WW1 medals on Ebay

[Tretten]

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.

In the mid eighties, many people got their fingers burnt after a ridiculous surge in Great War medal prices - for what reason I never did quite determine. Then, they came down and down again! The late Nathan Harris of Nottingham offered me three Military Medals for £100. I declined.

I suspect that the same thing is going to happen after the Commemorations which start next year.

I, too, bid in last weeks DNW auction using a 'double up on the lower estimate' as a guide. I never had a chance. So, back to Ebay... At least, the buyer isn't lumbered with 20% commission and VAT on the commission.

i.e. £1000 + £200 + £40 = £1240. Ouch!

[SteveMarsdin]

To back up what Tim (Trenchtrotter) says, many of the Trios sold this month at Golding, Young & Mawer went for under £80, as in this example:

[Guest exuser1]

Could it be that RN does not bring the collectors in ? I can recall when serious heavy gallantry failed to reach its reserve the reason given by the auction houses was that there were not enough RN collectors around ? The first 1982 Falklands DSM that came to auction failed to reach it's reserve and was sold via negotiation by the auction house price £2000!

As to the local auction houses one I still use one week a trio to the ASC £100 hammer ! then unique plaque to officer London Rgt £78 and earlier this year RND casualty trio £80 ! then recently a pair RFA officer goes over and hammer price 1918 £320 ! but then that's the fun or frustration of auction bidding .

[high wood]

I picked up an un-researched Yorkshire Regiment BWM for £20.00 at a Sussex market last week. Research disclosed a 10th July 1916 (Somme) casualty. Very pleased with it but buying medals from house clearances can be a lottery.

[Guest exuser1]

I picked up an un-researched Yorkshire Regiment BWM for £20.00 at a Sussex market last week. Research disclosed a 10th July 1916 (Somme) casualty. Very pleased with it but buying medals from house clearances can be a lottery.

And not long ago would we have taken a chance on a BWM for £20? not that long ago would have thought the same about a 1915 trio?

[high wood]

You are right but as medals turn up so rarely at car boot sales one has to take a chance because if you don't someone will snap them up an put them on E--y. The particular Sussex market that I go to used to be a good place to buy Great War items, still can be if you get there early enough.

[yellow]

To back up what Tim (Trenchtrotter) says, many of the Trios sold this month at Golding, Young & Mawer went for under £80, as in this example:

MM and Trio £750, MC and Trio £2400, all minus commission. It seems the good stuff in that sale made more than what they can be bought for instantly from London dealers! What your seeing is a decline in the purchasing of those hard earned, but mundane medals and an increase in the high end groups. Could this be something to do with the fact that many a working class medal collectors pocket is hurting at the moment due to a dramatic increase in the cost of living and low interest rates?

[HarryBettsMCDCM]

.... 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!

..And dare I say it, a complete waste of time!! Most Regimental Museums have only a representative selection of Medals on display,Usually only those to Commanding Officers or noteworthy Soldiers that make a good display... The general gamut of Medals to Museums are consigned to the "Resrve Collection" ie often a proverbial Shoe box or similar and never see the light of day, are never researched, gazed upon lovingly or displayed,.. Collectors carry out this Service and despite being pilloried at regular intervals love their subject, care for their progenies and conserve them for the future.

[Guest exuser1]

Collecting of medals is in a very poor state in France for Great War items today at 2pm at a local brocante superb frame Medal Militarie , Croix De Gurre ,and a Victory medal all mounted to a corporal in the 14e Chasseurs Alpins killed 1st Ypres 4th November 1914,for 50 Euro all checked out on the French sites , when called up ,class where born date and cause of death , would dread to think the corresponding British medal group would cost , but now medals to Indo China in the 1950s are going through the roof ?

[tn.drummond]

Both of my Grandfathers - one WW1 Third Ypres, t'other WW2, North Africa and Monte Casino - cared next to nothing for their respective pair and quatro. The experiences they underwent seemed to have made their medals unwanted reminders of a past they wished to leave behind. Interestingly, both men valued their cap badges; comradeship over state lip service perhaps ? Who knows, can't ask them now.

I certainly know neither felt any affinity to their campaign medals.

Grandad S was traumatised by the sight of his bren-gun crew reduced to soap by a flamethrower - the gongs probably served as a most unpleasant totem; please let's not be so judgemental about how these things come on the market.

[SteveMarsdin]

It seems the good stuff in that sale made more than what they can be bought for instantly from London dealers!

Its strange then that both the low end and good stuff sold within the guide prices marked by the auctioneers, which suggests they know the market locally.

[Guest]

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 )

I would be interested to hear what she got for the medals. In the 1930s I suspect the value of a MM and WWI trio was mere pennies and certainly not enough to provide for 7 children. It is only relatively recently that any significant value has been ascribed to WWI medals, and certainly in the 1930s there was little interest.

MG

[Guest exuser1]

I know many people baulk at the prices of 1915 trios these days and even pairs , one rule of thumb told to me years ago and I recalled yesterday was I just filled up the Mrs car with fuel and cost 80 euros will last about 2 weeks or so , these days a trio £80+, 3 years in the trenches seeing your mates die and all the horrors of trench warfare , £80 does not seem to much ?

