WWI "Death" Plaques
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Anyone know where I can get an original English WWI "death" plaque? Ebay has a few, but I've also noticed a lot of the same name being used, so that gives me a red flag warning. Not looking for any particular name , just a clean and authentic example that isn't priced to the moon.
Previous transactions: Wondercoin, goldman86, dmarks, Type2
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Please post a link so we can look. Thanks.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorial_Plaque_(medallion)
Looks like they would need to be "liberated" from a building.
I suspect that this is the kind of thing that the OP is actually referring to:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Great-War-WW1-Death-Plaque-Penny-for-JOHN-WILLIAM-GRIFFITHS-medal/302666854364?hash=item467859afdc:g:xdMAAOSwHG9apSGR
The description is a bit odd.
Looks like something for the wealthy.
Another similar, better photo and condition: https://www.ebay.com/itm/WW1-BRITISH-DEATH-PLAQUE-NAMED-TO-HAROLD-LOFTHOUSE/132175111035?_trkparms=aid=222007&algo=SIM.MBE&ao=2&asc=44040&meid=d7067abcf1a54882aa01c909c2099f92&pid=100005&rk=6&rkt=6&sd=302666854364&itm=132175111035&_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851
It's been a while since I looked it up, but I think they were once relatively common. Given to next-of-kin to the deceased. I will see if I can find the book.
The British may well value the original militaria differently than the reproductions, but they may not look with the same degree of disdain, as their American cousins do, on the reproductions. IIRC, militaria also doesn't view cleaning with as much disdain as numismatics.
Yes, these are Medal #172 in Token Publishing Company's 2017 Edition of 'Medal Yearbook'.
Size: 120MM
Bronze, no ribbon (or mount)
1,335,000 issued for males and inscription begins/denotes "He Died..."
600 issued for females and inscription begins/denotes "She Died..."
Males' medals priced from 60 Pounds
Females' medals priced from 3000 Pounds
A dignified Parchment scroll, fancy, accompanied the medals when issued.
Token Publishing (Exeter, Devonshire, England) has some first-rate books that deserve to have a bigger following in this country. Their monthly magazine, 'Coin News', is first-rate too.
From my collection:
DPOTD
That Burns is a beauty!
They aren't particularly expensive, most run about $80-120. Finding ones that are legit and don't have issues like verdigris make it a bit harder.
I've got one somewhere. I'll dig around. PM me.
karlgoetzmedals.com
secessionistmedals.com
I own a couple of them, one for a soldier that fell at Gallipolli in 1915 and another for an American serving in the BAF in 1918, the latter medal had stayed within the family that received it until the 1990s and has all the paperwork including the original box and lettre from the King. The medals were incredibly unpopular, giving rise to the moniker "death penny" and thus the Crown stopped making and sending them out to families of the deceased. Some have been known to have been found in trash etc.
That is what I know them as.
I would love to get one, but I also am concerned about reproductions and I don't know enough about them yet to be comfortable in authenticating one.
Unfortunately (considering the circumstances of issue), they are not rare.