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State: Japan (Struck in the rule of)
When the Great War of 1914-1918 had ended, there was a genuine feeling among the victorious Allies that their military efforts had been instrumental in preserving modern civilization, and this and the united spirit of the Alliance were commemorated in a combined issue of medals to those who had seen active service during the conflict. 13 nations in all issued a variety of this medal; all shared the rainbow ribbon and suspension.
The Japanese issue of the medal, of which this is probably a French copy made for collectors in 1920, was different from all the others in that it did not feature a type of the goddess Victory as its obverse emblem; this symbol, meaningless to Japanese culture, was replaced with an archetypal ancient warrior, barefoot and brandishing a quarterstaff.
This medal is unnamed, which is probably to be explained by its being only an imitation rather than a genuine award. Lester Watson purchased it from the London dealers Baldwin at some point before 1928.
The Museum must thank Mr Sawyer Rank for his information on this medal.
History note: Gift of L. Hoyt Watson; ex Lester Watson Collection, bt Baldwin before 1928
Given by Lester Watson through Cambridge in America, 2009
Diameter: 36.6 mm
Weight: 20.82 g
Method of acquisition: Given (2009) by Watson, Lester
1919 - 1920
Possibly a French replica struck in 1920 for collectors.
Accession number: CM.1469-2009
Primary reference Number: 141563
Watson Catalogue: M
Ordering: M-0352
Previous object number: LW.0352
Stable URI
Owner or interested party:
The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department:
Coins and Medals
This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:
The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024) "Allied Victory Medal, 1914-18" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/141563 Accessed: 2024-11-25 03:14:03
To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:
{{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/141563
|title=Allied Victory Medal, 1914-18
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-11-25 03:14:03|publisher=The
University of Cambridge}}
To call these data via our API (remember this needs to be authenticated) you can use this code snippet:
https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/api/v1/objects/object-141563
To use this as a simple code embed, copy this string:
<div class="text-center"> <figure class="figure"> <img src="https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/cm/cm15/LW_0352_281_29.jpg" alt="Allied Victory Medal, 1914-18" class="img-fluid" /> <figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">Allied Victory Medal, 1914-18</figcaption> </figure> </div>
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