Faked Victorian Medals

[afb57]

Hi
I inherited a group of Egypt campaign medals which are fake. They have been passed down my family for several generations along with genuine family medals so they are not a recent fake. I had no idea where they came from but have now traced a family member as the partner "wife" of the soldier which would explain me having them as he died before her.
The medals comprise of Kedive Star, Egypt medal with 5 bars and a DCM. The DCM turns out to be an "altered" Long Service Good Conduct Medal of that time, the Egypt Medal has been renamed and the Kedive star is an original. The bars I assume are original and there is a spare for Suakin .

The soldier was entitled to the originals and must have been incredibly lucky to survive so many battles. I have seen the originals in auction catalogues and assume the soldier must have sold them after falling on hard times later in life. I assume he obtained the "replacements" medals and wonder if anyone else has come across a serviceman having "faked" replacements.

 I am also wondering how common medal forgery/ alteration was in the late Victorian, early Edwardian period. The soldier died in reduced circumstances in 1909. Also, would these have a value other than novelty/family interest and silver content. My ancestor must have treasured them and the soldier was obviously a very brave man.

[Andy J2022]

Obviously today we are familiar with the flourishing trade in 'replacement' medals which I suppose could be described as fake, although they are unlikely to fool an expert phaleristicist. While I don't know if such practices were widespread in the nineteenth or early twentieth century, I'm sure they went on. Incidentally while it was not an offence to sell your medals, it was an offence under section 197 (2) of the Army Act 1955 to buy or trade in medals, except after the death of the person to whom the medal was awarded.

[Spikey68]

Obviously today we are familiar with the flourishing trade in 'replacement' medals which I suppose could be described as fake, although they are unlikely to fool an expert phaleristicist. While I don't know if such practices were widespread in the nineteenth or early twentieth century, I'm sure they went on. Incidentally while it was not an offence to sell your medals, it was an offence under section 197 (2) of the Army Act 1955 to buy or trade in medals, except after the death of the person to whom the medal was awarded.

The Armed Forces Act 2006 replaced the three separate Service Discipline Acts with a single statute.  However, section 197 of the 1955 Act was not reproduced in the 2006 Act and its provisions were repealed in 2009. As a result, no specific offences now exist relating to the unauthorised wearing, or false representation of entitlement to wear military decorations or medals.

http://businesscrimeblog.practicallaw.com/expose-walter-mitty-but-do-not-prosecute-him/

As the whole of section 197 was removed the selling and buying of medals, even when the recipient is still alive, is no longer an offence.  Otherwise places like Dix Noonan Webb would be in deep doo-doo for selling medals from living recipients who received them in recent campaigns,

[Ruskie]

Can you explain in detail how you know these are fakes? What would be the point of selling original medals, keeping an original bar or two, then having duplicates made, not too many years after the originals were issued?

It might be an idea to get them checked by an expert in such things.

Might it be possible that the originals were stolen and duplicates struck in the lifetime of the recipient?

[afb57]

The medals have been examined both through photographs and in person by medal experts. I was told the the dcm would have been a victorian long service and good conduct medal and then been re- named and had the dcm lettering added to the face. The surface looks quite rough and pitted and I assume this is through having been ground down to remove the good conduct lettering. The egypt medal and "dcm" both look uneven round the rim and the naming/lettering detail is not very straight on either medal. The kedive star is not named but the original has the soldiers regiment 19th Hussars on the top 2 points of the star and his name on the inside rim of the star.

I believe the medals are genuine victorian medals which were originally awarded to someone else, the original names having been erased. How they came to be in my family is the mystery I have been trying to solve as no one in our family knows anything. They were passed down the family along with the genuine family medals.I don't know why or when they were "faked" other than before ww2. After researching the soldier I was finally able to make a link with my family as the woman/"wife" living with him in his final years and present at his death was a distant relative and she died in 1944. I think the medals probably came into the possession of my direct line ancestors at this point and were put with the other family medals.

This woman could have played a part in procuring the medals, she is known to have had an unconventional lifestyle and associations with several different men and a general disregard for the law. I doubt whether I'll ever know the real story so I'm exploring likely scenarios in an effort to find plausible explanations.

 

[Ruskie]

Fascinating story afb57.