Events commemorating the centenary of the First World War have boosted interest in collecting war memorabilia, driving up prices of medals and vintage military equipment.
According to Keith Heddle, the managing director of Stanley Gibbons Investment, the collectibles dealer: “The centenary has added piquancy and that has increased the focus on wartime items, although for most collectors it is something personal or a true historical interest that drives them.”
While dealers and auctioneers warn that you should not rely on an investment return from military memorabilia, it is possible to amass a valuable collection.
Uniforms and equipment
Depending on the insignia and historical provenance, a soldier’s tunic could be worth up to £1,000. According to Boningtons, the auction house, anything that was used to indicate rank and service branch is highly collectible.
“Cap badges have been faked for a long time so you have to identify ones that are genuine,” says Gregory Tong, a military specialist at Boningtons. “Standard-issue badges you can pick up for £5. Ones from the yeomanry and Territorial Army regiments are rarer and could go for between £300 and £500.”
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A short-magazine Lee-Enfield rifle — which for years was the British army’s standard rifle — might be worth about £600 today. However, prices for weaponry have stagnated in recent times, Mr Tong says, with little coming on to the market.
With equipment from the Second World War, the big money is in vintage aircraft, trucks and tanks, says Mr Millensted. “A working M4 Sherman tank would be in excess of £200,000, and a working Spitfire would fetch between £1 million and £1.5 million.”
Medals
You can get into this area of collecting quite cheaply, says John Millensted, the director of coins and medals at Bonhams, the auction house. “A basic First World War pair of medals from the Royal Artillery or one of the Corps could be picked up for £25 or so.”
The ultimate medal for a serious collector is the Victoria Cross, which today would fetch more than £100,000. The key is the citation that goes with it. If it was awarded for a famous action, the price could reach £150,000. In 2009 the Conservative peer Lord Ashcroft purchased the only double VC from the Great War for nearly £1.5 million. (His VC collection is the largest in the world, estimated to be worth £30 million.)
“Undoubtedly value of militaria and medals is directly linked to rarity, and more importantly to the provenance of the recipient,” says Naomi Clarke, a silver expert at Fellows, the auction house. “Value is built layer by layer — which battles did they take part in, what rank and regiment were they in, were they injured in duty, what other medals were they awarded?”
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Last year Bonhams sold the medals awarded to Captain Eric “Winkle” Brown, the celebrated Second World War pilot, including his Distinguished Service Cross and CBE. They were valued at £150,000 to £200,000, and bought by the Fleet Air Arm Museum for an undisclosed sum. Crucially Brown had kept all the relevant documentation for his medals. Mr Millensted says: “With Second World War medals the standard campaign ones for British service people were issued unnamed, so you need as much extra paperwork to establish the story behind them, and for flying medals you need the logbooks.”
Posters, letters and postcards
Original First World War posters are particularly sought after — a copy of the famous recruitment poster featuring Lord Kitchener would fetch between £400 and £600. Smaller posters can be picked up for between £80 and £120.
Personal diaries, letters and postcards that were sent home from the front lines are often worth several hundred pounds, depending on the content and condition. In 2013 Boningtons sold a First World War diary belonging to a British sergeant for £800; in it he recorded Armistice Day and recounted playing football with German soldiers at Christmas.
How to get started
Focus on what you’re interested in. Some people collect by equipment type, or nationality, or a particular theatre of operations, for instance.
Beware of fakes. Investing in speciality books is the best way to familiarise yourself with authenticity and understand the market. You can buy collectors’ reference books online, covering everything from uniforms to weaponry. For medals, Mr Millensted recommends the 2017 Medal Yearbook: “It’s a useful guide as to what prices are, what medals are, and any interesting quirks or features relating to them.” If your aim is to be a serious medal collector, British Battles and Medals is “a bible of information” and a recognised work within auction houses in the trade.
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If you find a wartime item in the attic, for example, or you inherit militaria from a relative and want to find out whether it’s worth something, you should contact a local auction house that specialises in military memorabilia. A full list of auction rooms can be found on the National Association of Valuers and Auctioneers website (nava.org.uk). Contacting regimental museums can also help you to establish the story behind an item.
Visit militaria fairs. You can find out where they take place on sites such as arms-and-armour-uk.com and militaria-history.co.uk/events.