WW1 medals for sale
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Guides for these pieces
- Identifying a French First World War medalCroix de guerre, Médaille militaire, commemorative, Victory and Verdun medals: how to identify a French WW1 decoration and what makes its value.
- The French Médaille militaire: recognising it, dating it, tracing its holderEagle or trophy, enamel, hallmarks, award document: how to date a French Médaille militaire, trace its holder and understand what drives its value.
- Reading a Croix de guerre 1914-1918What the stars, palms and reverse date of a French WW1 Croix de guerre really mean, how to trace the soldier who earned it, and what drives its value.
- The French Great War commemorative medal and the Inter-Allied Victory medalWhite ribbon striped with red, rainbow Victory ribbon: recognising the two medals almost every poilu received, dating a strike, tracing the recipient.
- The Verdun medal: telling the types apart, reading the diploma, judging the valueCreated by the town of Verdun in November 1916, never official: Vernier, Prud'homme, Révillon and Augier types, ribbon, clasp, Livre d'Or diploma, how to assess one.
- The Croix du combattant: what it says about an ancestor, and where to find his cardThe French Combatant's Cross of 1930: Doumenc's design, horizon-blue ribbon with red stripes, 1939-1940 variant, volunteer's cross, and the card in the archives.
Collecting 1914-1918 medals and decorations
Two families meet on the market. On one side, decorations awarded for a specific act: the Legion of Honour, the Médaille militaire, the Croix de guerre. On the other, commemorative medals given to everyone entitled: the Great War commemorative medal, created in 1920, and the Inter-Allied medal known as the Victory medal, created in 1922. Struck in very large numbers, the latter remain among the most accessible objects of the period, and their interest lies almost entirely in what comes with them.
Two decorations worth knowing how to read
The Croix de guerre, instituted in April 1915, carries on its reverse the dates of the conflict as it stood: first 1914-1915, then 1914-1916, 1914-1917 and 1914-1918. The date places the striking, not necessarily the citation. The ribbon counts as much as the cross: bronze star for a citation in regimental or brigade orders, silver star for division, silver-gilt star for army corps, palm for army. A cross separated from its ribbon loses most of what it says. To trace the soldier who earned it, see tracing a French WW1 soldier's decorations.
The French Inter-Allied medal exists in an official model, engraved by Morlon and struck at the Paris Mint, and in several private makers' models, different in style and signed by other engravers. These are not copies but period variants, and they are collected as such.
What deceives: the mounting
What deceives rarely lies in the medal itself. Remounted ribbons, added stars, bars made up by a seller to fill out a group: checking means comparing the decorations with the citations and the service records. Without documents, a group remains a convenient hypothesis.