1914-1915 Stars

[rflory]

In the May-June 2003 issue of JOMSA: Journal of the Orders and Medals Society of America

pages 23-28, I published an article entitled: "Naming and Suspension Rings on British 1914-1915 Stars - A Preliminary Analysis." On another topic of this forum I was asked to post the article. It is not possible to post the article completely because of the large number of photos (28) but in this and the next six pages I will try to summarize the article and indicate the two suspension types and six major naming varieties. Please recognize: (1) that I have not attempted a posting of this type before; (2) that the photos were originally in color and hopefully will be satisfactory in grayscale; and (3) that many of the naming variety has a number of subtypes that it is not possible to illustrate here. I welcome any comment that forum members may have.

Naming and Suspension Rings on British 1914-1915 Stars - A Preliminary Analysis

During the last few months a large number of unnamed British 1914-1915 Stars have been offered for sale on Internet auction sites and at various medal fairs in the United Kingdom. A number of correspondents on Internet discussion lists have indicated that these are fake 1914-1915 Stars that can be identified by the reverse of the suspension ring that is flat, rather than rounded. In late January a fellow collector sent me one of the allegedly fake 1914-1915 Stars that he had recently purchased on an Internet auction site. This star looks very good on the obverse except that the cross at the top of the crown is not as detailed as in the original stars and the scroll containing the dates 1914-1915 is not as deeply incised as on the originals. The reverse of the suspension ring of the fake 1914-1915 Star is much flatter than the reverse of the suspension ring of many genuine 1914-1915 Stars. Some of the fake stars also appear to have a lighter colored metal than the originals, although attempts have been made to “age” and darken some fake stars by adding a material that simulates dirt.

Shortly after I received the fake star, a correspondent on the OMRS Internet discussion list opined that genuine 1914-1915 Stars to Indian Army officers had flat suspension rings on the reverse that were similar to those on the fake star. At this point I decided to examine the 1914-1915 Stars in my collection of medals to Royal Artillery officers who served in World War I. To my surprise I found that 23% of the 1914-1915 Stars in my collection had flat suspension rings on the reverse. Finding it hard to believe that all of these stars were fakes I decided to closely examine the naming on the stars to determine if the naming on the stars with flat suspension rings on the reverse was in any way different than the naming on the stars with the rounded suspension ring on the reverse.

During my comparative evaluation of the naming on 1914-1915 Stars to Royal Artillery officers I examined the following characteristics: the width of the letters in the rank notation in mm. measured from the left-most point of the first letter or number to the right edge of the stop at the end of the rank notation; the height of the letters of the rank notation in mm.; the type of stops in, and at the end of, the rank notation; the width of the regimental notation (R. F. A. or R. A.); the type of stops between the letters in the regimental notation; how regular or irregular the naming is; the depth of strike of the naming; and whether the reverse of the suspension ring is flat or rounded. Based on the examination of 77 examples of 1914-1915 Stars to Royal Artillery officers, six distinct types of naming were found.

The next question was whether there was any possibility of establishing a chronology for the various types of naming. This was facilitated by the fact that WW1 Medal Index Cards available at the Public Record Office at Kew in Great Britain indicate the dates on which medals were dispatched to officers. By using the dispatch dates on these cards I was able to establish that each type of naming appears to have been issued during distinct date blocks. Further, it was possible to establish that all the 1914-1915 Stars with the first three types of naming, except one, were issued prior to the end of January 1923 and that all of these stars have reverse suspension rings that are rounded (left-hand photo below). The later three types of naming were all issued after the beginning of 1923 and are characterized by reverse suspension rings that are flat-backed (right-hand photo below).

(Continued on next page)

[rflory]

Types of Naming

The six types of naming, their characteristics and the time period over which they were issued, are as follows:

Type I Naming: Characteristics: The letters are 2mm high; 2.Lieut. is 8.5mm wide and R.F.A. is 6.5mm wide. There is a square stop between the 2 and the L in 2.Lieut., and a colon follows the rank notation. Square stops occur between the letters in R.F.A. The naming is rather heavily impressed and the letters are very irregular in both their horizontal and vertical placement.

Type of reverse suspension ring: Rounded edges.

Period of issue: Information from Medal Index Cards indicates that the six examples of 1914-1915 Stars with Type 1 naming were issued between April 13, 1920 and June 29, 1920.

Type II Naming:

Characteristics: Similar to the Type I naming except that there is a square stop after 2.Lieut., rather than a colon, and the lettering is somewhat less irregular (see photo below). Medals with this naming type that were issued to officers in ranks other than 2nd Lieutenant have rank notations of different widths: Lieut. is 6.5mm wide, Capt. is 5.5mm wide, and Major. is 7.0mm wide. A number of naming varieties have been noted for the Type II naming. A medal named to a 2nd Lieutenant has square stops for the rank and R. F. A. and round stops for the initials of the name. A second variety, also named to a Second Lieutenant, is similar to the first variety except that it also has round stops between the letters of R. F. A. A third variety to a Captain has square stops in the rank notation and name, and round stops between the letters R. F. A.

Type of reverse suspension ring: Rounded edges.

