Life...

Thinking about whether to sell your family military medals is a decision which should not be rushed in to. Here are some questions that you should ask yourself before you come to the decision to let your family medals go to the highest bidder. For example 1.’What would my family member say if he/she was still around’? 2.’Are there any other family members who would appreciate them or be upset if I sold them’? 3.’Is the money aspect more important than the memory’? Remember, even though these medals have in all likelyhood been collecting dust in the attic or at the bottom of a drawer somewhere, the difficulties that your family member probably went through to earn those medals is worth far more than the money you can expect to get for selling them. The majority of British war medals, like WW2 medals, will in all likelyhood only be sold for a few pounds each – for many gallantry awards you can expect a figure of £500 – £2000 if these medals are part of a larger group and there is any associated ephemera. Some medals, especially gallantry awards can be worth several thousand or even six figure sums. Most people I speak to will say that the best place for medals is for them to remain with the family, even if, for you they don’t have sentimental value, at some point down the line, maybe your children, or future ancestors further down the line will appreciate them for what they represent. Should you do decide to part with the medals then you will want to make the best price possible for them. There are several price guides available, the best I have found is the Medal Yearbook which is published annually so is always up to date. It may also be worth getting a private valuation from someone more knowledgable on the subject. To get the best price for these medals you should try to sell them directly to the actual collectors themselves because obviously dealers will usually have a profit margin they hope to make when they sell them on again to their customers. Targeting collectors is ideal because, if a medal is along their particular collecting theme they will be prepared to pay top prices, don’t forget, each medal is unique – only one example of each individual medal should have been originally issued and engraved to each recipient (barring any replacement medals they later applied for), therefore if yours is a medal that the collector really needs, then you have the only example in existence! A good place to target the medal collecting community is specific medal auction websites, these are monitored by collectors searching websites for that one missing medal. Finally, please do your research and work out what the medals are likely to achieve at auction, understand that once these medals are sold they probably gone forever. A point of note I should say, if you are currently a member of HM Forces it is illegal to sell your own medals – these remain the property of the Queen until you leave the armed forces. You could also lend them to a regimental museum for display purposes.