£92,000 to spare? Sale of 1914 VC

[Guest Ian Bowbrick]

According to the Daily Telegraph on Saturday, the VC won by L/Cpl Frederick Holmes of the KOYLI in 1914 was sold by Morton & Eden (London) for £92,000 last week. Anyone know who scooped it? Is there some secret Rockefeller amongst the Pals?

Ian

[Guest Pete Wood]

For around £9 each, if we'd had a whip-round, this forum could have all owned a bit of this medal.

Just imagine, you'd get to keep it in your own house, and admire it about once every three years.....

It's too late for this VC, but would anyone like to club together to buy a WW1 aeroplane....??

[Guest Ian Bowbrick]

You sound as if you have something in mind - pray do tell more............

[iain mchenry]

RT,

...................only if it flies

Iain

[ianw]

Teapots,

I think that's £90 each rather than £9 but I would certainly stump up for a share of a Great War V.C - but I suspect the share of the annual insurance might be a fair old lump of cash as well , if it moved daily !

[Staffsyeoman]

Well.... until a couple of years ago, I have it on good authority that the purchaser of most VCs which came up for auction in the United Kingdom was Lord Ashworth of Belize - you know, the one who was in trouble in the papers over funding of the Conservative Party. If the award did not ostensibly go to a regiment or museum, he was likely to have bought it. What has happened to his collection is not known.

[Guest Ian Bowbrick]

Phil,

As nothing he was reputed to have bought has come onto the market, most believe they are still in family hands.

I can never understand paying £100K for something, which will have to be kept locked up 99% of the time. When the VC of F/Lt J B Nicholson was sold about 10 or so years ago, his widow commented that she only ever saw it once a year, the rest of the time it was kept locked up at her local bank.

Now what could be crazier - collecting MGC medals

Ian

[Guest Pete Wood]

You sound as if you have something in mind - pray do tell more............

Ian B, I had nothing in mind, I promise. I was merely day-dreaming about how little money the forum members would need to contribute to buy something great that would belong to all of us.....

But then Ian W did the math properly, and I was snapped back into reality. I apologise for getting this calculation so wrong.

Iain M, the chances of anyone finding an original WW1 aeroplane are slim enough - but one that flies also....? There is, however, An interesting project in Germany if you care to click here and look at it

Can I just clarify something, please, back on thread. Most of the VCs that have been bought recently are not on display....??

[ianw]

Lord Ashworth is of course very rich indeed and , I suppose, that if I had his resources I would also want a study stuffed with top notch WW1 memorabilia including a dozen good V.C's - one for each year of the war and major theatre maybe. That's before any particular unit obsessions come into play. Imagine the price of MGC kit if IanB was a billionaire !

There are some very rich men around now and it's not surprising that really nice medals are being bought up so readily - if nothing else , they appear to be very good investments.

[Tim Birch]

It is interesting that the value of Great War VCs is now approaching £100,000 at Auction. Does this also apply to WW2 and subsequent VCs? In some respects they may be even rarer on the basis that a living VC is unlikely to sell their medal unless destitute.

On the Antiques Road Show last Sunday a WW2 George Cross was only valued at £2,000. Were GCs a lot more common than VCs? They are obviously not so keenly sought after even though they are on a par as a civilian bravery award to a VC

Tim

[iain mchenry]

RT,

That was an interseting web site you recommended. Oh for 50,000 dollars! Have you seen the American (Texan?) company that is building Messerschmidt 262's and Focke Wulf 190's for the individual owner?

Best regards

Iain

[Guest Pete Wood]

On the Antiques Road Show last Sunday a WW2 George Cross was only valued at £2,000.

Ian M, I haven't slept properly since I saw the ME 262. Just fantastic!

Tim, I am fairly sure that the medal shown was a George Medal - not cross. It's awarded to civilians, and is much less expensive than the George Cross.

[Guest Hill 60]

It is interesting that the value of Great War VCs is now approaching £100,000 at Auction. Does this also apply to WW2 and subsequent VCs?

On the Antiques Road Show last Sunday a WW2 George Cross was only valued at £2,000. Were GCs a lot more common than VCs? They are obviously not so keenly sought after even though they are on a par as a civilian bravery award to a VC

Tim - The highest price paid for a WWII VC is £138,000. This was for the VC and group awarded to Flying Officer Allan Trigg (born on 6th June 1914) of the RNZAF attached to 200 Sqd RAF, he was killed in the action that won him the award.

On the 11th August 1943 he was flying a Liberator with a crew of 7. They spotted U-468 and attacked, suffering severe damage in the process. He crashed into the sea after dropping his depth-charges, Trigg and his crew all died, U-468 also sank and 7 German crewmen survived. One of the crew, Oberleutnant Schamong was in the unique position of the filing the only report detailing Trigg's bravery.

The medal on The Antique's Road Show was actually a George Medal (assuming we're talking about the same show and medal!) that was awarded to a Policeman who later joined the RAF and was killed in action.

A rough guide price for a civvy GM and a military GM are about £1,000-£2,000. A civvy GC, on the other hand, is about £3,000-£5,000 (1940 to today) whilst a military GC is about £8,000-£12,000 for the same time period.

The trouble with the GC and the GM is that they were brought out as Civvy awards, and there isn't the kudos attached to them as there is with solely military awards.