Details about  THE GREAT WAR MEDAL COLLECTORS COMPANION Volume I

Ahead of the publication of Vol II on September 24, we are offering a limited number of “seconds” of Vol I. These have minor imperfections to the covers but are otherwise in pristine condition.

We are offering these at the incredible price of £36 POST FREE

The Companion has established itself as the standard reference work on Great War Medals with over 3,000 copies already sold.

This book is a high quality Hard Bound, Section Sewn, 580 page reference work, lavishly illustrated with hundreds of full colour photographs and illustrations.

 Chapter Contents

 Chapter 1 Collecting Great War Medals

Introduction and background, Collecting themes, tools for collecting, buying, storage, cleaning, insurance, illustrated guide and table of medal conditions, general notes on naming, renaming, building a reference library.

 Chapter 2 The Campaign Medals

1914 Star: AO350 of 1917, Grant of the 1914 Star. Manufacture and issue of ribbons, Clasp and Roses, Identifying Fake Bars. AO361 of 1919. Appendix A Units qualifying for the Clasp. Notes on the award of the Clasp. 1914 Star naming styles. Font Alphabet.

1914–15 Star: AO20 of 1919. Theatres of War, Alphanumeric Codes Tables 1 and 2 and detailed notes on: Official illustrated naming styles for 1914/15 Star, Font Alphabet, Naming styles for AIF, NZEF, SAI, Indian Army: ACI No 26 9.1.19 issue of the ribbon, Box of Issue, Issue documents. Details of how and when the medals were distributed including percentage graphs by year showing main years of issue.

BWM 1914–20: AO266 of 1919, Scheme to issue bars. Medals awarded to, ribbon and issue of, Naming of BWM, the naming machine and how it worked, the “Silver Bubble”; Bronze BWM, table of units awarded, illustrated Naming styles for the BWM, Font Alphabet, Issue procedure.

Victory Medal: AO301 of 1919, ribbon bar, Type 1 and 2 VMs, Font Alphabet, Bi-lingual issue, Issue of ribbons, Illustrated naming styles.

Mercantile Marine Medal: General notes, naming style, Font Alphabet, Forms WM2, Medals E, WM5, “Danger Zones”. Procedure for claiming, Continuous Certificate of Discharge, Form RS2, Medal Cards, Torpedo Badge and Star, Mercantile Marine Certificates. Captain Fryatt, Mercantile Marine Awards Committee, Clasp to MMWM.

TFWM 1914–19: AO143 of 1920, naming style, issue of ribbon, General notes on TFWM. The MICs, notes on reading them. TFWM revised table of numbers awarded.

The Memorial Plaque: History of the Plaque, the Competition, Notes on the plaque, production and distribution of. The Memorial Scroll.

The Silver War Badge. ACIs for issue of the SWB, Service Chevrons, Discharge Cards, Classes of Discharge under AO126 Para 392 KR 1912. Issue procedures WWI Campaign Medals.

Store accounting, notes on packing, forfeiture of medals. Order of Wear. Medal mounting. “Pip, Squeak and Wilfred”. Khedives Sudan Medal, AGS, NGS 1909–62, GSM 1918–62 IGSM, Canadian Memorial Cross, BRCS War Service Medal. General notes and illustrations of all medals.

 Chapter 3 The Medal Index Cards

Introduction to, use of different coloured inks on the cards, Type 1, 2, 3 and 4 Cards and their headings explained. Record Office Letter Codes, Record Office Roll Codes for the issue of the medals, distribution of medals by year. Thirty four pages of MIC abbreviations – over 1800 abbreviations and administrative procedures noted. The Order of Precedence, Primary Sources of Army Research evaluated. Many cards illustrated with explanations of how to decipher them.

 Chapter 4 Gallantry Medals

General notes on rules and regulations for the award of the gallantry medals. A users guide to the London Gazette, Gallantry Medals awarded to foreigners.

The Victoria Cross: Indexed list of all 633 winners, how the cross is made; fakes and copies. Illustrated VC Groups.

The DSO: General notes, numbers awarded, detecting fakes. Notes on DSO Gazettes February, 1916 to December 1918 (The Edited Gazettes).

The MC: General notes, fakes and how to spot them, bar to the MC, fakes and originals. The annotated MC Gazettes March, 1916 to August, 1918. Detailed  notes on each gazette. List of MC Recipients for July 1^st, 1916.

The DCM: General notes. The annotated DCM Gazettes December, 1914 to March, 1920, Paperwork, DCM & Bar, table of recipients of dated bars, DCM, MM naming styles. The DCM League, foreign awards of the DCM. Ephemera, a list of DCM winners for July 1^st, 1916.

The Military Medal: General notes, replacement bars, MM from act to Gazette, paperwork found with the MM. Ephemera, presentation of, Divisional Gallantry Cards, Importance of Schedule Numbers. The MM Index Cards. Military Medallists Association, naming style, Important notes on the MM Gazettes, links between MM and DCM Gazettes, numbered gazettes, AO 193 of 1919, famous last stands, MMs awarded. List of 349 men who received the MM for escaping, table of Schedule numbers and gazettes, MMs for all theatres, numbers awarded to foreigners, MMs awarded to the wrong man. Ephemera found with MM Groups.

The DSC: General notes, list of men of the Mercantile Marine entitled to the DSC.

The CGM, and DSM General Notes, naming style, abbreviations found on. Notes on the Gazettes. DSMs awarded to the Mercantile Marine. Bar to DSM.

The MSM General Notes. Index Cards. The MSM Gazettes (notes on) Tables of numbers awarded.

The DFC, AFC, DFM, AFM General Notes, How to detect fakes, bars, The Albert Medal, Allied Subjects Medal, RRC MID, etc.

The Chronology of all battles and actions during the Great War including geographical locations. General Maps with Index of all theatres of war.

 Chapter 5: Miscellaneous Great War Medals, Badges, Certificates and Ephemera including Lusitania Medallion, Cunliffe Owen Medal, ANZAC Medallion, Jutland Medal, Commemorative, Tribute, Shooting and Sports, Zeebrugge, Sydney-Emden, Gallipoli Star, Ceylon Volunteers, Llandudno plaque, Special Constabulary, TFEM, TEM, ALSGC, King Certificate on Discharge. On War Service Badge. Much previously unpublished material on the King’s Certificate and OWS Badges. Ex Servicemen’s Associations badges, Princess Mary’s Gift Tin. “They Shall Not Grow Old”.

 Index: A user friendly comprehensive 8 page cross referenced Index completes the book.

Volume II of this work will be available from 24 September, 2014.

This book offers two standard reference works under one cover viz:

— The Abbreviations found on Great War Medals and documents. Over 7,000 listed with much additional information.

— The Regimental Numbers of The British Army 1914–1918 including an A to Z of prefixes and additional notes on individual units.