Why British?
Except for World War 2 most medals are named on rim so they are very easy to identify. There are hundreds of different regiments and of course different ranks for medals from 1799 to the present day. Lots of very good replicas of British Military Medals and replacement medals are sold to museums. Replica Medals are exact copies of the original British Military Medal for a certain campaign and supplied with ribbon and a plastic envelope to protect the medal. These are cast medals in high quality alloy if they come from a good dealer.
The replacement medals are die-struck so they are more expensive. Struck in nickel gilt and polished in silver gilt they cost more because these have made by a master craftsman who has carved out by hand and small machine - a "die". This "die" can cost around two thousand dollars alone. Then you have the actual striking which is completed by a machine usually with a 250 ton press capacity.
Collectors, dealers, ex forces associations and even whole families frame replicas for show. This way, members of the same family can display their ancestors medals. It is usual for owners to keep the original medals in a safe or bank. Part of the reason is British Military Medals can command a very high premium indeed.
Victoria Cross groups fetch $300,000 whereas a replica group to a Victoria Cross winner at Rorkes Drift, (11 won in one day at Rorkes Drift - Zulu the film was based on this battle) with the VC and Zulu Medal is only about $30. The Victoria Cross is the highest award in England and the Commonwealth, and is worn as the first medal over any other medal or order. A business guy who sold his company for over 350 million has bought over the years 100 VC groups for around 20 odd million dollars! There are hundreds of different Gallantry and Campaign medals. I have seen prices up to $500,000, which wasn't a VC group.
To an officer in the Royal Air Force, the famous C.B. C.B.E. Fighter Operations D.S.O. and 2 Bars, D.F.C. and Bar Group of Nineteen to Air-Vice Marshall J.E. "Johnnie" Johnson, Royal Air Force - the Officially Recognised Highest Scoring R.A.F. Fighter Pilot of the 1939-45 War - went for a World Record price of two hundred and forty one thousand, five hundred pounds!!
So, as you have gathered, there is quite a good market in British Military Medals and each year a Medal yearbook with price guides is published. There are also Miniature Medal Collectors and even an association of Medal Ribbon collectors.
Other reasons why there is such a vibrant market is the British have been in so many wars over the years. We have wars when we, as ex-soldiers, were part of a forgotten army. Talk to people about the Malayan war which lasted from 1948 to 1960 or the Borneo confrontation of 1962 to 1965 and you get blank looks from people who were around during those times.
Medals have been a very good investment over the years. Now they are becoming scarce. Families are waking up to the fact that their parents, grandparents had a history. People are searching for details of their ancestors. It's now all very searchable and the main reason is the Internet.
One thing is certain. British Military Medals are here to stay. It's history.
It's Goodbye from me
Regards
Barry
Barry Sheppard has authored over 15 published books. On top of those he produced the full 10 set Volumes of Military Cross Winners during the First World War and is amongst others listed on Amazon. Also produced 8 Volumes of Military Medal winners and 3 Volumes of the Distinguished Service Cross during the same period.
Did you find this article interesting? You can learn a lot more by visiting:http://www.medalnews.com for further information.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Barry_Sheppard
Friday, July 13, 2007
Bob Hope Saved My Life
I'm always haunted by the fact that it should have been me. You see, it was December 1968 and I was back in my base camp at Cu Chi for the third time that month. It was the third time I had been wounded in the month of December and I was getting ready to go back out to the field to be with my troops.
While I was in camp recovering, we had two new lieutenants arrive as replacements. They were very likable young men. Both were graduates of West Point. I liked them immediately and had great hopes for them.
I was supposed to go out to the field with both of them the next day on our usual convoy. It was a convoy that took out our mail, some hot food, a re-supply of ammunition and it was something that the people in the field looked forward to every day.
It was toward the end of the month and all of a sudden, I received a visit from the Major who had been our Battalion Executive Officer but was recently assigned to Division as the S-2…. That’s the Intelligence Officer for those of you who don’t know. He told me that he wanted me to participate in a security force the next day for the Bob Hope show.
