Q & A

J.D. of Slemon Park, PEI writes:

Our family has recently acquired two German WWII Medals found in a box of my deceased grandfather’s war memorabilia.

From a bit of Internet surfing I have come up with descriptions of the
following. I am not a collector so I can not comment on the condition of the following:

“One 12 year long service award SS medal with blue ribbon and solid ribbon loop. No visible markings.

One German war merit for non-combatants 3rd class with black red and white ribbon, split ribbon loop with paper satchet with german print dated 1939. No visible markings on medal.”

My Grandfather, Edward William Gallant, Regimental #59942 of the PEI
Highlanders, went overseas with the Rocky Mountain Rangers then was immediately transferred to the Royal Canadian Signals where he worked in Belgium, Holland and Germany. He worked behind the lines with other war correspondents for the Canadian Army newspaper "The Maple Leaf". My grandmother believes he probably got these from another correspondent, as collecting and trading novelties from bombed out villages and towns was apparently quite commonplace.

I would really appreciate any info you might be able to hand on, as I
couldn't find much info on these; other than that the 12 year service medal is quite rare...

We asked Ross Wilson to respond:

Usually one has to be very careful of Nazi memorabilia as the reproductions around these days can be so good you just cannot tell them from the originals. These however have a good provenance and were typical of the souvenirs brought home by servicemen after the Second World War. I do not know of a direct website to go to as there are many books on the subject of 'Medals and Decorations of the Third Reich', particularly from a publisher by the name of Bender. A general search using that title and 'Nazi badges and medals' should bring results.

The War Merit medal is nice as it is in its original package. From the photograph I would put a value of $75-85. The SS Long Service is a more desirable decoration and, again, from the photograph I would value it at around $100 - 125.