Medals & Militaria
Here at the medals and militaria department we are busy researching and cataloguing for our upcoming auctions, providing insurance and other types of valuations for medals and militaria collections throughout Scotland and the north of England and helping clients with identifying unknown items held in their own personal collections.
If you have a collection of medals or militaria that you wish to learn more about, have identified and valued, or expertly catalogued and presented for auction then contact our specialist to receive free no obligation professional advice.
The medal and militaria auctions are held eight to ten times a year at our Edinburgh and Carlisle auction rooms and broadcast worldwide online to an international market. The department record for a single lot is the £29,000 achieved in May 2015 for the medals and jambiya of the desert explorer BERTRAM SIDNEY THOMAS OBE CMG (1892-1950). Other stand out results include: £17,000 in June 2018 for a cannon from HMS BOUNTY; £10,200 for a watercolour portrait of Napoleon on his death bed by DENZIL O IBBESTSON achieved in March 2015; £9,500 for the Medals of Crawford Murray MacLehose, Baron MacLehose of Beoch, KT, GBE, KCMG, KCVO, DL (1917-2000) who was the 25th Governor of Hong Kong achieved in November 2019; a single vendor collection of thirty 18th and 19th century regimental shoulder belt plates realised more than £14,000 in August 2015; a single vendor consignment of WWII era binoculars totalled close to £25,000 with the highlights being £8,000 for a pair of Nazi German Carl Zeiss naval binoculars and £7,600 for a Japanese Fuji Meibo pair in August 2017; and right up-to-date we are conducting the sale of a single vendor collection of 1000 uniforms of which around 500 have been auctioned so far which have realised an impressive £40,000 combined, they have been sent all over the world from our auction room in Rosewell near Edinburgh.
You may have heard of Thomson Roddick from advertisements in publications including Token Publishing’s Medal Yearbook, Medal News or the Antiques Trade Gazette, The Scotsman or Scottish Field. If you are social media inclined, and don’t follow us yet, then we are on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook: you can find our social media icons in the footer of the website to start following us. Perhaps you have seen a member of our team on tv recently? We feature regularly on Bargain Hunt, Antiques Road Trip, Dickinson’s Real Deal, Cash in the Attic and the much missed Flog It, or you may have met one of our valuers presenting a talk on antiques to your local group. Tune in to our new television series, The Edinburgh Auction House, following the Scottish team as they travel around the country searching for exciting lots to sell. Starting at 9pm on 10th January 2023 on the Really channel, it's sure to be a great watch!
We like jargon and if you do too then here is some related jargon and other words that you may find in one of our medal and militaria auction catalogues:
Sword Gun Bayonet Revolver Sidearm Blade Hilt Dagger Flintlock Percussion Rifle Medals DCM MC LSGC DSO BWM VM MM WWI WWII Soldiers Regiment Battalion Shako Glengarry Beret Helmet Belt Tunic Dress Button Badge Cap Shoulder Title Belt Plate Sabre Hewer Knife Artwork Ephemera Trench Art Cavalry Infantry Redcoat Boer War Crimea
Gavin Durward Tavendale BSc (Hons) is the head of department and is always happy to conduct free no obligation valuations whether that be in person at the auction room, over email or in the comfort of your own home.
Gavin can be contacted by telephone on 0131 440 2448 or by email edinburgh@thomsonroddick.com.
