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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Named reproduction?


Bilco

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I recently acquired from a seller in the USA a cast reproduction of the British Victory medal in a silver-coloured metal -

https://i.imgur.com/M9Nd84e.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/9QEOtCt.jpg

I idly glanced at the edge, and found a part-erased naming -

https://i.imgur.com/m1hM3Av.jpg

The number is 91070, so I checked it with the First Muster Roll of the RAF on Findmypast and got a hit - R W FILSELL - which matches the double LL visible before the R.A.F.

So, if this is a cast repro - and there appears to be a casting mould line around the edge, and the barrel suspension isn't quite right - how did the naming get there? And this is not a one-off - I've seen another example from the same seller with the identical, part erased, naming.

Any theories?

Bill

Edited by Bilco
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@Bilco

Deffo a cast copy,& not a very good one at that.  The original impressed naming details have been also reproduced in the cast copy.   

Nice you were able to ID him tho.

m1hM3Av.jpeg

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Many thanks, RNCVR! I contatced the seller, but all she could tell me was that "the molds are made of rubber".

I think it was probably a silicon rubber mould, which should pick up fine details, maybe in two parts - the obverse with naming, and the reverse. So maybe that's a join on the edge, and not a mould mark?

Bill

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Its deffo a casting, yes the mould mark is still showing around the circumference.  Could have been  two piece mould then both pieces joined together.   Altho I have seen many castings of medals over 55+ yrs, I have never actually seen an actual mould(s). 

The surface pretty rough, might have indicated a sand casting mould but might have been rubber, lots of these done in India post war.  Likely the VM was casted with some kind of base medal.

Its just junk basically, but have to wonder where his original medals are?  Expect BWM melted for silver value in early '80's.

Edited by RNCVR
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There is no matching FILSELL in the Ancestry MIC roll, and the number 91070 doesn't bring up a FILSELL. Ex-RNAS? My grandfather appears in the First Muster Roll, ex-RNAS, but his number is nothing like 91070 - 220149!

Bill

Edited by Bilco
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Image courtesy of Find My Past -- reverse of his record sheet shows that he was in France from 21/9/1917 to 24/1/1919 and he was awarded the BWM and VM

Filsell.jpg

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