Arms, Armour & Militaria

Medals expert familiar to millions through the Antiques Roadshow chats about his latest book telling a very personal story.

A medal with nine clasps from a soldier who was wounded in the head and twice in the thigh during the Peninsular War stood out in a recent sale held by Stanley Gibbons Baldwin’s (23% buyer’s premium).

Latest result for a ‘not in the face of the enemy’ award underlines how such honours have become a popular collecting field

If you look closely at both Lady Butler and Alphonse de Neuville’s paintings of what is probably the most famous British colonial action of the 19th century – Rorke’s Drift – you can pick out a man with a long, thick red beard wearing a blue tunic.

Despite the brief cataloguing of lot 129 in the Ellis Willis & Beckett (21.5% buyer’s premium) sale, the £4200 hammer price on February 17 indicated that bidders had fought it out for something special.

Following Operation Barbarossa, Germany’s invasion of Russia, Winston Churchill proposed the Arctic Convoys to deliver supplies to the Soviet Union via Iceland.

Several lots linked to a George Henry Robertson who served in Victorian campaigns in India impressed at Toovey’s (25% buyer’s premium) of West Sussex .

While a First World War memorial plaque (‘death penny’ or ‘dead man’s penny’) is not usually worth that much on its own, when presented with an associated medal group the price can rise considerably.

A First World War Distinguished Conduct Medal casualty group of four sold for £2800 at Tennants (24% buyer’s premium) in Leyburn on December 10.

The disaster of the Charge of the Light Brigade inevitably dominates the tale of the Battle of Balaclava on October 25, 1854, but far more successful actions also took place that day: the Charge of The Heavy Brigade and The Thin Red Line.

The Order of the Durrani Empire (Nishan-i-Daulat-i-Durrani) was established in 1839 and awarded to British field officers and above during the First Afghan War by Shah Durrani of Afghanistan (1785-1842) in gratitude for his restoration to the throne as Shah Shuja-ool-Moqlk, King of Afghanistan.

The clasps (metal bars across the ribbons) signifying participation in particular actions are a key factor driving value when it comes to the Naval General Service medal 1793-1840 awarded retrospectively for Royal navy service.

Established in 1687 by James II (also James VII of Scotland), membership of the Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle is in the personal gift of the sovereign, just as it is with the Order of the Garter and the Order of Merit.

This 1642 silver medal by the German medallist Sebastian Dadler (1586-1657) celebrates the arrival in the Netherlands of Princess Mary (1631-60), eldest daughter of Charles I and sister of the future Charles II.

Group lot shows how a shared interest in communication linked Louis Mountbatten and a telegraphist

The citation for a Distinguished Flying Medal awarded to Act F/Sgt BG Tucker RAF stated he had “completed many outstanding sorties against such heavily defended localities as Berlin, Essen and Hanover.

This pair of late Georgian silver spurs are hallmarked for London 1812 and carry the maker’s mark JA, probably for the specialist buckle maker John Atkins.

First Kempton event this year will involve 100 dealers at the racecourse venue