My dad recently gave me this French Medal. It is silver and it appears to have been made in 1912. Can someone please identify it? http://s1102.photobucket.com/albums/g457/sirlupinus/French%20Medal/?action=view¤t=Reverse.jpg#!oZZ2QQcurrentZZhttp%3A%2F%2Fs1102.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fg457%2Fsirlupinus%2FFrench%2520Medal%2F%3Faction%3Dview%26current%3DObverse.jpg%26 http://s1102.photobucket.com/albums/g457/sirlupinus/French%20Medal/?action=view¤t=Reverse.jpg#!oZZ1QQcurrentZZhttp%3A%2F%2Fs1102.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fg457%2Fsirlupinus%2FFrench%2520Medal%2F%3Faction%3Dview%26current%3DReverse.jpg%26
... which would also match the year 1918; maybe the "1912" was a typo? Was curious about the engraved text, particularly "Ker Nou", but have not found anything useful. However, it seems to have something to do with Cambodia/Indochina which back then were French colonies indeed. A couple of medals like that (but with different engravings) are depicted here for example: http://zitocland.forumpro.fr/demand...d-honneur-ministere-des-colonies-t7324-15.htm Christian
Drum-roll please...Medaille D'Honneur - Ministere des Colonies...this has been working my VERY limited French to death today. The only info I could find online comes from a French medal collectors forum. None of the examples shown on their forum is marked like this one, but they are mostly earlier than this one, too. Also, sorry to say it is broken from its ribbon mounting. For the brave and Francophonous folks here is the link. Hope this helps with identification, you might even try posting it on there and see if they can fill you in with any further details. Enjoy! Edit: Oh and the medal was sculpted by O. Roty and A. Desaides
Yes, on the obverse there appears to be the engraver's initials. I can make out "F n T v". however it is located at base of neck, not lower left.
If you have Google Chrome, there is the option to translate the whole page from French to English. :/
I know, but those things don't help in the searching too much. Pre-WWII the French had medals for all kinds of stuff. (Commerce, Agriculture, Civilian Bravery, Forestry, even a Mother's Medal for raising several children) From what I can gather, in the French Colonies, this medal replaced all of those and was awarded for many different purposes, both military and civilian. I would be interested to see if our French brethren over on the medals forum have a way of looking up who was awarded this medal and for what. Have a good one!
Are you sure it is Roty? He usually signs his name "O. Roty" like on the plaquette I've posted. Chris
World War I ended in November, 1918. This item is dated 27 Sep 1918. Whatever it's commemorating, it's not the end of that war.
I didn't suggest that it was. But what we must remember is that the war ended in different places at different times. I was only referring to the French Colonies.
