WW1 medals on Ebay

[Ellis1918]

I regularly take a look on ebay for medals relating to regiments I have an interest in

I have noticed a distinct shortage of medals being advertised in recent weeks apart from "copy" or foreign awards this seems to include the usual dealers as well as private sellers

Could it be that they are being witheld in the hope that the 2014 centenery will increase interest and also values ?

Wouldn't it be a good idea for an effort to be made to be reunite WW1 medals and death plaques with the families of the servicemen who were awarded them ?

Many odd medals rather than groups were appearing on ebay and changing hands for as little as £20-£30

I am sure that the desendants would be willing to pay that sort of figure

I was reunited with my grandfathers honourable discharge scroll 3 years ago when a lady traced his family & descendants and contacted a cousin She refused to accept any payment and the scroll is now with his medals (incl his DCM )

[SteveMarsdin]

Many odd medals rather than groups were appearing on ebay and changing hands for as little as £20-£30

I am sure that the desendants would be willing to pay that sort of figure

The reason they're there in the first place is often that those descendants were willing to sell them for that sort of figure.

[scottmarchand]

Agreed, I wouldn't presume that fewer that 5% of descendants would have a passing interest let alone be willing to pay. All these medals are out there because they were unwanted. Remember the service in the 2 wars was not universally celebrated by their veterans, the majority would have rather stayed home and families would rather have their relatives versus a death plaque. There was a lot of bitterness towards the 'great war' and a lot elected to forget rather than being sentimental. The passing of 100 years and a shift in generations and the popular movement to romanticize the war, and the experiences of those involved creates this sort of notion.

Personally I am collecting as much WW I stuff as I can before the wave of sentiment puts prices beyond my reach.

As for ebay, it is summer, always slow for quality now. Also the European recession is making a lot of collectors sit on their wallets.

[arboskittler]

Wouldn't it be a good idea for an effort to be made to be reunite WW1 medals and death plaques with the families of the servicemen who were awarded them ?

A noble view, of course, but the problem would be in determining who the 'rightful' descendant would be as the recipients family tree would have grown from a straightforward 'wife and immediate children' view.

Andy.

[ALCTay]

The reason they're there in the first place is often that those descendants were willing to sell them for that sort of figure.

Probably true for most, but my gr-grandmother had to sell her husband's medals to help provide for their 7 young children when he died in 1930 after 12 years of illness due to gas exposure. I would love to locate them, especially his Military Medal, I imagine they went for a pittance then and may even have been melted down for scrap

(William Etherington 9027 RFA just in case )

[nicolaw]

I have a plethora of medals within the family, which were all stolen in the early 1960's, including two military medals and a swb

I would love to find them for sale somewhere, bu probably never will

[Ellis1918]

From my own personal experience my grandfathers medals & his hon discharge scroll were seperated at some point and his scroll turned up at a car boot sale. The lady that bought it went to a great deal of trouble to trace his descendants because she thought it should be returned to his family. With the help of a genealogist and at some cost she traced my cousin being the eldest surviving grandchild & contacted her to tell her she had the scroll . It was only through a chance meeting with my cousin some time later that I learned that the scroll had been found and she was not aware that I , as the only grandson, had his full medal set. I contacted the lady and travelled 70 miles to meet her and show her the medals . When I asked her if I could buy the scroll from her & cover her costs she replied " I can't sell it to you its yours " I made a donation to a local charity of her choice.

I bet there are quite a few families wondering what happened to their grandfathers WW1 medals as the centenary approaches

[Old Owl]

Nicola, It may be worth your while to leave some details of your relative's medals(names and regiments) which were stolen, just in case someone has seen them on the open market.

[ALCTay]

From my own personal experience my grandfathers medals & his hon discharge scroll were seperated at some point and his scroll turned up at a car boot sale. The lady that bought it went to a great deal of trouble to trace his descendants because she thought it should be returned to his family. With the help of a genealogist and at some cost she traced my cousin being the eldest surviving grandchild & contacted her to tell her she had the scroll . It was only through a chance meeting with my cousin some time later that I learned that the scroll had been found and she was not aware that I , as the only grandson, had his full medal set. I contacted the lady and travelled 70 miles to meet her and show her the medals . When I asked her if I could buy the scroll from her & cover her costs she replied " I can't sell it to you its yours " I made a donation to a local charity of her choice.

I bet there are quite a few families wondering what happened to their grandfathers WW1 medals as the centenary approaches

How wonderful! I don't know if things like this still turn up at car boot sales, I always assume the dealers get them all but I keep my eyes open and if I could trace the family I would definitely offer them the scroll/medal. However I can see how owners of medal collections would be wary of letting people know what they have, I have heard plenty of people rant about how 'wrong' it is to collect medals... conveniently forgetting that they came onto the open market because somebody in the family made the decision to sell them or give them away. Personally I would be happy to pay market value for any family medals and, if they weren't for sale, I could be content to know where they were.

I've also heard a few people suggest that all medals not in the original family should be donated to museums... that would have to be one very big display case!

[nicolaw]

Nicola, It may be worth your while to leave some details of your relative's medals(names and regiments) which were stolen, just in case someone has seen them on the open market.

Where would be the best place to put this? Im still finding my way round the forum

[Dawley Jockey]

You could start a new topic in Great War Forum - Uniforms, Arms, Insignia, Equipment & Medals - The Paraphernalia of War -Medals and also why not just mention them in this thread as you have already posted here that they where stolen.

[Old Owl]

Hi Nicola, Just start a new topic under the same heading, possibly with the new heading "Help Required to Trace Missing Family Medals" or something similar. I think that there are a number of Forum members from up your way. Good Luck. Robert

[redbarchetta]

Getting back 'on topic', I've just read a degree dissertation on trench art in the North-East, and in her interviews with dealers selling NE-related stuff, that theme (saving up stuff for next year) came across quite strongly - so yes, Ellis, I think this is part of the issue...

