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Purple Heart Medal Memorabilia on eBay

While eBay does not allow the listing of individual Purple Heart medals, you can often find affordable memorabilia associated with the Purple Heart medal, such as presentation cases or ribbons on eBay for your collection. The Purple Heart medal is a US military medal awarded to service members injured or killed in active duty. The Purple Heart medal has undergone changes over time; these changes in style help to identify the era or military campaign or war during which the Purple Heart medal was awarded.

The Purple Heart medal, when awarded to military members for receiving injuries during combat or for the ultimate sacrifice, death during combat, is presented to the military service member or their family with an accompanying case for added protection and display. The most common case that can be found on eBay as a collectible item is the coffin case, a black, top-hinged, rectangular case that was issued with the Purple Heart medal during World War II.

Some Purple Heart medals and written commendations are also preserved in display cases or shadow boxes; you can search on eBay for a new or used Purple Heart medal display case or shadow box to create your own military memorabilia display.

There are two different ribbons associated with the Purple Heart medal, including:

• The ribbon on which the Purple Heart medal is hung; this allows the medal itself to be presented and pinned to the uniform breast of the recipient during the awarding ceremony. Typically, this ribbon is a solid purple edged with white on both sides.
• The campaign ribbon that is worn with other campaign and meritorious award ribbons over the left breast pocket of the military member's daily uniform This ribbon is a small purple ribbon in a narrow, rectangular shape that pins to the uniform; the purple ribbon is edged in white at both ends.

As time passed and manufacturing methods changed, there were also changes to the Purple Heart medal. These changes can be used as a means to help identify and differentiate WWI and WWII Purple Heart medals, including:

• WWI versions generally had a one- to five-digit medal number engraved on the back and also featured a split brooch fastener.
• WWII versions featured a slot brooch fastener.