There are times that coin collecting, when compared military medal collecting looks down right easy. Most coins carry all the information one needs to catalog them. The what, where and when questions are all answered by the information spelled out on the coin. Military medals however may present some serious challenges to the collector. Often only a coat of arms or emblem identifies the issuer or purpose and the legends if any are reduced to only initials. Case in point is this medal issued in 1905. The obverse has an old cannon, flags and an eagle. The flags are the stars and stripes so the medal is obviously American. Above is the legend: Battery “A” and below are the initials N. G. M. The reverse has an engraved monogram and the date 1905. The monogram must be the initials of a member of Battery A which was a National Guard unit as evidenced by the N and G of the NGM. M would be the first letter of the state name and there are eight states with M names just to make things interesting. What makes this piece unusual is that the state name follows the words National Guard instead of preceding them. As far as I could find there was only one state that regularly used this name combination on their medals back at the turn of the century and that state was Missouri. With that in mind my research efforts turned up an article published by the Missouri Historical Society in 1903 with the title “A History Of Battery “A” Of St. Louis”. This extensive history went back as far as the War of 1812. So if you are going to collect military medals you will also become a historian and researcher.

Army and Navy Union veteran's photo with unknown decoration being worn.

My wife recently found this photo in an antique mall! It is of a veteran wearing the generic uniform of the 1930’s which nearly all veterans seem to wear in the photos I have seen. Each has a Sam Brown type belt and the proper organizational insignia sewn on. In this case the man was a member and commander in the Army and Navy Union based on the medals he is wearing. The medals are an Army and Navy Union membership medal with a four star brooch, a Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal and below these is a pin back cross with a skull in the center much like a German Frei Korps or White Russian award. I assume it is also an Army and Navy Union award since it has the initials “A & N U “ on the arms of the cross. The Cross looks like it is enameled. Can anyone here tell us more about this unusual cross?

Order of Lincoln

Sash, red ribbon with green edged purple center stripe, 5 arm cross with green wreath above,

Obverse Lincoln portrait.

For Officers, regents for life, regents and general trustees.

Officer’s Breast Badge

5 Arm cross, pin back, Illinois arms on obv.

For officers, regents and regents for life

Student Laureate

5 arm neck badge with green wreath above, plain red neck ribbon.

Obverse Lincoln portrait.

Laureate Order of Lincoln

5 arm neck badge with green wreath above.

Red ribbon with green edged purple center stripe

Obverse Illinois State Arms

Lapel Ribbon

Miniature 5 arm cross on red ribbon with green edged purple center stripe. Lincoln portrait on obverse.

Lapel Pin

Miniature 5 arm cross pin back with Lincoln portrait.

This order is awarded for primarily civilian non-military recognition to persons with any kind of link to the State of Illinois. As such it is currently a scarce award but as time goes on I expect this to become a more easy to obtain award for collectors.

Saxe Weimar medal

Back in the days before the First World War most of Europe was ruled by Crowned Royalty. The various royal families were so intermarried that their family trees looked more like the rhizome root systems of a bamboo forest. At the time it was hoped that all the related rulers would not be going to war against each other. Kaiser Wilhelm II after all was the grand son of British Queen Victoria who in turn descended from the Royal House of Hannover and married Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. Czar Nicholas of Russia was married to a German Grand Duchess from Hesse-Darmstadt and several of the German royals married Russians. The royals were proud of themselves and whom they married as illustrated by this medal from the German State of Saxe-Weimar. It is the Medal of Merit for Women awarded for all kinds.of humanitarian activities. The medal was established by Grand Duke Karl Friedrich in honor of his mother whose name appears in the legend as Maria Pawlowna Grand Duchess of Saxony and Grand Princess of Russia. All this changed when WWI broke out and many foreign born royals found themselves and their loyalty under suspicion. That is when the British Royal Family changed their name to Windsor and the British branch of the Battenberg family became Mountbattens thus ending a very colorful historic era.

Aluminum wasn’t always the most common metal around. Back in the early 1800’s when the process was first discovered that enabled the manufacture of aluminum in metal form aluminum was considered to be very rare and valuable. It was a modern miracle back then and valued higher than gold. As time went on our ability to produce aluminum continually improved so that by the mid 1890’s aluminum was no longer very rare or valuable but it still commanded respect. It was a good looking durable metal that resisted corrosion and was easy to stamp or engrave. During the First World War it became a cheap coinage metal and much better for that purpose than the zinc alternative. Today’s collector tends to view aluminum coins and medals as cheap and not very collectible but as collectors we must view these old medals through the eyes of those who issued and wore them. To those people aluminum medals were usually in the form of veterans medals and historical commemoratives. The medals were good looking, light weight, new technology and economical. Best of all the medals like this rare 50 year commemoration cross for the battles of Dupel and Alsen were proudly worn.