Erasing details on medals

Posts : 148 Join date : 2010-05-22 Age : 56

Hi, can someone please tell me as to why names and numbers are erased from medals. Then still sold at very high prices.
Love to know as it really puzzles me scratch

Posts : 1862 Join date : 2009-03-25

Some information here David. http://www.northeastmedals.co.uk/britishguide/british_index.htm

Posts : 600 Join date : 2010-01-07 Location : UK

hi,- not a medal expert myself either, heres a few reasons that I already knew or have just quickly found on the internet

A common reason for erasing details is that they are probale replacements for lost medals.

Another reason is to rename them and then sell them for more than they are worth.

I think in ww1 it was illegal for active servicman to sell their medals so they often scratched out their name to make sure they could not be found out

Soldiers would erase Medals when selling them to make them unidentifiable,to hide embarrassment at selling them, either because they had no money but didnt want anyone to know and had to result in selling a medal

hope this helps

thanks joe

Posts : 148 Join date : 2010-05-22 Age : 56

Thanks for the info. Interesting reading.

Posts : 1862 Join date : 2009-03-25

Found this on another forum.

Quote :: "Erased medals these days are done to increase the value. Some collections will have erased medals unknown to the collector."

Can anyone explain. I thought it would decrease the value.

Posts : 600 Join date : 2010-01-07 Location : UK

hi 24th,
dont know the exact reason, but maybe so the seller can give a different story about them and somehow charge more for them???

if anyone can add any extra info that would be great, I'll keep looking

thanks joe

Posts : 600 Join date : 2010-01-07 Location : UK

24th,
you said

Quote :: Erased medals these days are done to increase the value. Some collections will have erased medals unknown to the collector."

just had an idea

could this mean they were erased but then renamed unknown to the collector?

this would mean they could give the medal a higher rank soldier, and therefore a higher price

just a thought

thanks joe

Posts : 1862 Join date : 2009-03-25

Good thought. But I remember 1879Graves saying the diameter of the medal would give away the fact it has been erased.

Subject: Re: Erasing details on medals Mon May 31, 2010 11:20 pm

A lot of the big collectors use these medals for gap filling.

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