Medals
Medals have always been a big part of Charterhouse auctions. Richard Bromell, Director, was taken (or dragged) around medal & militaria fairs and auctions as a child by his father who had a huge passion for collecting.
Moving forward nearly 50 years, the interest and enthusiasm Richards’s father had has rubbed off onto Richard and he now heads up the medal, militaria, coins and stamp division at Charterhouse. Medals sold by Charterhouse are researched to make certain they bring their full potential.
Although medals can look the same, values can differ hugely depending on rank, regiment, campaign and citation. A good example of this could be a pair of WWI medals. A pair awarded to a Private who served with The Royal Engineers could sell for under £100, but a pair which look identical, but awarded to an Australian Gallipoli casualty could sell for over £2,000. We often sell medals straight from the family, and the highest price paid for a medal group at Charterhouse was sold for the son of the recipient.
The medals sold were awarded to Ft Lt Richard Trevor-Roper. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his part in The Dambusters Raid as Guy Gibson’s rear gunner in the lead Lancaster. The medal group sold for an astonishing £148,000 to a collector. If you have a medal or group of medals, contact Richard Bromell at our salerooms 01935 812277 or send him images to info@charterhouse-auction.com and Richard will get back to you with a valuation.
All of our auctions use live internet bidding platforms to ensure that every lot, whether it is worth £20 or £500,000, reaches the widest possible market and sells for the best price possible. In the run-up to an auction, we receive 100s of emails requesting further information for lots in the sale. Attached to these email replies, we regularly send well over 1,000 digital images, such is the huge interest generated in our auctions.
White Glove Auction at Charterhouse
When all the lots in an auction sell it is known as a white glove sale, and it was a white glove auction for a West Country collection of medals sold by Charterhouse on Wednesday 27th November.
Richard and the Naval General Service Medal 1793-1814 with Trafalgar clasp sold for £5,500 (and on its own)
“I can count on one hand the number of white glove auctions I have conducted over the past 40 years.” Commented Richard Bromell. “There were plenty of buyers in the room, many of whom had stayed overnight and one even flew in from Ireland, but it was the internet buzzing with bids from across the UK, Isle of Man, Australia, France, Switzerland, Canada and Austria who fought hard battles to win the medals.”
The collection had been amassed over several years, but the owner who lived near Poole sadly passed away earlier this year.
The top lot was a Naval General Service Medal 1793-1814 with a Trafalgar clasp which took top honours selling for £5,500. Overall, the collection totalled just shy of £230,000 from 294 lots with a staggering average of over £780 per lot.
Richard Bromell and the Charterhouse Team can be contacted for home visits, advice and valuations on single items, collections and complete house contents at The Long Street Salerooms, Sherborne, 01935 812277 or via rb@charterhouse-auction.com
