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Post by pow1988 on Jul 22, 2007 8:12:19 GMT
While reading on this forum I have discovered that many VC's have been sold for a heck of a lot of money. Do you members agree with this common practice?
Lynz ;D
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Post by Les on Jul 22, 2007 14:45:32 GMT
If you went back to the 1970's & 1980's, VCs were sold for around £20,000-£40,000, depending on the man and the action. Nowadays a minimum of £100,000 is generally accepted. My personal opinion is that although the medal is made from next to worthless metal, once issued for gallantry is almost priceless. That's not to take anything away from other gallantry medals such as the MC, DSO, MM etc...
Many men were "put up" for the VC, but got a lesser grade medal as the action in which they were involved had to meet several criteria and they didn't quite cover all of them.
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Post by anthony on Feb 4, 2008 9:42:03 GMT
In the 120 years between 1881 and 2000, at least 311 Victoria Crosses were publicly auctioned. The highest price to 2000 was 125,800 pounds and the lowest was 3 pounds in 1889. Many othere would have been privately sold, In other words there is a very long tradition of putting Victoriaes up for sale.
Millions of soldiers have been awarded medals over the last 200 years and medal collectors have created a market that preserves medals. Not every veteran is fortunate enough to have a family member or someone else who would care about his medals. Having a monetary value on military medals does not detract from the honour gained by the serviceman but does mean they are less likely to be thrown out with the rubbish when he is gone.
It should be remembered that many of the Victoria Crosses now held in public institutions were donated by collectors who bought the medals and so saved them for the nation.
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Pete
Corporal
Posts: 17
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Post by Pete on Apr 15, 2008 16:05:56 GMT
Lynz,
I am a great great grandson of Daniel Cambridge VC. I'm in favour of Victoria Crosses and all other medals and orders being on display, more so if there was some supreme act of derring-do involved in the winning.
Danny's Cross would not have come to me if it had stayed in the family as I descend from one of his daughters, and not one of his sons. And how I wish it had - but it would be impossible for all of his descendants to time-share his medals.
In life everything has always had a value and this inevitably leads to many things being sold, including medals. Victoria Crosses have been sold for many reasons least of all Danny's, which after 150 years is now on display for the world to see in its rightful place in the Medal Room at the Royal Artillery Museum, Woolwich. And not lost to the world rotting in a tin below some forgotten cellar of a house which has perhaps already been bulldozed in the name of progress.
Pete
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Post by cliff on Dec 16, 2008 15:55:12 GMT
I suspect that the original question has to do with the idea of someone other than the awardee hocking the medal for personal monetary gain. I would find this reprehensible depending on the circumstances. However, as Anthony and Pete point out, it is probably the sale of VCs that has helped to bring many of them out of obscurity. Pete's imagery of a medal in a tin container in the cellar of a house that has been bull-dozed in the name of progress is vivid and saddening.
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