WW1 Medal Rim Recovery

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Hi there.

I am in possession of my Grandfather's Medals from WW1.

He has the Victory Medal, The British War Medal and also The Silver War Badge. I have confirmed that all of these belong to him. However, alongside these medals was a Military Medal, the rim of the medal is smooth and there is no indication of who it belonged to. I have searched the gazette and there is no mention of his name, Thomas David Fulcher.

Assuming it had been engraved at one time does anyone know if it is possible to recover the details of the name that would have been around the rim at one time. And does anyone know of any company that may be able to do it?

My mother remembers seeing a letter with the medals when she was a young girl thanking Thomas for saving his life. Sadly the letter was destroyed in a house fire years ago and it would be nice to know who the medal originally belonged to. The assumption is that it was given as a gift from the man whose life was saved.

Any pointers would be appreciated.

[newburychap]

Some MMs were awarded to foreign servicement (Blegians, French etc) - these were issued blank.

In general Military Medals had the recipients name impressed (stamped) on the rim. I cannot believe that a complete impression has worn to a blank illegibility.

See http://www.northeastmedals.co.uk/britishguide/military_medal_GV.htm for samples of the impressed lettering.

There is a market for blank originals (though how original they are is open to debate) and there are those who grind off the names to satisfy this market (usually for collectors who want a blank to complete a set for display when they only have some of a chap's medals). However, odds are that it was never engraved - blanks have been around as long as the medals. You can still buy then new today.

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Interesting, I didn't know that.

I've looked at it closely myself and there really is no sign of a name ever being there. So perhaps it was issued originally to a foreign serviceman.

[John915]

Good evening,

Medals were usually impressed quite deeply when engraved or stamped. To remove all the lettering completely you would have to remove most if not all of the rim.

Etching liquids may show up any lettering that was present previously.

John915