Saving life at sea

Background checks THE Noonans Britannia Medal Fair in May was another successful show, busy but not so busy that I didn’t get a chance to chat with some fellow collectors, which is, after all, half the fun of going to these things! One conversation I was particularly struck by concerned research and it was interesting to hear such opposing viewpoints. In essence, the conversation revolved around what amount of research should accompany a medal on a dealer’s table or at auction, and came about because one collector felt that as the seller had done so much work on the group there was little left for him to do, so he couldn’t see the point in purchasing the medals as he felt that the “fun” had been taken away from owning them. Another collector disagreed; for him, he wanted as much research as possible to accompany his purchases because he wanted to know exactly what he was buying. I was in the middle; I could see both sides but wasn’t really sure with whom I empathised more. On the one hand, I need the basic research to have been done, I collect medals to recipients from Exeter (the jury’s out on whether that truly fulfils my collecting needs, I’m thinking probably not) so I need to at least know the bare bones, but do I want everything else on a plate? Do I need to know all the minute details of his life? Of his military service? Perhaps that depends on the medals themselves. Am I going to want to know more about the recipient of a gallantry group of eight than the recipient of a World War I pair? Probably, but why? Is it simply to justify the price I’ll pay for one over the other? Do I expect the dealer or auctioneer to have done more because I’m handing over £1,000s than they would have for a group for which I’m only paying £40–50? Or is it because they have done so much work that I’m prepared to hand over larger sums? We take it for granted, I think, that a high priced gallantry group will have been researched thoroughly, whereas a humble pair or trio will warrant only a cursory glance at the CWGC website and the MIC, but in the case of the gallantry group do we actually want that much research to accompany our purchase or do we perhaps want there to be something still to discover? Some will say that, for a medal collector, there are few finer feelings than finding out the recipient of the pair you just bought is entitled to a Military Medal or similar, but others might reflect on the fact that they now own a broken group! I must confess to enjoying a certain aspect of research (one of the reasons I decided to sell my Chaplains, apart from needing the cash, was that I knew I’d not done them justice as my research had fallen behind) and being delighted when I find out something hitherto overlooked (I remember once buying a single Victory Medal to a Devonshire Regiment private and then being incredibly excited when I found out he’d been killed on the First Day of the Somme and was buried in the Devonshire Cemetery). But how much of that, I wonder, is down to the financial aspect of things? We know that if we can unearth information that shows our man won a gallantry award, or was a casualty etc., then the medal we own becomes more valuable. Is that the real reason we like to do our own research and don’t like everything laid out for us? I’m playing devil’s advocate here, we will all have our own motives, all have the levels of research already done that we’re happy with and there is no right or wrong answer. Some will like to know exactly what they are buying, others will like a little of bit of mystery. For me, I think it’s somewhere in the middle—if I’m paying big bucks I want to know why, want most of the leg work done already to justify to myself why I’m paying what I am. If I’m buying a plaque or a pair, something that costs a little bit less, then I’m happy to do the work myself, and will always hope I unearth a secret. Where, I wonder, do you stand?