Skip to main content

Allied Victory Medal, 1914-18: CM.1469-2009

An image of Allied Victory Medal, 1914-18

Terms of use

These images are provided for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons License (BY-NC-ND). To license a high resolution version, please contact our image library who will discuss fees, terms and waivers.

Download this image

Creative commons explained - what it means, how you can use our's and other people's content.

Alternative views

Object information

Current Location: In storage

Maker(s)

State: Japan (Struck in the rule of)

Entities

Categories

Description

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.

Notes

History note: Gift of L. Hoyt Watson; ex Lester Watson Collection, bt Baldwin before 1928

Legal notes

Given by Lester Watson through Cambridge in America, 2009

Measurements and weight

Diameter: 36.6 mm
Weight: 20.82 g

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Given (2009) by Watson, Lester

Dating

1919 - 1920

Note

Possibly a French replica struck in 1920 for collectors.

Materials used in production

Bronze

Techniques used in production

Struck

References and bibliographic entries

Identification numbers

Accession number: CM.1469-2009
Primary reference Number: 141563
Watson Catalogue: M
Ordering: M-0352
Previous object number: LW.0352
Stable URI

Audit data

Created: Saturday 6 August 2011 Updated: Saturday 22 January 2022 Last processed: Tuesday 13 June 2023

Associated departments & institutions

Owner or interested party: The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department: Coins and Medals

Citation for print

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://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/141563 Accessed: 2024-04-24 22:58:58

Citation for Wikipedia

To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:

{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/141563 |title=Allied Victory Medal, 1914-18 |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-04-24 22:58:58|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

API call for this record

To call these data via our API (remember this needs to be authenticated) you can use this code snippet:

https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/api/v1/objects/object-141563

Bootstrap HTML code for reuse

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>
    

More objects and works of art you might like

Allied Victory Medal, 1914-18

Accession Number: CM.7222-2007

Allied Victory Medal, 1914-18

Accession Number: CM.7229-2007

Allied Victory Medal, 1914-18

Accession Number: CM.7280-2007

Allied Victory Medal, 1914-18

Accession Number: CM.7255-2007

Suggested products from Curating Cambridge

You might be interested in this...

Sign up for updates

Updates about future exhibitions and displays, family activities, virtual events & news. You'll be the first to know...