[ALCTay]

I would be interested to hear what she got for the medals. In the 1930s I suspect the value of a MM and WWI trio was mere pennies and certainly not enough to provide for 7 children. It is only relatively recently that any significant value has been ascribed to WWI medals, and certainly in the 1930s there was little interest.

MG

My grandmother told me that they got enough for 2 loaves of bread. The local pawnbroker was an old friend of my gt-grandfather and I think they were pawned and not redeemed rather than sold, as you say there weren't any/many collectors around in those days.

Amanda

[yellow]

Medal Collecting can trace its roots back to early Victorian England. There were collectors during the Great War, but WW1 medals were so common that they were not considered to be collectable/valuable. Collectors wanted Peninsula War related groups and exceptional Crimea gallantry sets.

[derekb]

Just out of interest I have the ticket for a Military Medal pawned in Gateshead and dated 1924, the amount advanced was 2/6d.

Regards,

Derek.

[redbarchetta]

Then I'd get over there and redeem it!!!

[Guest exuser1]

Once had a old antique dealer call a MM and BWM a pawn brokers pair .

[Bingo794]

Once had a old antique dealer call a MM and BWM a pawn brokers pair .

Not heard that one before Nice one!

Things have certainly come a long way from when you could find WW2 campaign medals/WW1 plaques and medals in skips. Or swap them for Dandy Skipper bubblegum, football cards and printed paper ink tatoos.

There are a few bargains to be found.....if you take your time researching a little first and hunting out the badly listed gear.

I got a nice Grimsby Chum VM, wounded FDoS and DOW with The Royal Lancasters for a tad over £30.........I think that was a bargain!!!!???? ebay again!

Dick

[tsahal]

hi everybody, like it was written above , i believe that a big part of the medals were sold by the soldiers family who doesnt have enough respect to their past, i live in israel, im not even a british citizen, but i pay much respect and honor to the british army in the GREAT WAR FOR CIVILISATION because of the so high price the soldiers payed to keep the germans away...

it is unforgiven that those medals will be melt for scrap or will remain in a dark addic..

i collect them too, i am building a nice solid wood vitrine for them, and i will hang over each one a small plaque with the soldier details, and they will get the respect they deserve...

[Guest exuser1]

Not heard that one before Nice one!

Things have certainly come a long way from when you could find WW2 campaign medals/WW1 plaques and medals in skips. Or swap them for Dandy Skipper bubblegum, football cards and printed paper ink tatoos.

There are a few bargains to be found.....if you take your time researching a little first and hunting out the badly listed gear.

I got a nice Grimsby Chum VM, wounded FDoS and DOW with The Royal Lancasters for a tad over £30.........I think that was a bargain!!!!???? ebay again!

Dick

You are right on the on line auction front , picked up a pair to a RN sailor with his long runner went in quite late so quite ordinary except WW2 he was killed on HMS Achilles in the South Atlantic , as you say some times a little research can uncover a treasure missed by many including dealers , done that myself about 5 years ago bought 6 pairs all casualties kept 3 and same day before going home sold another pair to a mate ,checked him out that night and turned out to be a 16 year old lance Sargent ! you do wonder if with all the hype coming as to what treasures will crawl out of the woodwork?

[yellow]

You are right on the on line auction front , picked up a pair to a RN sailor with his long runner went in quite late so quite ordinary except WW2 he was killed on HMS Achilles in the South Atlantic , as you say some times a little research can uncover a treasure missed by many including dealers , done that myself about 5 years ago bought 6 pairs all casualties kept 3 and same day before going home sold another pair to a mate ,checked him out that night and turned out to be a 16 year old lance Sargent ! you do wonder if with all the hype coming as to what treasures will crawl out of the woodwork?

What makes such purchases possible is that profit margins are still small on pairs and singles even when they are discovered to be casualties. The sale of a single casualty for anything other than the First Day would not buy a dealers groceries for a week, neither is it cost effective of a dealers time to check every victory medal that appears on ebay.

[Guest exuser1]

I would disagree with the dealer not checking if medals are casualties or not as its so quick and simple to do so , back in the day it took a letter to Wargraves and await reply or checking the old soldiers died books , or if lucky the group came with a plaque or scroll , now you are one click away even standing at a boot fair with a smart phone .

What dealers did do who issued catalogs was to put in a couple of sleepers so to get people buying the list and hoping they were the successful phone all.

So the average price for a pair now ? £40 + but its not just first day of the Somme that can command a fair price , lots of other interesting actions collected ,and as to the groceries quote some people work all day and their wage does not cover a grocery bill .

What does tend to happen if you stick out 12 catalogs a year and people are paying for the subscription then you need new stock on a regular basis and that's why dealers are sometimes in the position to have to purchase stock with a very small profit margin to put in their next catalogue ,have seen this at medal fairs with dealers buying stock to put in a catalogue which was going to print that week .

[stevem49]

I'm not a collector but do have medals to 9th Bn Sherwood Foresters. I decided to stop adding more of the men's medals when I saw some of the prices being asked - £480 for a plaque and trio! To be honest I am seriously considering flogging them.

I see no problem with medal collecting or the fact that someone at sometime has flogged 'em. Medals often bring back bad and sad memories and when our 'leaders' later treat us like s***, we see the medals and service as worthless.

Steve M

[yellow]

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