08-31-2008, 04:09 PM
These are believed to have been done at the unit level and reflect the number on the award certificate. This was done back in the days when serial-numbered pieces really meant something and it was a way to give a little extra prestige to the campaign medal. I've got a Moscow and Stalingrad (alas, no photos) that I believe are authentic.
Bottom line is there is less standardization on these than concerning duplicate awardings and we all know what a wild West that subject is. The same goes for gold-plated medals. Unfortunately there is no way to tell short of seeing a photograph of a unit actually stamping these things or a war-era dated photo of such a serial-numbered campaign medal.
If my memory serves me correctly, I once saw a numbered campaign medal where the number matched the document, but even then that didn't prove anything conclusively b/c it would be easy to repeat any document's number with a set of modern day punches.
I've only seen six of these, four of which I would consider authentic.
Bottom line is there is less standardization on these than concerning duplicate awardings and we all know what a wild West that subject is. The same goes for gold-plated medals. Unfortunately there is no way to tell short of seeing a photograph of a unit actually stamping these things or a war-era dated photo of such a serial-numbered campaign medal.
If my memory serves me correctly, I once saw a numbered campaign medal where the number matched the document, but even then that didn't prove anything conclusively b/c it would be easy to repeat any document's number with a set of modern day punches.
I've only seen six of these, four of which I would consider authentic.