He said that I would get to sit in the third row behind the wounded soldiers that they invited from the hospital (they would get the first two rows). My job would be to cordon off the stage in the event of a hostile act.
I asked him what that meant and he said, “Don’t worry, it means that you get to watch the show right up front”. I was certainly cool with that so I agreed. It seems that the producers of the show wanted some soldiers near the front in combat uniforms for their camera. All we had to do was dress in our normal gear and sit in front so the cameras could film us occasionally. We did have loaded weapons but that was the extent of the seriousness of our mission.
Anyway, the night before the show, our unit came under heavy attack. We received an emergency message to deploy all the spare reserves that were ready to return to the field by helicopter. Mostly, these consisted of new troops who were just assigned to our unit and had just finished our “war college” (all new troops had an opportunity to get their uniforms, zero their weapons, and learn about various booby traps they might encounter when they got out to the field).
I put the two lieutenants on a helicopter and gave them instructions. One of them would be taking over my unit until I returned the day after tomorrow.
I stayed behind to command the “protection” platoon for Bob’s show. And I have to tell you, seeing Ann Margaret on stage was awesome. We hooted and hollered as loud as anyone there. I made sure I got some “up-close” pictures.
Anyway, the next morning, the C.O. called me on the radio and said that it had been a brutal night but that nobody died. They were, however, taking fire again and needed the rest of us out there right away. We jumped on a helicopter before sunup and were on our way. We had extra ammunition and even managed to scrape up some scrambled eggs and bacon to take with us.
When we got there, it was still dark. There were “tracers” flying everywhere.
From the air, it looked like “grazing fire”.. Bullets flying about 2 or 3 ft. from the ground. Bullets flying everywhere. The pilot said, “we’re going to drop you in an LZ to the south and you’ll have to hike it in from there. We can’t set down in the middle of all that.”
As we neared the ground, I remember taking a last minute check of the direction I was supposed to lead my men and then jumped… right into a rice paddy up to my neck in water.
My head actually went underwater and I lost my helmet. When I finally popped my head up, I remember searching for the helmet for a second before deciding that I needed to hurry up and reinforce the company. I was a bit disoriented but I pulled my compass out and figured out which way to go.
Without my helmet, I waded into the “no man’s land” between the good guys and the bad guys.
On the ground, I realized that the bullets were actually flying much higher over our heads than it looked from the air. I sent a radio message to the perimeter that we were coming in and gave them our coordinates. By the time we reached the perimeter, things had actually calmed down a bit and the sun was coming up.
Once inside the perimeter, the shooting had stopped. I guess the bad guys had had enough. We still called in some more artillery and (I’d like to think) that our reinforcements scared them away.
Once things calmed down a bit, I went over to chat with the Company Commander. That’s when I learned of the bad news. As the two lieutenants were leaving a briefing just after they arrived, an RPG rocket hit right in front of them. Both were killed instantly. One of them was to be my replacement. I was supposed to go to the base camp and become the company executive officer. You know, the guy who gets to ride on the convoy every day so the troops could get their mail and a hot meal.
That never happened. Although I stayed in the field the rest of my time in VietNam and never got to live the “good life” back in base camp, I still believe that if I hadn’t stayed to provide “security” for Bob Hope, I’d be dead now.
Pat Kiggins
The Veteran’s MentorP.S. I’ve never told this story to anyone until now. Maybe I’ll leave behind a part of my life that my family will understand someday.
Learn how Pat helps Veterans use their free Veteran benefits to start a successful business that sells products to the government. Learn more about this Best-Selling Author by checking out his site at:
http://www.patkiggins.com
Pat is an accomplished business executive, a proud “Vetrepreneur” and an even prouder parent of four outstanding children. If you would like to see how Pat motivates Veterans to start their own company and become successful, visit http://www.veteranbusinessnews.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Pat_Kiggins
While I was in camp recovering, we had two new lieutenants arrive as replacements. They were very likable young men. Both were graduates of West Point. I liked them immediately and had great hopes for them.
I was supposed to go out to the field with both of them the next day on our usual convoy. It was a convoy that took out our mail, some hot food, a re-supply of ammunition and it was something that the people in the field looked forward to every day.
