Military Collectables at C&T
The April auction at C&T offered up a wealth of medals from around the world so let’s get things started with this lot of four Japanese awards. These included an Order of the Sacred Treasure 8th class with the original ribbon and housed in its original lacquered case of issue; an Order of the Rising Sun 8th class with ribbon buttonhole housed in its original lacquered case; a Japanese China Incident campaign medal in the original case; and a Japanese naval association enamel award with anchor leading to blue pendant with enamel work and two hooks to the reverse. The lot sold for £139.04 (includes Buyer’s Premium of 26.4%).
Proving that WWI medals have never been more collectable, here’s a trio to the Montgomeryshire Yeomanry, consisting of British War and Victory medal ‘1854 PTE H ROBERTS MONTGOM YEO’ and George V Territorial Force War Medal ‘1854 PTE H ROBERTS MONTGOM YEO’. Haydn Roberts served with the 1st Battalion Montgomeryshire Yeomanry, then with the 25th Battalion
Royal Welsh Fusiliers. The lot beat its upper estimate to sell for a hefty £657.28.
If you’re a collector of
American medals though, then your luck was in as some lots went unsold and this one consisting of six medals only made £50.56. Included were five military medals, including Good Conduct medal, awarded to ‘CLARENCE J ENGEL’; another Good Conduct medal un-named; a modern South West Asia medal; a modern Armed Forces Expeditionary Service medal and the American Defence medal for WWII. There was also a medal for the Liberation of Kuwait medal for the 1991 Gulf War.
Speaking of good value, how about this group of Royal Marines badges and insignia, including cloth shoulder titles, brass shoulder titles, collar badges etc. Accompanied by some restrike RND and RNAS badges. It was imported from outside the UK so carried an extra 5% import duty making the final bid £159.26.
Belt buckles are an attractive yet relatively affordable are of collecting and here was a large collection of them, including various Spanish examples, German, Czechoslovakian,
South American, Middle East nationalities, plus others. The lot sold for £151.68.
Some interesting ephemera now, starting with a book covering 85 years of the Shanghai Volunteer Corps. The book with faux crocodile skin cover and embroidered emblem of the Shanghai Volunteer Corps, some wear to the binding but otherwise good condition. Inside, lots of photos and history. The upper estimate was £300 but when the final sale price was £1,264, you suspect a resident of the district was the person bidding.
There were a few other photo albums that went unsold but one lot which did find a buyer was for the Royal Navy in WWII. This showed action in the Mediterranean and against the Graf Spee. It consisted of two, well captioned photograph albums and other items belonging to Raymond Beverton who probably served as a Petty Officer. Images include the invasion of Crete, paratroopers and the bombing of HMS Illustrious in 1940. There were also photos from the raid on Taranto
(feature on this coming soon) showing aerial views of Italian battleships damaged, a captured Italian submarine, damage in Tobruk 1942, plus many other Royal Naval ships named and photographed. It appears Beverton served on board HMS Ajax and a number of images are included together with scuttling of Graf Spee at the Battle of the River Plate. Also included was his Naval Pay and Identity book, Passport and good collection of cap tallies. In all, a very good record of Naval service in World War II with c. 200 photographs. The lot sold for £632.
To round things off, let’s have a look at a fancy helmet. It was a French Model 1872/74 Dragoon Troopers helmet, steel body with brass trim, large central brass section with foliage. This one went for £455.04. ■