Purple Heart USMCR Pearl Harbor KIA USS Oklahoma

[Military antiques toronto]

Hello

I am looking for some assistance in this matter. I am not an expert in this area and just want to make sure this is correct. I know the case is wrong for the medal but I dont want to get this if it isnt correct. I can live with the rest of it being incorrect but the important thing to me is the medal being right. Any help is appreciated

Dave

Military Antiques Toronto

[dunmore1774]

I'm no expert on medals at all,  but this looks like absolute junk.  bad engraving- wrong style  and the telegram is ridiculous-  notice the incorrect spelling and wording does not seem right at all

[Dave]

Hi Dave -

Welcome to the USMF! I follow your posts on Facebook and elsewhere as I love reading about the groups you buy!

 

This particular medal is from a known faker, who has been creating very elaborate and "close" fakes. They are not yet perfect at faking...which should worry us all for when that time comes. 

 

I am also not a fan of the telegram, it appears to "bright" to me and the color of the ink is different than any I've seen before. 

 

This is an expensive group, and I would give it a hard pass.

 

Hope that helps!

Dave

 

[Military antiques toronto]

Hi Dave

Thank you very much for your input and I am glad you like my facebook posts. I try and show stuff but I only post about 10% of what I get on instagram and facebook as I move to much product. 

I will pass on the medal and thanks for helping me avoid the bouncing betty on this one

Dave

[The Scarlet Pimpernel]

I don't know how anyone could authenticate the engraving on this medal. It's too blurry and other than the recipient being USMC and not reserves, I don't see a problem with it.

 

From the photos, the telegram looks spot on and worded just how WWII ones are. Print colors on them were dark purple, lighter purple or faded, sometimes turning kind of red ish, black sometimes faded to a grey color. Don't know about the known faker.

[Kurt Barickman]

I have never seen that wording on a KIA USMC Telegram and I have a handful in my collection. Anyone else on the wording?

 

Kurt

[The Scarlet Pimpernel]

I took these pics from the book by Schwind. Not exact wording but very close. Most telegrams I've seen are closely worded and sometimes done exactly as another one. Also seems that punctuation and sometimes spelling were not important to the Marine Corps.

[Kurt Barickman]

Right, the Tarawa ones are both in my collection but the Pearl Harbor ones are what I was referring to. Dave has no example from a USMC Pearl Harbor KIA telegram which is what I was referring to.
 

Kurt