September 3, 20241 yr #1 A friend of mine showed me these medals over the weekend and, to be frank, alarms went off in my head. The first three medals are all the same engraving style and all the rings suspending the planchets are wonky. To me they don't look right. Specifically, the font style. So normally I would post them individually but because they all came from the same estate and they all look the same style and because they are all suspect I am posting them together. The 4th medal came from the same source, but the engraving style does not bother me. A marine declared missing in May of '45 and then being declared dead later would have a later engraved style Purple Heart, possibly even with a slot brooch. So what says the forum? Any thoughts? Thank you ABN
September 3, 20241 yr #2 The first 3 are 1980s or later. Many of these turned up as scrap metal in a auction the Philadelphia QM Depot conducted in the 1990s. The rings are wonky because the medals were sold as planchettes and someone added the rings and ribbons. The last one is very nice private hand engraving from WWII. It is NOT USMC posthumous engraving. It is most like from an Army vet who was WIA. Kurt
September 4, 20241 yr #6 20 hours ago, KASTAUFFER said: The first 3 are 1980s or later. Many of these turned up as scrap metal in a auction the Philadelphia QM Depot conducted in the 1990s. The rings are wonky because the medals were sold as planchettes and someone added the rings and ribbons. The last one is very nice private hand engraving from WWII. It is NOT USMC posthumous engraving. It is most like from an Army vet who was WIA. Kurt I 100% agree. Not much more to add because Kurt is spot on.
September 4, 20241 yr #7 10 hours ago, VietnamCollectors2823 said: I didn’t even realize people faked Purple Heart engravings. How sad. Yep. Easy enough to research PH recipients. Most WW2 PH recipients are dead so who is going to complain.
September 4, 20241 yr #8 Agree the first 3 are from the scrap bin but # looks good for postwar awarding. Bill
September 4, 20241 yr #9 8 hours ago, Marshallj said: Yep. Easy enough to research PH recipients. Most WW2 PH recipients are dead so who is going to complain. Such a Ignorant thing to say. Just because they are not alive anymore doesn't make it ok and who says Ww2 Purple Heart recipients are easily to research? Because I can tell you from experience that's not the case. While some are the majority are not or the information isn't readily available online. Not to mention Ww1, Korea and Vietnam as well as all the stuff in between and after Vietnam. There will always be fakes it's the unfortunate truth when it comes to this hobby. Most of us have gotten burned in the past and have educated ourselves what to look out for. Now there will always be something that's new and different no matter the experience level but that's why this fourm exists.
September 4, 20241 yr #10 1 hour ago, Spartan19 said: Such an Ignorant thing to say. Just because they are not alive anymore doesn't make it ok and who says Ww2 Purple Heart recipients are easily to research? Because I can tell you from experience that's not the case. While some are the majority are not or the information isn't readily available online. Not to mention Ww1, Korea and Vietnam as well as all the stuff in between and after Vietnam. There will always be fakes it's the unfortunate truth when it comes to this hobby. Most of us have gotten burned in the past and have educated ourselves what to look out for. Now there will always be something that's new and different no matter the experience level but that's why this fourm exists. I never said it was okay and this took about 5 seconds on Google. https://thepurpleheart.com/roll-of-honor/recipients/?name=Jacobs++&conflict=&branch=
September 4, 20241 yr Author #11 @KASTAUFFER @Dave Thank you for the help in rounding out my thoughts. I will forward this topic to them. Thank you ABN
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