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Remembered Today:

MM and pair price


SteveB

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Hi,

Could someone give me a very rough idea of what would be reasonable to pay for a casualty MM and pair to a regiment of the line please?

Cheers

Steve

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It doesn't matter if pair or trio plus MM. Values same or thereabouts. I would expect £650 / £700? I paid £. 695 for trio and MM Arras casualty in May. Variables however will be unit / theatre / battle. A RND Group would be much more! Can you be more specific?

TT

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I would agree with TT. If you shop around you may be lucky and find a line Regt MM and Pair for under £500 but they are routinely selling for £5-600, Trios are variable £650-850 depending on the criteria mentioned by TT.

regards

Mark

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not sure where trenchtrotter shops but trios are worth more in ££ than a pair.

Don't recall seeing many mm and pairs to a casualty - its only worth what you want to pay.

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just stumbled across a mm and pair casualty to the Liverpool regt for £485

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Coldstreamer. That is a very good price for the Liverpool group. I've seen M.M. and pair,no Memorial Plaque for £2,250 to what I collect Welsh Regiments. Lyn.

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id have ripped hand off had it been a coldstreamer

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Well it was 725 pounds, but it was to 're-unite with his plaque and his brothers, so I went for it. Obviously my wife doesn't know, but I shall be flogging some stuff off soon to cover it. My first MM, never plucked up courage to spend that much dosh before!!!

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Good for you Steve, you won't regret it in the long run, and the 're-unite' (because the plaques were a separate commemorative device not associated directly with medal issue) and link with his brothers medals significantly increases the groups value too. But, now that you are over the hump and lost your gallantry virginity life will get more tempting and costly! :whistle: it certainly did for me after I took thre plunge on my 'first' MM 2 years ago..... :wacko:

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You probably won't want to know that my first MM and pair (MGC, pair as 2nd Lieut. mint in boxes of issue) cost me £5.25...

...it was 1969, though!

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Hi Scott,

After losing my "gallantry vigininty" I'm probably going to move into a nunnery for a while in case it happens again!

LST 164, yes, you are right! :w00t:

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did the seller know you had the plaque?

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Not at first. Once I`d reserved it I mentioned it. I thought I'd check on forum cos I had no experience of the right price for MM groups

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Price depends on two factors concerning line regiments. The Battalion and is there a citation. Some Battalions will always be more popular than others due to the geographical location of their barracks and what actions they took part in. MM's with 'official' surviving citations (I don't mean newspaper cuttings) are worth far more than the sum quoted in the yearbook in my opinion. When Mr Williamson gets his book out on the subject, you will learn of the various sources for the official citations no doubt, for the infantry. Expect to see an increased interest in the MM and a price increase to match! Happy researching!

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A very hard thing to put value on. As said will depend on the unit, actions and other factors such as poignancy. Ephemera can have a real impact here such as letters photo of recipient etc. Without the plaque I would say 600 - 750, with plaque 850 - 1000. Obviously more if to Tank Corps, RFC or First day of the Somme. If you want to get a more detailed understanding try the catalogue archive at DNW, this is a truly great resource which highlights medal trends prices.

http://www.dnw.co.uk/

Happy hunting !

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A very hard thing to put value on. As said will depend on the unit, actions and other factors such as poignancy. Ephemera can have a real impact here such as letters photo of recipient etc. Without the plaque I would say 600 - 750, with plaque 850 - 1000. Obviously more if to Tank Corps, RFC or First day of the Somme. If you want to get a more detailed understanding try the catalogue archive at DNW, this is a truly great resource which highlights medal trends prices.

http://www.dnw.co.uk/

Happy hunting !
What has made the Tanks Corps and RFC so collectable is the fact the MM citations are readily available in common books and have been for years. Infantry requires a lot more effort to research but there are official citations, which in my opinion are many fold rarer than the citations for the Tank/RFC counterparts. To be honest I consider Tank Corps MM's 'common' despite their monitory worth........just look how thick the book is! Also I realise the discussion is Line Regiments only, but some yeomanry won less MM's than you can count on two hands! So really Tanks and RFC are not rare at all, just desirable due to the unit and the availability of the citations. The MM certainly has a long way to go before the true monitory value is balanced with the rarity.