As Scott says, Ebay does quieten down over the summer, so that will be in play too.

James

[River97]

I have been trolling through eBay for years and don't think there has been much of a drop off. I do agree there are more and more replica's and copies appearing.

It's one of those topics where I tend to agree and disagree at the same time. I do all my searching on eBay UK. There are between 4500 and 5500 listings at any one time. Tis does tend to peak on the weekends, specifically on Sunday's.

Common sense would say that some are holding back items for next year in the hope of making a quick buck. This will only work if they can sell these items.

The overwhelming thing I have noticed is how much basic medals have gone up over the previous couple of years. BWM's were going for around 20 pounds, but now they don't go for much less than 40 pounds.

There you go, my thoughts.

Cheers, Andy.

[trenchtrotter]

Conversely re prices I see a fall in prices dealers are asking especially trios and MM groups.

I was speaking to Chris Dixon (Dicons Mesals) and he said money for collectors across the board is tight.

Maybe if people can't afford a group then they buy singles and as supply and demand dictate if more are chasing singles that would explain the rise there?

TT

[Auimfo]

Well to show you just how successful a project of this type can be, here's the blogspot of 'Lost Medals Australia' run by a friend of mine, Lt Col Glyn Llanwarne.

He's now approaching 1300 medals being returned to descendants (all at his own expense) and has been awarded the Order of Australia for his efforts.

http://lostmedalsaustralia.blogspot.com.au

Cheers,

Tim L.

[HarryBettsMCDCM]

Another reason will be that despite the 100000s issued the steady increase in collecting them especially over the last 40years will mean by definition a "finite" resource will eventually dry up, I am always wary of claims that Medals were sold to feed starving families... they were of very very limited value until very recent years, perhaps a few shillings may have been offered by a Pawnbroker, who probably had drawers of them, for anything other than a VC, which would have had a "value" in the low hundreds even up to the 1960s, An MM and Pair /Trio would have been "worth" a matter of shillings anytime from the 1920s to 1950s, Spinks first "Price Catalogue" gives a mere £4.0.0 for the medal in 1972..and could be bought in a group in a Local Curio shop for around a Five pound note..Many of the medals one sees nowadays are basically "Buying & Selling" medals ie those that have been around on the market for some time and travel from seller to seller,regurgitated on another sellers listing ...

[dink_and_pip]

The magazine Medal News has a regular slot reporting stolen medals, they also have the medal tracker and small ads for people looking for specific medals to complete or reunite a broken group.

I have a copy of the A to Z of medals from, I think 1988 and the values of great war medals ranged from 1.50 for a victory medal to about 10.00 for a british war medal or 1914 star.

Finally the reason there seem to be more items on ebay on the weekends is the ebay seller team regularly offer zero insertion fees for a weekend there is one on now for 22/23 June.

[Tretten]

With the 100th anniversary of the start of the Great War just over a year away, medal dealers and collectors are expecting a surge in prices as widespread interest is generated from all the various commemorations that must inevitably take place.

Whether the intention of collecting is for investment, reuniting, or the pleasure of becoming the custodian of these valuable and historic items, there is now a burgeoning tendency to 'buy now!'

[royalredcross]

If anyone really thinks that money for medal collecting across the board is tight, I suggest they take a look at some of the prices paid at last week's DNW sale. I bid £270 on an item estimated at £60-80 and wasn't even the underbidder. Signed: Bitter and Twisted

[Guest exuser1]

I do wonder where the medal prices are leading ,I recall in the 1980s when prices took a sharp dip , I recall a collector who would buy a Victorian medal do lots of research enjoy his time then sell it back to the dealer for the same amount or exchange for another item that was his enjoyment , now dealers are offering to buy back items in a relatively short time at a profit remember when auction houses sold trios in huge lots all un researched not that long ago ?

My issue is with the prices as they are it puts off the younger collector so will there be people coming up behind to carry on the hobby ?

It's quite noticeable that the high end serious collectible militaria from the 1960s does not have the following it did back then

[Scalyback]

I enquired about a trio in a local market. I was expecting £70 to £80 as was to a "normal" person as far as I could tell and the very unglamourus unit of ASC. Not researched and in bad condition.

The woman behind the counter quoted £300 for the set. I nearly choked! She then went on to inform me "Well the centery is approaching and I want as much as possible for them." No ifs or buts she clearly stated that. I said there are cheaper out there, so she laughed and said "some fool will buy them."

I was moved away by my girlfriend for the safety of the woman.

[trenchtrotter]

Well my last two purchases (a 14/15 casualty trio Somme with grave & MM 14/15 trio Arras casualty with grave) very much below prices two or three years ago and from open and competitive market sources!

TT

[Guest exuser1]

Bargains are still to be had but thin on the ground these days ,even local auctions can reach staggering prices for mundane items ,then the next week a real bargain, even collectors shops can miss value items or just not understand the rarity of a item or what the market value can achieve, early this year I managed to pick up 2 trios to brothers both with plaques one KIA 1st July and his brother at Jutland but that's few and far between , as scalyback stated it is more likely to come across the corps trio or pair at a highly inflated price than the bargain these days and even what's regard as the norm these days for a line regiment trio is pushing it when you see dealers putting back boxes and boxes of unsold items at the close of play at a fair.

[Steven Broomfield]

I've also heard a few people suggest that all medals not in the original family should be donated to museums... that would have to be one very big display case!

Too true: just what the regimental museum of the Royal Loamshires (probably crammed into a spare corner of the local Town Museum since the amalgamation of the Loamshires into yet another battalion of The Rifles) really needs - the War and Victory Medals of Pte Smith.