The name on the rim
British campaign medals were issued named. From the Waterloo Medal of 1815, the first given to every soldier present, the recipient’s name, rank, number and unit were impressed or engraved on the rim. That naming is why a British medal is researchable, and research is where the value lives. An unnamed medal is a piece of silver; a named one is a person.
Two exceptions to know: Second World War campaign stars and medals were issued unnamed to British forces, and are worth little individually. And a medal whose naming has been erased or re-engraved has lost most of its value, since it can no longer be tied to anyone.
Campaign medals
A campaign medal was given for being there. Value follows the scarcity of the campaign, the unit, and what happened to the recipient.
| Medal | Typical range for a single, named example |
|---|---|
| British War Medal 1914 to 1920 | £20 to £40 |
| Victory Medal 1914 to 1919 | £15 to £30 |
| 1914 Star, with clasp | £60 to £150 |
| 1914 to 15 Star | £20 to £40 |
| Queen’s South Africa Medal, with clasps | £120 to £400 |
| Crimea Medal, with clasps | £200 to £600 |
| Waterloo Medal 1815 | £1,500 to £5,000 and more for cavalry and Guards |
These are illustrative ranges for common regiments. A medal to a casualty, to a man at a famous action, to a cavalry regiment or to an officer moves above them, and the price records show recent hammer prices.
First World War medals: the trio
The most common inheritance is the “trio”: 1914 or 1914 to 15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal to one man. A trio to an infantry private who survived sells for £80 to £150. The same trio to a man killed on the first day of the Somme, or at Gallipoli, or serving with a famous battalion, sells for several times that. A pair of the War and Victory medals without a star is the commonest group of all.
Keep the group together. Splitting a group destroys the value of every piece in it, and the trade will pay more for three medals to one man than for the same three medals to three men.
How the naming should look
Naming style is the first authenticity check a specialist makes, because each campaign was named by a particular method in a particular hand or machine. A medal named in the wrong style for its campaign is a copy, a replacement, or a renamed medal that once belonged to somebody else.
| Medal | How the rim should read |
|---|---|
| Waterloo 1815 | Impressed in large serif capitals, or engraved in running script on some issues |
| Crimea 1854 to 1856 | Issued blank. Regimentally or privately named, so style varies and depth is shallow |
| Indian Mutiny, Abyssinia, Ashanti | Impressed in serif capitals |
| Queen’s and King’s South Africa | Impressed in thin serif capitals, or engraved in running script on some units |
| 1914 Star and 1914 to 15 Star | Impressed in small serif capitals, number then rank then initials then surname then unit |
| British War Medal and Victory Medal | Impressed in large block capitals, deeper and squarer than the stars |
| Second World War stars and medals | Unnamed to British forces. Named to Australian, South African and Indian forces |
Run a fingernail across the naming and look at it under a lamp at an angle. Impressed naming sits below the surface with clean shoulders. A re-engraved rim shows tool marks, uneven letter spacing, and a rim that has been filed flat and reduced in thickness. Weigh the medal if the rim looks thin: silver campaign medals have published weights, and a renamed medal has lost metal. The National Archives medal records hold the rolls that say what naming a given medal should carry.
Second World War medals
Eight stars and nine clasps had been instituted by May 1945. The Arctic Star and the Bomber Command Clasp were added on 26 February 2013, nearly seventy years late, and are the only ones a family can still apply for. Nobody could be awarded more than six stars, because five of the clasps stood for service that would otherwise have earned a second star.