The Tanks had about 29 thousand men (800 MM winners) where as the RAMC had about 190 thousand (2000 MM winners) men who served. Hands up who has seen a RAMC MM group with the official citation for sale?
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Impossible to put a figure on it. Certain dealers have stock for long periods but hold out for higher prices. Others have a quick turn around of stock but sell at very competitive prices. Collectors selling amongst themselves may be even cheaper still. So a group that I would sell for £500 to a mate may be advertised on a dealers site for £600 and on another for £700.

I have numerous MM groups and the prices vary considerably.

In recent years I have bought an MM & pair for £300 and another for £2000.

I have also bought a MM and pair for £400 on the open market and then (when raising funds for my wedding) sold it for £850.. Research can play a very big part in price, as can ephemera.

Neil

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Impossible to put a figure on it. Certain dealers have stock for long periods but hold out for higher prices. Others have a quick turn around of stock but sell at very competitive prices. Collectors selling amongst themselves may be even cheaper still. So a group that I would sell for £500 to a mate may be advertised on a dealers site for £600 and on another for £700.

I have numerous MM groups and the prices vary considerably.

In recent years I have bought an MM & pair for £300 and another for £2000.

I have also bought a MM and pair for £400 on the open market and then (when raising funds for my wedding) sold it for £850.. Research can play a very big part in price, as can ephemera.

Neil

Ive got to know what the unit has MM Pairs for 2000 pounds.......please.......do tell....?

The most I have seen a GV fetch is £2.5 minus commission but it was in a group of associated militaria (photograph albums etc) that made the price difference. Was that the case with your 2K group?

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It was to the King's Liverpool but there's more to it than that. I'll try to find the link to it and forward it to you. :)

Another one that I had the chance to buy but didn't was to a Piper who rallied the men with his pipes when an attack had stalled. That one was £1500 and I've regretted not getting it ever since.

Another expensive on was a Leeds Pal who was KIA on 1st July 1916.

Neil

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I saw the pipers one for sale myself with a mention in "Pipes at War". So don't nag yourself too much I didn't buy it either! Over the past 5 years I've seen a lot of Leeds Pals MM's. When does it end, from Pipers to Pals......There's another pipers group with Aberdeen Medals now for 2600.

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Yes, wasn't the piper MM to Bowie or similar? Ian laidler had it when I saw it.

I wasn't sure on the prices for them at the time but am now..Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

The one at Aberdeen makes the other one look like a bargain!

Neil

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  • 1 month later...

Neil is quite right the range is significant. I paid £1250 recently for a Hampshire Regiment MM & Trio KIA 1st July 1916 with a scroll but no plaque and was delighted !

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And at the other end of the spectrum I recently acquired on ebay with a BIN a great London Regiment MM & Pair for actions near Poelcappelle during 3rd Ypres in September 1917 with the 58th division congratulations card giving a few details. Directly from the family for 200 pounds.

I would make one minor quibble with the remarks about the relatively availability of RFC MM's - they are scarce in any form for actions while in the RFC, especially for air operations, what is typical is there are RFC medals in the group but the MM was earned whilst in the infantry or artillery and the individual transferred later to the RFC.

Once can parse out relative value based on 'scarcity' to units, but in the main with I think nearly 200,000 awarded across the board in WW I - they will be generally on the lower more affordable end of the spectrum for some time to come. Plenty of supply to meet general demand, as noted a must have for two or more people and all bets are off.

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I would make one minor quibble with the remarks about the relatively availability of RFC MM's - they are scarce in any form for actions while in the RFC, especially for air operations, what is typical is there are RFC medals in the group but the MM was earned whilst in the infantry or artillery and the individual transferred later to the RFC.

245 awards made, relative to the size of the RFC/RAF, this is a rare award. However, the number of ORs expected to do their job in the face, of the enemy, on a daily basis, was small, which in my opinion accounts for the low number of awards. Wirelsss operators, balloon parties and recovery teams. It would be nice to know how many awards were made for combat in the air. If we were to break down the awards in a similar manner, using other criteria, to other units, we could also create a very rare batch of desirable medals.

Howard will no doubt be compiling all the facts and figures, we shall see :-)

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As a militaria dealer I'd say that anything is worth what someone will pay for it. There are guidelines in The Medal Book, but I've seen trios go for £50 recently and pairs for £120. In the auction world there are no limits. If someone wants something and has the resources they will win it.

Remember. It's all just STUFF. We can't take it with us. Enjoy it whilst you own it but be resigned to the fact that we are normally temporary custodians.

John

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