THE PRICE OF VALOUR
As respect for our Armed Forces continues to grow, so does the value of the medals they have won
WITH the recent 70th anniversary of Victory over Japan Day – marking the end of the Second World War – many people’s thoughts turned to the bravery of our Armed Forces.
The Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration awarded for valour ‘in the face of the enemy’. This medal has been awarded 1,358 times since its inception in 1856 during the Crimean War.
The most recent recipient was 27year-old Lance Corporal Joshua Leakey of the Parachute Regiment. Just over two years ago, in Helmand, Afghanistan, he ran through a hail of bullets – on three separate occasions – to set up machine guns and beat back a Taliban attack.
He was presented with the Victoria Cross in April with the Queen remarking: ‘I don’t get to give this one out very often’.
For collectors of these much sought-after medals, prices continue to rise because of limited supply and strong demand for a piece of history connected to ultimate personal bravery on the battlefield.
The biggest collection – more than 180 medals – is currently owned by Lord Ashcroft and is housed at the Imperial War Museum in London.
This collection – along with other medals – has been amassed with help from curator Michael Naxton, a former head of Sotheby’s medal department.
Naxton started assisting the Tory peer after he bought his first Victoria Cross in 1986 for £29,000. Since then the value of the medals has rocketed and they now rarely change hands for under six figures.
He says: ‘Bravery is ethereal – you cannot put it in a bottle – but a medal is a tangible memento of the event and a unique piece of history.’
The curator was involved in the most expensive purchase of medals – £1.5million paid for a double Victoria Cross (a Victoria Cross and Bar) by Ashcroft in 2009 belonging to First World War Captain Noel Chavasse, one of only three Armed Forces individuals to have been awarded two of these decorations.
Naxton says: ‘The condition of a medal is not really relevant. Of far more importance is the significance of the action within the conflict that the medal was awarded for.
‘Many recipients were modest, anonymous men but their heroic acts made them truly exceptional people.’
Chavasse, a medical officer attached to the 10th Battalion King’s (Liverpool Regiment), bravely attended to the wounded during fierce fighting at Guillemont on the Somme in August 1916.
It is estimated his actions saved the lives of at least 20 seriously wounded men. He was awarded the Victoria Cross ‘for most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty’.
Then, a year later, he repeated his heroics at Passchendaele before his first-aid post was struck by a shell. The last words he uttered before he died were ‘duty called and duty must be obeyed’. The Bar to his Victoria Cross was announced a month later when the citation acknowledged ‘his extraordinary energy and inspiring example’.
Another important factor affecting medal values is if an act of bravery takes place on a particularly fateful day – such as in 1879 at the Battle of Rorke’s Drift in the AngloZulu War when a record 11 Victoria Crosses were awarded.
The Victoria Cross awarded to Lieutenant Gonville Bromhead – played by actor Michael Caine in the 1964 film Zulu – is valued at more than £700,000 and kept at The Regimental Museum of the Royal Welsh in Brecon, Powys. Ashcroft also collects George Cross medals – equivalent to the Victoria Cross but awarded to civilians and military for bravery but not in the face of the enemy. Earlier this year he paid £260,000 for a George Cross posthumously awarded to Special Opera- tions Executive secret agent Violette Szabo for her work in occupied France during the Second World War – one of only four women to receive the medal.
Dan Wade, of online market trader JustCollecting, says that those who cannot afford a top bravery medal can still participate in the medals market.
Wade says: ‘Exactly a hundred years ago our proud nation was fight- ing in the Great War and the centenary has attracted renewed interest in medals connected to the war. Standard campaign medals from the war are available for under £100. Sought-after lesser awards for gallantry – such as the Military Medal – can be bought for under £500.’
Wade suggests a good place for collectors to start is with a regional battalion that has connections with where you live, many of which have long been disbanded.
These include specially formed ‘Pals’ battalions started in the Great War when people from a particular area or a shared trade signed up together to fight for king and country.
Many were later amalgamated with other battalions during the war due to huge casualties among the ranks. With the introduction of conscription in 1916 the Pals’ battalions stopped being formed.
Details of the Lord Ashcroft medal collection are available at website lordashcroftmedals.com. Magazine Medal News (£4) provides details of latest auction sales and reputable traders.