Hello Everyone

 

I recently found this medal in a mixed lot i purchased at auction. I've been trying to find out some information about both the medal itself and the Veterans group. Can anyone help me out?

 

Cheers

Chris

According to Bishop & Elliot's book, American Society Medals, this organization was founded in 1920. In order to qualify for membership one had to have served as a Commissioned Officer in one of the Armed Forces of the U.S during the Great War. Following World War II, the organization changed is name to New York Society of Military and Naval Veterans of the World Wars. Eventually, it became New York Society of Military and Naval Officers and expanded its boundaries to include all conflicts from the Revolutionary War to the present day.

 

According to the above authors as of 1998 there were only 100 members remaining.

 

This is a fantastic membership badge and it appears to be in great condition. I'd say you were quite lucky to have it!

 

Kevin

Hi Kevin

 

Thanks so much for the info. It sounds as if it was a fairly exclusive group and probably never was very large to begin with. It appears as though it may be silver gilt based upon the tarnishing. There was a few other little bits with this piece in the box which i think may be related to it. I'll photograph them and post for you to see as well. Also in the box was a British DFC case and Canadian CD case which were the reasons i wanted the lot.

 

Cheers

Chris

Do we know how many were in the society at its pinnacle of membership?

 

Very neat find! First time I had heard of this group.

I've tried to find information about this group online and came up empty. I am not even sure if they are still viable. It might be the kind of thing that someone from New York might be able to track down.

 

Kevin

Very nice medal! Great condition. I have only seen one other and the enamel was all chipped and cracked. It is a keeper for sure. James

I wanted to go ahead and bump this up with my example(or was my example), i just sold it yesterday! I want to say i found this a few months back! This medal is literally right out of the woodwork. It was recently found at an estate auction in Virginia. It was found with a mini bar that had Society of the Revolution mini, society of colonial wars mini and this medal on it, two of the medals were 10k. It was also found with the large size colonial wars medal. Sadly I did not win either of these other medals in the auction. I decided to put it up for sale and i have had some offers nothing solid and i made a deal with the buyer yesterday! Just want to preserve it here! In a long and hard search i only turned up 3 that included this one so these are extremely rare, I'm sure there are more out there! How many though is truly anyones guess! The only difference between my example and the above posted was the brooch on mine i am almost certain is gold! Hope you all enjoy it i am sad to see it go but it is going to a good home!

 

 

Beautiful badge. Thanks for posting and thanks to all who added to the post with comments. Mike

Here is a miniature bar with the society Medal at the end

 

Bill

Gorgeous medals. I love the mini bar

I just received one as part of a group recently. It can be seen in my Rear Admiral Yates Sterling Jr. group posted over in "Groupings." I heard these medals are quite rare and that Sterling Sr. and Sterling Jr. both received the medal being both father and son Admirals. I may even have some period medal paperwork from this organization. I will check and post here.

Found this one two days ago at a local antique shop inNY. It came with the original box

Thats an excellent score I ended up moving mine along I can't remember the price but it went for somewhere between $200-$400 I dont remeber exactly it might have been on the higher side of that!

I have never see the box before. Thank you for sharing! That is a fantastic find. I hope you got it for a decent price. I'd love to have any BB&B badges in my collection.

 

Kevin