Kitchener's Bugle Posted 23 September , 2016 Share Posted 23 September , 2016 A friend of mine (who is not on this forum, despite my best attempts) has a fantastic collecrion of medals covering WW1 and WW2 ......he has over 300 uniforms though and this is his speciality, including some real rare and fully attribute stuff.......he says tbat he is most interested in these because they where what the man actually wore, and in most cases in combat. It is an interesting and poignant way of looking at things I suppose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Medaler Posted 23 September , 2016 Share Posted 23 September , 2016 1 hour ago, trajan said: You have certainly pushed many buttons there Mike, and I - very much an amateur / incidental GW medal collector - go along with much of what you say. I guess that (to be frank) what I found rather obscene about the particular group that started this discussion and the price paid is simply that it was 'scalp' hunting - the name of the man and his manner of death and by whom he died being the attraction rather than the person and the medal group itself. Having said that, I freely admit that I feel slightly more attached to those trios and pairs I have that were awarded posthumously to men KIA, but it is because of knowing of their sacrifice as ordinary men in a fight against other equally ordinary men. Well, the reasons I gave there are my own personal justifications. Ask another collector and he/she may well come up with another list. I would however insist that all of my "reasons" are fundamentally based on the concept of respect. Respect for the men as individuals. Respect for what they achieved. Respect for what they endured Respect for price that they paid. No matter if they survived beyond 1918 or not. Respect for the objects themselves. Respect for the learning opportunity that they give me. They are a key to unlocking the story of the war at an individual human level. Of course, even given the huge growth in the number of primary sources that are now readily available on these men as individuals, the casualties are still much more readily researchable. Not simply because they have a record on CWGC and SDGW, but because they also appear in locally published newspaper obituaries etc. If a service record is actually missing, you can almost entirely reconstruct one for a casualty by consulting other sources. With Gunner Smith RFA who survived the war the odds are much more heavily stacked against you. That is also part of the "charm" that lies behind the group in the OP, and also part of the reason his medals fetch more than those of Gunner Smith. Would I have paid that much for a Great War Trio? - Frankly, no - but each to their own. Thank God they will not be bidding against me for Gunner Smiths!! Regards, Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gordon92 Posted 23 September , 2016 Share Posted 23 September , 2016 3 minutes ago, Kitchener's Bugle said: A friend of mine (who is not on this forum, despite my best attempts) has a fantastic collecrion of medals covering WW1 and WW2 ......he has over 300 uniforms though and this is his speciality, including some real rare and fully attribute stuff.......he says tbat he is most interested in these because they where what the man actually wore, and in most cases in combat. It is an interesting and poignant way of looking at things I suppose. While I have fewer than 300 uniforms, I would have to say that I also fully subscribe to your friend's thinking. My fascination with uniforms is with the men who actually wore them, and the aesthetic aspects of the items, while not immaterial, really radiates from the original owners. Just my opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P.B. Posted 23 September , 2016 Author Share Posted 23 September , 2016 4 hours ago, Medaler said: I suppose that we must all make our own minds up about collecting to casualties (or not), but the prices realised would tend to indicate that collectors don't have a problem with it. To me the justifications are quite easy and straightforward, as I guess they are to most. 1/ Don't lose sight of the fact that all these men are dead now anyway - be they casualties at the time or not. Ultimately their fate was all the same, as will be ours. 2/ We are preserving these items, and the stories that lie behind them for future generations. Their original custodians have failed them in that regard, or they would not have found their way onto the market. 3/ If they had no value they would in many cases by now be landfill. Many of them have had that fate despite our interest in them. In the days before collecting was established thousands of these items were lost forever. For example, I understand that only around 15% of the Waterloo medals that were issued have actually survived to the present day. 4/ The museums do not have the resources to take, let alone display them all - and they actually frequently sell them ! 5/ They promote interest and study into all aspects of the individuals and the conflicts they were awarded for. A vital part of remembering them. If nobody remembers them, then their sacrifice was truly for nothing. 6/ As collectors we are largely a group of "specialists" - who have a lot more knowledge and experience in looking after these items than most people. 7/ The thing that enables us to collect is that we value them when others have ceased to do so. In many cases we value them more highly than their original owners. Whilst some were treasured heirlooms, many more were shoved to the backs of draws and forgotten about, too stark a reminder of grief and loss. Mike Agree 100% on all counts. With regard to point 4 for example, many museums won't have the space or the desire to accept and display a trio to their regiment given that they will already have scores of them, a collector on the other hand can purchase, display and (surviving records permitting) do exhaustive research on the recipient. Cheers Paul. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rflory Posted 24 September , 2016 Share Posted 24 September , 2016 While the value of the individual medals in a group play some role in the group's price, it is the story that goes with the medals that most often determines the item's value. Many collectors of British medals are much more interested in the story than in the medals. It is medal collectors who make known the man's story and who preserve his memory for future generations. Many medals in museums do nothing but acquire dust in a storage cabinet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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