Arms, Armour & Militaria

The first civilian Victoria Cross of just five to be awarded has sold for an auction record hammer price of £750,000 at London saleroom Noonans.

The sales at Stride & Son (21.6% buyer’s premium inc VAT) in Chichester on September 1-2 included a trio of avidly contested items, each a rarity in three highly specialised collecting areas.

This scarlet and navy woollen cape sold in an Essex auction is sewn with the numerous cloth regimental badges that were given to Esme Kathleen Robinson (d.2017) by the soldiers she treated in Oxfordshire as a member of the Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) during the Second World War.

The first Victoria Cross awarded to a civilian is coming up for auction at Noonans on September 14.

Organised by Tricorn Fairs, the biannual Bristol Fine Antique Arms Fair returns on Sunday, September 11, at a new venue: the Aztec West Hotel and Spa.

Admiral of the Fleet Sir John Kelly (1871-1936) had a decent wartime career in the Royal Navy but it was a peacetime crisis that also showed his skills: the Invergordon Mutiny.

To get an idea of the healthy nature of the medals market at the moment, consider the Victoria Cross sold at Spink (20% buyer’s premium) this summer.

Unique medal combinations will always catch a collector’s eye, particularly when accompanied by a highly emotive backstory.

This cased pair of English flintlock duelling pistols by Joseph Gulley, London, c.1810-15, sold for £8600 at Halls (20/12% buyer’s premium) in a timed online sale that ended on August 2.

A composite German full armour, c.1500-10, from a European Collection was one of the highlights of Thomas Del Mar’s (25% buyer’s premium) sale of Fine Antique Arms, Armour & Militaria held at Olympia Auctions on June 29.

The autobiography title Rake’s Progress: The Gay and Dramatic – Adventures of Major Denis Rake MC, the Reluctant British War-Time Agent perfectly sums up the story behind a group of medals on offer in East Sussex.

Although the wearer of a First World War tunic sold by Kent auction house C&T (22% buyer’s premium) on July 26-28 was not listed, it gave plenty of clues to his service.

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, the French military could feel pretty proud of itself. The dashing style and spirit of their forces in the 19th century often inspired other nations to create copycat units.

A ‘Jolly Roger’ or pirate flag that records the Second World War exploits of a British submarine flew once more in a militaria sale earlier this summer.

Bonhams has closed its coin and medals department in London and specialist John Millensted will now work as a consultant to the firm.

You reported on the front page of the ATG (No 2550) that Bonhams has added another auction house to its expanding stable.

The highlight of a Cornish auction on June 10 was an RAF logbook from Battle of Britain Spitfire pilot Flying Officer Arthur Peter Pease (1913-40).

Whatever Mr Derbyshire, The Worthy Representative of Freedom Loving Great Britain was doing in the Caucasus in 1920, the Armenians of Karabach were obviously pretty pleased about it.

Flight Lieutenant Maurice ‘Mark’ Mounsdon was one of only four remaining members of Sir Winston Churchill’s ‘The Few’ when he died in 2019 aged 101.

In May 2019 Spink (20% buyer’s premium) medal specialist Marcus Budgen was entrusted to catalogue the medals of Gunner A Howard, ‘N’ Battery, 5th Brigade, Royal Artillery, one of just four members of the RA present at the defence of Rorke’s Drift in the Zulu War.