact.

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