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 Wednesday, November 26, 2008
ROTC Medals
Posted by Fred
In all my years of military medal collecting the possibility of interesting ROTC (Reserve Officer Training Corps) medals never occurred to me until I ran into this pair of medals. Both medals are named to George Virgil Guisleman who I believe was a California native, born 1907 and died 1996, and was a student at Washington State College from 1929-1932.
The first medal, dated 1929 is a 10k gold medal 29.5mm wide and 43mm tall weighing in at 13.99 grams without the ribbon and broach. This medal has an Actual Gold Weight (AGW) of .1874 oz which when multiplied by the price of gold per ounce would give you the actual melt value. With the high gold prices of today collectors should always be aware of the AGW of their gold medals when selling to prevent some vulture from making a fast buck by scraping medals that were sold too cheap.
Obverse has a finely detailed heraldic American Eagle above two crossed ‘03 Springfield Rifles with “ROTC” at the top and “WSC” on the bottom.
Reverse is engraved “CADET PRIVATE // G. VIRGIL GUISLEMAN // GENERAL WEYRAUCH // MEDAL // BEST DRILLED FRESHMAN // 1929” and has an unattributed hallmark at the bottom.
The original red and gray ribbon consists of two narrow red and gray ribbons sewn together and has a full wrap broach.
Brigadier General Weyrauch must have been a wealth community leader in Walla Walla. The first mention of him that I could find is as a Second Lieutenant with the 14th Cavalry at the Fort Leavenworth Infantry and Cavalry School in 1907. Then in 1915 he was named President of the Blue Mountain Road Association in Walla Walla. With the US entry into WWI he was promoted to Brig. Gen. and made the training officer at Fort Walla Walla for the 146th and 147th Field Artillery Brigades.
The second medal is a marksmanship prize medal from the 1932 US National Match.
This round gold colored medal is 35mm in diameter and is on the original red, white and blue ribbon suspended from a broach inscribed “US NATIONAL MATCH 1932”. On the ribbon are two bars inscribed “SENIOR R.O.T.C.” and “GALLERY”.
The medal obverse has an American Eagle above two crossed ‘03 Springfield Rifles above a rounded “US” and has the legend “NATIONAL INTERCOLLEGIATE TEAM MATCH”.
The reverse has the name “GEORGE V. GUISLEMAN” engraved across the center.  
Wednesday, November 26, 2008 6:02:43 AM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00) 
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Wednesday, November 19, 2008
CNG Regimental Lapel Badge
Posted by Fred
Here we have a regimental lapel badge of the Connecticut National Guard Second Infantry Regiment’s Company K. The badge is marked “Solid Gold” on back meaning it should be 10k gold. It is cross shaped, constructed out of two pieces and is beautifully engraved with black enamel highlighting. The center circle is mounted on the body of the cross and has the black enamel letters CNG and the date 1871 divided by ornamentation. The CNG stands for Connecticut National Guard and the date 1871 must be the date the company was raised and accepted into the CNG. In the center of the circle on the original body of the cross are the number 2 and the letter K in gold on a black enamel background. The 2 is the regiment number and the K for Company K of the regiment. The original owners name may have been engraved on the back and then removed at a later time. This privately made badge would have been expensive in the late 1800’s which indicates that membership in this unit must have been quite an honor and the badge would have been proudly worn on the original owners civilian lapel. Conn 2 rgt k Co back.jpg (11.82 KB)  
Wednesday, November 19, 2008 5:25:44 AM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)
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Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Happy Veterans Day
Posted by Fred
When ever I travel I keep my eyes open for war memorials and monuments. Most of the ones I see here in the states are of Civil War and WWI soldiers in heroic or contemplative posses. Most small towns in Germany have memorials which are more somber and list the names of the local men who died in the various wars. The most interesting one is the memorial painted on a wall in Berchtesgaden which tells the sad story of all wars. These four paintings get repainted every so often and each time there are subtle changes, atleast in the three times that I have seen them. Illustrated below are the four panels in the order that I have placed them and not as found on the wall when I took the photos. I interpret the pictures as: Young recruit leaving his wife and child. Soldier leaving for the front bids his father farewell. Soldiers bravely fighting. Soldier’s body returned to grieving family. I guess we all know that collecting military medals is fun but earning them can be hell for both the soldiers and their families. 
Tuesday, November 11, 2008 6:55:01 AM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)
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Wednesday, November 05, 2008
Scapegoat
Posted by Fred
When Napoleon III, Emperor of France, declared war on Prussia in 1870 it was one of those rare moments in history when a man listened to his wife and took her advice but shouldn’t have. The war was a disaster for France and Napoleon III became the classic scapegoat of his time. The French coins in circulation at the time bearing his portrait were quickly defaced by engraving to make the unfortunate former emperor look like a traitor and converted the eagle on the reverse into an owl like vampire. Shortly there after these designs became die struck medals. Both the engraved coins and die struck medals are very collectible and command respectable prices. The coins of Nap. III in very worn condition are very common and the engravings are often very crude. What’s to keep someone with a very worn coin worth 50 cents from engraving it and adding 25.00 to it’s value? If they know how to age it properly, not much. To my way of thinking the less wear on the host coin the more likely it is to be a contemporary engraving. Illustrated below are four examples which I believe to be genuine. 
Wednesday, November 05, 2008 1:34:37 AM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)
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