I was digging thru some old stuff when I came across this long-forgotten medal I got from somewhere. What intrigued me about it was the reverse, which mentions a IV Depot Bat. (Battalion?) and a date of January 26, 1917, so most likely some kind of WWI-related medal, possibly civilian, possibly military. Whats also interesting is that the obverse was originally designed by Hendrickus Johannes Baars in 1898 for Queen Wilhelmina's coronation. Every hit I have seen for this medal has been in silver though and smaller, with a different reverse. So this is clearly a reused design with a new design on the reverse. My speculation is that this is a civilian medal. I am wondering if anyone out there might know what this is? Between the date mentioned and the "IV Depot" inscription on the revere is the inscription "Det. Wsrit". Any ideas what that could mean? Possibly an abbreviation of a name? Any help you all could provide would be most appreciated thank you.
I understand the Dutch army after 1914 had 8 schools where drafted recruits would be trained, called “Depots”. There definitely was a 4th (or 4e in Dutch) Depot, but the date and Det Ijsrit (It is either a "IJ", "U", but I dont think it is a "W" as you say.) baffles me.
Sorry not to be able to ID it
Long time collector with huge double coin selection. Has huge selection of Japanese historic coins. Trade based on KM catalog values.
Thanks for the responses everybody. The name of the medalist, at least on the obverse is Johannes Hendrickus Baars. It was a design that you can see on the coronation medals for Wilhelmina. The links you sent btw did not show any matches.
Citeer: "Jadish"I understand the Dutch army after 1914 had 8 schools where drafted recruits would be trained, called “Depots”. There definitely was a 4th (or 4e in Dutch) Depot, but the date and Det Ijsrit (It is either a "IJ", "U", but I dont think it is a "W" as you say.) baffles me.
Sorry not to be able to ID it
This actually did not occur to me... I had been searching for supply depots or some logistics related unit. Thanks. I am definitely keeping this. I have been around coins and medals long enough to know if my instincts tell me this is a legit coin or medal and I have not seen it before its probably rare.
This is definitely my medal! Although one seems to point to it being a skating medal and the other a shooting medal. I definitely got the feel that this medal may have been WWI related but was most likely not a medal awarded for actions in the field. A shooting competition medal might seem like something they would award on a military training base.
I got this medal and a 1904 St. Louis Exposition medal scrounging around in a box of exonumia for $10. Not a bad day. It always pays to know what the coin dealer specializes in so that you know where you are most likely to find the deals lol.
The thing we didn't pay enough attention to is that the inscription on the reverse is engraved, so probably unique to this medal.
If it was a contest of some sort, it must have been in a team sport. As for possibly being a skating contest, this would be because "ijs" in Dutch means ice.
Citeer: "wabnoles"Using Google translate ijsrit in Dutch means "ice ride". Perhaps a sledding competition?
An 'ice ride/ijsrit' is not a sledding competition, but a skating contest, like I said before....
Are you fluent in Dutch? The Dutch word for ice skating is something else, or at least from what I can gather off Google translate. When you responded, you did not actually explain why you thought it was an ice skating medal.
I stand corrected you are Dutch and from the Netherlands lol. I should have checked your profile. Do you have any idea who made these medals and who awarded them? There is a word that is abbreviated: "'Det." do you have any idea what the abbreviation could be for?
FYI everyone I reached out to the people from the Dutch Skating Historical Society and they did some research, finding some great answers and adding to their military skating page. My medal is up on there now. Long story short, the person who won this completed a 60km skating race and ran an extra 300m and this medal was personally awarded by the Queen herself.
"On January 26 and 30, 1917, skating competitions of teams from the army took place.
Friday, January 26, 1917
The teams that competed against each other consisted of 1 officer, 2 non-commissioned officers, 2
corporals and 50 soldiers. The skating trip was about 60 km long. After reaching the finish the competitors had to run another 300 meters to the finish. During the journey there were several difficulties to overcome, including repelling an attack. The journey led from the start in Gouda over Woerden and Bodegraven to De Meern (near Utrecht); a canteen had been set up there, where one rested for an hour and got pea soup before going back . Then they went on skates to Gouda. The prize consisted of a silver and a bronze medal, presented by Her Majesty Queen Wilhelmina, and two guilders per head for the first team and one guilder per head for the second team.
The winning team finished in a time of 3 hours and 47 minutes. Nobody did drop out. The second prize winning team took 13 minutes longer and had 2 dropouts. The time, the number of drop-outs and the impression the jury got of the team, were important in determining the final score.
Tuesday, January 30, 1917
On this day another skating competition was held and the winners received another medal that did not come from Queen Wilhelmina."
Status gewijzigd naar Opgelost(wabnoles, 24-aug-2020, 02:48)
