Military Medal

Medals expert familiar to millions through the Antiques Roadshow chats about his latest book telling a very personal story.

A medal with nine clasps from a soldier who was wounded in the head and twice in the thigh during the Peninsular War stood out in a recent sale held by Stanley Gibbons Baldwin’s (23% buyer’s premium).

Latest result for a ‘not in the face of the enemy’ award underlines how such honours have become a popular collecting field

If you look closely at both Lady Butler and Alphonse de Neuville’s paintings of what is probably the most famous British colonial action of the 19th century – Rorke’s Drift – you can pick out a man with a long, thick red beard wearing a blue tunic.

Despite the brief cataloguing of lot 129 in the Ellis Willis & Beckett (21.5% buyer’s premium) sale, the £4200 hammer price on February 17 indicated that bidders had fought it out for something special.

Following Operation Barbarossa, Germany’s invasion of Russia, Winston Churchill proposed the Arctic Convoys to deliver supplies to the Soviet Union via Iceland.

Several lots linked to a George Henry Robertson who served in Victorian campaigns in India impressed at Toovey’s (25% buyer’s premium) of West Sussex .

While a First World War memorial plaque (‘death penny’ or ‘dead man’s penny’) is not usually worth that much on its own, when presented with an associated medal group the price can rise considerably.

A First World War Distinguished Conduct Medal casualty group of four sold for £2800 at Tennants (24% buyer’s premium) in Leyburn on December 10.

The disaster of the Charge of the Light Brigade inevitably dominates the tale of the Battle of Balaclava on October 25, 1854, but far more successful actions also took place that day: the Charge of The Heavy Brigade and The Thin Red Line.

The Order of the Durrani Empire (Nishan-i-Daulat-i-Durrani) was established in 1839 and awarded to British field officers and above during the First Afghan War by Shah Durrani of Afghanistan (1785-1842) in gratitude for his restoration to the throne as Shah Shuja-ool-Moqlk, King of Afghanistan.

The clasps (metal bars across the ribbons) signifying participation in particular actions are a key factor driving value when it comes to the Naval General Service medal 1793-1840 awarded retrospectively for Royal navy service.

The citation for a Distinguished Flying Medal awarded to Act F/Sgt BG Tucker RAF stated he had “completed many outstanding sorties against such heavily defended localities as Berlin, Essen and Hanover.

The Distinguished Conduct Medal awarded to Private Samuel Vickery of the Coldstream Guards who kept Florence Nightingale safe during the Crimean War is to be offered at Noonans on January 14.

While Alan Turing has for some time now quite rightly received credit for his work at Bletchley Park during the Second World War, the contributions of the women who worked there can still be overlooked.

The Battle of Goose Green was relatively small in size but a fierce and important action in the Falklands War, notable for the Victoria Cross awarded posthumously to Colonel ‘H’ Jones of the Parachute Regiment.

Halls’ (24% buyer’s premium) Militaria, Naval and Aviation Auction included a medal group with an intriguing link to a famous figure of the First World War, British nurse Edith Cavell.

Acting Lt Cdr Richard Lovelace Bigg-Wither not only had a memorable name but a Second World War career in the Fleet Air Arm that was also definitely one to remember.

An honour hailing from the Second World War demonstrates the peculiarity of this collecting market