Hi All,

 

Is there any reason to doubt the authenticity of these WWI awards, or are these just not really ever faked?

 

To my untrained eyes, these both look safely period to me, with the exception of the ribbon on the Croix de Guerre appearing quite shiny for something over 100 years old.  Is the ribbon possibly a modern replacement, or is this just what they look like?  Under blacklight it's a little hard for me to even say whether it looks good or not.  It doesn't seem to fully luminesce, but maybe because it's already so shiny it makes the red lines pop?  (The Volunteer Combatant's Cross looks fine.)

 

Does the "1914-1916" on the Croix de Guerre indeed date this one as an actual 1916 piece?

 

Any info you could share on these would be appreciated.

 

Thanks!

 

-Bosley

 

They look good to me, although the volunteer cross seems to have been repaired at some point. The ribbons on both both show signs of use; those holes caused by the mounting pins (so they could be worn for display) show some movement of the pins in a circular motion over time as the holes are fairly large. The volunteer ribbon has been worn extensively outside or mounted in a place that catches the sun as it is more faded on the front. If these are replacement ribbons then they have been on there a while I would say.

The Croix de Guerres were issued throughout the war and the dates on the back reflect the year they were awarded to the soldier. I have versions for 1914-15, 1914-16, 1914-17 and 1914-18

Rob

Looking again closely at my volunteer's medal it has the same bad soldering pattern as yours, so maybe they were just badly made to start with!

Rob

Thanks so much for that info and those wonderful comparison photos, Rob.  It looks like there was quite a bit of variability in the Croix de Guerre.

 

These are the only two French awards I have in the collection, and I've always found them to be such beautiful pieces.

 

Thank you!

If you're interested at all at variation in a subset of French medals then check out my article on the French WWI Verdun medal.

 

WWI French Verdun medals - FR MEDALS, BADGES & INSIGNIA - World Militaria Forum

 

I am amazed at how many different variations there are of these medals and bars and I am still finding new ones to add to the thread

Rob