It was toward the end of the month and all of a sudden, I received a visit from the Major who had been our Battalion Executive Officer but was recently assigned to Division as the S-2…. That’s the Intelligence Officer for those of you who don’t know. He told me that he wanted me to participate in a security force the next day for the Bob Hope show.
He said that I would get to sit in the third row behind the wounded soldiers that they invited from the hospital (they would get the first two rows). My job would be to cordon off the stage in the event of a hostile act.
I asked him what that meant and he said, “Don’t worry, it means that you get to watch the show right up front”. I was certainly cool with that so I agreed. It seems that the producers of the show wanted some soldiers near the front in combat uniforms for their camera. All we had to do was dress in our normal gear and sit in front so the cameras could film us occasionally. We did have loaded weapons but that was the extent of the seriousness of our mission.
Anyway, the night before the show, our unit came under heavy attack. We received an emergency message to deploy all the spare reserves that were ready to return to the field by helicopter. Mostly, these consisted of new troops who were just assigned to our unit and had just finished our “war college” (all new troops had an opportunity to get their uniforms, zero their weapons, and learn about various booby traps they might encounter when they got out to the field).
I put the two lieutenants on a helicopter and gave them instructions. One of them would be taking over my unit until I returned the day after tomorrow.
I stayed behind to command the “protection” platoon for Bob’s show. And I have to tell you, seeing Ann Margaret on stage was awesome. We hooted and hollered as loud as anyone there. I made sure I got some “up-close” pictures.
Anyway, the next morning, the C.O. called me on the radio and said that it had been a brutal night but that nobody died. They were, however, taking fire again and needed the rest of us out there right away. We jumped on a helicopter before sunup and were on our way. We had extra ammunition and even managed to scrape up some scrambled eggs and bacon to take with us.
When we got there, it was still dark. There were “tracers” flying everywhere.
From the air, it looked like “grazing fire”.. Bullets flying about 2 or 3 ft. from the ground. Bullets flying everywhere. The pilot said, “we’re going to drop you in an LZ to the south and you’ll have to hike it in from there. We can’t set down in the middle of all that.”
As we neared the ground, I remember taking a last minute check of the direction I was supposed to lead my men and then jumped… right into a rice paddy up to my neck in water.
My head actually went underwater and I lost my helmet. When I finally popped my head up, I remember searching for the helmet for a second before deciding that I needed to hurry up and reinforce the company. I was a bit disoriented but I pulled my compass out and figured out which way to go.
Without my helmet, I waded into the “no man’s land” between the good guys and the bad guys.
On the ground, I realized that the bullets were actually flying much higher over our heads than it looked from the air. I sent a radio message to the perimeter that we were coming in and gave them our coordinates. By the time we reached the perimeter, things had actually calmed down a bit and the sun was coming up.
Once inside the perimeter, the shooting had stopped. I guess the bad guys had had enough. We still called in some more artillery and (I’d like to think) that our reinforcements scared them away.
Once things calmed down a bit, I went over to chat with the Company Commander. That’s when I learned of the bad news. As the two lieutenants were leaving a briefing just after they arrived, an RPG rocket hit right in front of them. Both were killed instantly. One of them was to be my replacement. I was supposed to go to the base camp and become the company executive officer. You know, the guy who gets to ride on the convoy every day so the troops could get their mail and a hot meal.
That never happened. Although I stayed in the field the rest of my time in VietNam and never got to live the “good life” back in base camp, I still believe that if I hadn’t stayed to provide “security” for Bob Hope, I’d be dead now.
Pat Kiggins
The Veteran’s MentorP.S. I’ve never told this story to anyone until now. Maybe I’ll leave behind a part of my life that my family will understand someday.
Learn how Pat helps Veterans use their free Veteran benefits to start a successful business that sells products to the government. Learn more about this Best-Selling Author by checking out his site at:
http://www.patkiggins.com
Pat is an accomplished business executive, a proud “Vetrepreneur” and an even prouder parent of four outstanding children. If you would like to see how Pat motivates Veterans to start their own company and become successful, visit http://www.veteranbusinessnews.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Pat_Kiggins
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