Kriegsmedaille 1873 KÖNIC / KÖNIG.

[Ylang]

I have two Kriegsmedaille 1873. One has still its coating on, while the other one is bare naked. Ignore the ribbon, as Im sure its a modern repro.

I compared these two, to each other, and the gold coated one has a spelling error[?]. KÖNIC vs KONIG. You can clearly see its a C, not a G, nothing is missing there.

Any explanation?

It made me think, the gold one may be fake, but the overall details match, so I doubt it.

/Edit.

On gold one:

Kai...er S is half way missing.
Konic ... another Konic.
Unga...n R is half way missing.

/Edit 2.

Added photos from the internet of Kriegsmedaille 1873 with coating.

Compare this one, to mine.

Is mine a genuine one, or was it reapplied somehow?

Scratch marks can be seen, and an excess of coating around the letters, numbers, and any other shape.

[tompress]

Hi,

this medal was originally made of Geschützbronze (bronze from conquered cannons), but later also of other metals, gilded or bronzed. During about 40 years came numerous variants, with minor or major differencies in material, portrait or inscriptions (including scarce type with modern spelling DEZEMBER on the back). The quality from different manufacturers has also varied.

Indeed, it is not easy to find two same medals Please look: your bronze one has a mistake APOSI instead od APOST. and no dot after UNGARN. And if you comapre ear of the Emperor, it is on each of these three medals different.

greetings
Tomasz

PS. Your "gold" one was probably well used zincer (with many small damages) and later repainted