IDENTIFIERS ----------- id: 141561 accession number: CM.1467-2009 DATE AUDIT ---------- created: Saturday 6 August 2011 updated: Saturday 22 January 2022 DESCRIPTIVE DATA ---------------- object type: 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, and all but the Japanese, who lacked a comparable symbolic figure, used a form of Victory on the obverse and a legend on the reverse. This is the issue by the then-new Czecho-Slovak Republic, freshly constituted from territories of the dismantled Austro-Hungarian Empire; it was created later than many of the other versions, due to the lead time involved in establishing the new government, and in the interim some Czech soldiers were awarded the Belgian version of the medal. As a new state in 1918, Czechoslovakia had not technically had any soldiers under arms during the Great War, but a Provisional Government had existed in Paris throughout hostilities and Czech and Slovakian troops had served alongside the French, Russian and Italian armies. These troops were those eligible for the medal, and the different fronts of engagement generated 10 different campaign clasps, none of which however this example bears. The medal was also awarded to those who had done `political' service towards the independence of Czechoslovakia however, and it is presumably one of these awards, unnamed, that Lester Watson purchased from the London dealers Baldwin at some point before 1928. title: Allied Victory Medal, 1914-18 NOTES ----- type: history note value: Gift of L. Hoyt Watson; ex Lester Watson Collection, bt Baldwin before 1928 LICENSING --------- text license status: CC0 image license status: CC-BY-NC-SA OWNERSHIP --------- instutition: The Fitzwilliam Museum department: Coins and Medals collection: Lester Watson Collection creditline: Given by Lester Watson through Cambridge in America, 2009 STABLE URL ---------- url: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/141561 TECHNIQUES ---------- struck CATEGORIES ------ category: medal DATING ------ creation date: 1919 - 1920 creation date earliest: 1919 creation date latest: 1920 CREATORS -------- maker: Prague maker: Czechoslovakia DIMENSIONS ---------- dimension: Diameter units: mm value: 36.3 dimension: Weight units: g value: 23.09 CITATIONS -------- British Battles and Medals 7th edn British and other Campaign and Gallantry Medals From the Collection of Lester Watson (d. 1959) --- IMAGES surrogate: large format: jpeg location: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/cm/cm59/CM_1467_2009_281_29.jpg height: 1024 pixels width: 683 pixels surrogate: mid format: jpeg location: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/cm/cm59/mid_CM_1467_2009_281_29.jpg height: 750 pixels width: 500 pixels surrogate: original format: jpeg location: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/cm/cm59/CM_1467_2009_281_29.jpg height: 1024 pixels width: 683 pixels surrogate: preview format: jpeg location: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/cm/cm59/preview_CM_1467_2009_281_29.jpg height: 375 pixels width: 250 pixels surrogate: large format: jpeg location: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/cm/cm59/CM_1467_2009_282_29.jpg height: 1024 pixels width: 683 pixels surrogate: mid format: jpeg location: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/cm/cm59/mid_CM_1467_2009_282_29.jpg height: 750 pixels width: 500 pixels surrogate: original format: jpeg location: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/cm/cm59/CM_1467_2009_282_29.jpg height: 1024 pixels width: 683 pixels surrogate: preview format: jpeg location: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/cm/cm59/preview_CM_1467_2009_282_29.jpg height: 375 pixels width: 250 pixels