| Award | Given for |
|---|---|
| 1939 to 1945 Star | Six months of operational service. Clasp: Battle of Britain, or Bomber Command from 2013 |
| Atlantic Star | Six months in the Atlantic or home waters. Clasps: Air Crew Europe, France and Germany |
| Air Crew Europe Star | Operational flying from the United Kingdom over Europe. Clasps: Atlantic, France and Germany |
| Africa Star | Service in North Africa. Clasps: North Africa 1942 to 43, 8th Army, 1st Army |
| Pacific Star | Service in the Pacific theatre. Clasp: Burma |
| Burma Star | Service in the Burma campaign. Clasp: Pacific |
| Italy Star | Service in the Italian campaign. No clasp |
| France and Germany Star | Service in north west Europe from 6 June 1944. Clasp: Atlantic |
| Arctic Star, 2013 | Service north of the Arctic Circle. No clasp |
| Defence Medal | Non-operational service, including the Home Guard and civil defence |
| War Medal 1939 to 1945 | 28 days of full-time service in the forces or Merchant Navy |
A single star sells for £10 to £25 and a group of four or five for £40 to £80. Those are illustrative figures for unnamed British issues, and they rise only when something ties the group to a man: the named card box of issue, the slip of paper that came with them, a service record, a photograph in uniform. The Air Crew Europe Star is the scarce one of the eight, and a Battle of Britain clasp on a 1939 to 1945 Star is worth more than every other medal in most boxes put together.
Named awards to Commonwealth forces, gallantry awards, and groups including a Distinguished Flying Cross or a Military Medal are the exceptions, and the research guide explains how to prove the attribution. An unnamed star is identified by its ribbon, whose colours the issuing regulations set out star by star, and how to identify a medal by its ribbon carries them.
Gallantry awards
Medals for a specific act are where prices climb. The Military Medal and Distinguished Conduct Medal for other ranks, the Military Cross and Distinguished Service Order for officers, and the Victoria Cross above all.
A Military Medal group sells for £600 to £2,000 depending on the citation and the action. A DCM group for more. The cross at the top of that list sits in a market of its own, and what a Victoria Cross is worth sets out what the fifty crosses sold at public auction between 2000 and 2011 made, and the £750,000 the record reached in 2022.
Every gallantry award has a citation or a London Gazette entry, and the research guide explains how to find it.
What else comes in the box
The memorial plaque, a bronze disc bearing the name of a man who died with no rank or unit, went to the next of kin of every service death of the Great War. It is worth £100 to £300 alone and far more with his medals. The scroll that accompanied it, printed on parchment with the name and unit, is scarcer than the plaque because paper does not survive lofts.
| Item in the box | What it adds |
|---|---|
| Original named card box of issue | Ties unnamed WW2 medals to a man. Doubles a small group |
| Memorial plaque and scroll | £100 to £300 for the plaque alone; more as part of the group |
| Ribbon bar, riband, original silk | Small, and expected on a complete group |
| Cap badges, shoulder titles, dog tags | Worth keeping with the group rather than selling apart |
| Photographs of the man in uniform | Adds more than its own value by confirming the unit |
| Discharge papers, paybook, service record | The strongest single addition to a common group |
| Miniature medals | A fraction of the full size, worth £5 to £20 a group |
Nothing in that list should be sold separately. A complete group, boxed, with papers and a photograph, makes more than the sum of its parts because the buyer is buying a man rather than a metal disc.
Copies and replacements
Replacement medals were issued to men who lost theirs and carry an R or an impressed mark depending on the period. Modern copies exist for every British medal and are sold openly as copies by reputable dealers; on the secondary market they are sometimes not.
The tells are weight, the depth and crispness of the detail, and the naming style. Cast copies show soft lettering and a grainy surface. A specialist auction house confirms it in a minute and will not charge for the opinion.
Where to sell
Specialist medal auctions are where the money is, because the buyers are collectors of particular regiments, ships and campaigns, and they bid against each other. A general saleroom lots medals in mixed boxes and the same group makes a fraction of the price.
| Route | Suits | What to expect |
|---|---|---|
| Specialist medal auction | Gallantry groups, casualty groups, scarce campaigns, anything above £300 | Best price, catalogued and researched, three to four months |
| General saleroom | Mixed boxes, WW2 groups, militaria with the medals | Quick, local, and lotted in bulk |
| Medal dealer | A single group, a quick sale, a known regiment | An offer on the day, below auction |
| Militaria fair | Small groups and loose singles | Cash, and only worth it for common material |
The selling guide costs a specialist medal auction against a collectables auctioneer at the rates the two houses publish.
Whichever route, photograph the obverse, the reverse and the full rim of every medal before asking anyone for a price. The rim is the part that sets the value and the part nobody photographs. Ask a medal specialist for a free opinion with those photographs; the valuation form reaches one, and the auctions guide is worth reading before you consign anywhere.