American Orders & Societies and Their Decorations – BB&B

[Justin Halvorsen]

Today I acquired the book “American Orders & Societies and Their Decorations” by the Bailey Banks & Biddle Company published in 1917.  While we have amazing access to many resources on the internet in this day, nothing beats a proper reference book.

 

• This topic was modified 5 months, 2 weeks ago by Justin Halvorsen.

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[megan]

Sounds fascinating. Would you care to review it for us? Either here on the forum or maybe in JOMSA?

[Frank Draskovic]

Hi Justin & Megan,

Yes, a nice book for its time, 1917, with handsome embossed chromo-litho plates of BB&Bs artistic creations, but to say it’s a bit long in the tooth is putting it mildly. Other than eye-candy it’s essentially useless. For serious American society medal collectors, the present go-to book is “American Society Medals, an Identification Guide” by Lee Bishop and Robert Elliott, published in 1998. Bob and Lee, two good pals of mine, now sadly gone to that great medal show in the sky, based the book on their respective collections and research of many decades. The primary impetus for collecting American society medals is the appeal of the lovely designs and colorful enamels, but unfortunately the several hundred medal photos in the book are in black & white. There are a few errors and many omissions of societies and their medals that curiously the authors never seem to have encountered, but their effort was a major contribution.

An OMSA member colleague is working on a US military society book that will be a welcome addition to the bibliography of society medals, but for now, the B&E is only game in town. Here’s the cover. They’re easy to find at online bookseller sites.

Regards, Frank Draskovic

 

 

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[Clyde Tinklepaugh]

Frank,

Who is working on the society book?

Thanks,

Clyde Tinklepaugh

[Author]

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