Period of issue: Information from Medal Index Cards indicates that the 43 examples of 1914-1915 Stars with Type 1I naming were issued between July 9. 1920 and 6 July 1922.

[Derek Robertson]

This is going to be a very interesting thread.

[rflory]

Type II Naming: (See photo below)

Characteristics: Similar to the Type I naming except that there is a square stop after 2.Lieut., rather than a colon, and the lettering is somewhat less irregular. Medals with this naming type that were issued to officers in ranks other than 2nd Lieutenant have rank notations of different widths: Lieut. is 6.5mm wide, Capt. is 5.5mm wide, and Major. is 7.0mm wide. A number of naming varieties have been noted for the Type II naming. A medal named to a 2nd Lieutenant has square stops for the rank and R. F. A. and round stops for the initials of the name. A second variety, also named to a Second Lieutenant, is similar to the first variety except that it also has round stops between the letters of R. F. A. A third variety to a Captain has square stops in the rank notation and name, and round stops between the letters R. F. A.

Type of reverse suspension ring: Rounded edges.

Period of issue: Information from Medal Index Cards indicates that the 43 examples of 1914-1915 Stars with Type 1I naming were issued between July 9. 1920 and 6 July 1922.

[rflory]

Type III Naming (See photo below)

Characteristics: The letters are 1.5mm high, 2.Lieut. is 8.5mm wide and R . F. A. is 6.5mm wide. The rank notation Lieut. is 6.5mm wide. The letters are much more regular in size and placement than in the first two types of naming and all of the stops in the naming are round.

Type of reverse suspension ring: Rounded.

Period of issue: Information from Medal Index Cards indicates that the 10 examples of 1914-1915 Stars with Type 1II naming were all issued between October 16, 1922 and January 6, 1923 except one that was issued on March 20, 1928.

[rflory]

Type IV Naming (See photo below)

Characteristics: The letters are 1.25mm high, 2.Lieut. is 9.25mm wide, and R. F. A. is 6.5mm wide. All the letters are very regular in size and placement and all of the stops are round. One variety of this type of naming (Figure 21) has been noted that has commas for stops rather than circular stops.

Type of reverse suspension ring: Flat with rather sharp edges,

Period of issue: Information from Medal Index Cards indicates that the 12 examples of 1914-1915 Stars with Type 1V naming were all issued between April 7, 1923 and October 29, 1929.

[rflory]

Type V Naming: (See photo below)

Characteristics: The letters are 1.25mm high, 2.Lieut is 8.25mm wide, and R. F. A. is 6.5mm wide. The rank notation Lieut. is 6.75mm wide. Lettering is very regular and the stops are all square. One variety has been noted that has a mixture of square stops and commas.

Type of reverse suspension ring: Flat with rather sharp edges.

Period of issue: Information from Medal Index Cards indicates that the three examples of 1914-1915 Stars with Type V naming were issued between May 11, 1932 and July 19, 1934.

[rflory]

Type VI Naming: (See photo below)

Characteristics: Similar to Type IV naming but the regiment is listed as R. A. rather than

R. F. A. The letters are 1.25mm high, 2.Lieut. is 9.0mm in width, and R. A. is 1.25mm wide. All the letters are of uniform height and regularly spaced, and the stops are round. The rank notation Major is 7.0mm wide (see photo below).

Type of reverse suspension ring: Flat with rather sharp edges .

Period of issue: Information from Medal Index Cards indicates that the three examples of 1914-1915 Stars with Type VI naming were issued between October 7, 1930 and 19 February 1944.

Conclusions

The data above indicates that the fake 1914-1915 Stars currently appearing in the United Kingdom and elsewhere are characterized by flat-backed suspension rings on their reverses, while the reverses of genuine 1914-1915 Stars generally have rounded suspension rings up to very early in 1923 and flat-backed suspension rings after early 1923. In addition, at least six distinct types of naming occur on 1914-1915 Stars and using medal index cards the period of time when the medals with these different naming types were issued can be ascertained. It is important to consider that this study utilized only 77 examples of the 1914-1915 Stars issued to officers of a single regiment in the British Army. This is statistically too small a sample on which to base firm conclusions.

Copyright 2004 Richard A. Flory

[HarryBettsMCDCM]

Having been moved by your precised article,I too checked some of my Collection,Mostly recent Purchases,of the Medals Checked{Not many I hasten to add,checked that i I found this one{Part of a Group of 4* to a C.P.O. RN Including RNLSGC,This Man Died On Active Service in October 1944 On a Scottish Loch Whilst Serving aboard HMS Forth,A Submarine Servicing vessel}It has a Flat Back with a Flat Backed Ring,& shows no signs of being Skimmed,Ground or in anyway Touched

*All Mint,Unmounted & In Original Issue Boxes,They are I believe Late issues,Circa 1930s;{See Font on star}

[HarryBettsMCDCM]

Ring

[rflory]

My study focused on 1914-1915 Stars to RA officers so I have not had much experience with RN awards of the star but the uniform letters and spacing and the round stops of your example is very similar to the late issue (type VI) naming in my article. I had examples of the Type VI naming on stars issued through 1944, but since that time I have heard of awards as late as 1967, Regards, Dick