Sir W.F. Miller. British medals are service during Victorian era and WW1

[doverrog]

I've got more medals than I realised so I will post more pictures.
Any help or information about them would be very welcome.
A couple I believe I've identified as you will see in the pictures.
Please bare with me for several posts as I have a few photos to post.

[doverrog]

Some more

[doverrog]

More details from the Star above including inscription.
Some medal ribbons which have become detached from above medals and I don't know which goes with which.
A single case and the medals on the bar in their case.
If you can help with anything about these medals it would great to know about them.
Thanks in advance.

[philipsearching]

To start things off:

Your uploaded picture M3 - left image
British War medal  (1914-18) with correct ribbon
British War medal  (1914-18) with wrong ribbon (ribbon is for the Cape of Good Hope general service medal)
Victory medal (1919) with correct ribbon
Victory medal (1919) with wrong ribbon (ribbon is for the Queen's South Africa medal)

Your uploaded picture M3 - right image
1914 (or 1914-15) Star with correct ribbon
Cape of Good Hope general service medal 1900
Queen's South Africa medal
British War medal  (1914-18)


Incidentally, the National Archive copied Medal Index Cards 6 to a page - they have sent you one page containing images of cards for six different people!

All the best
Philip

[philipsearching]

Hopefully you should be able to match the loose ribbons to their medals (and correct the mismatches I raised in my previous post:

Cape of Good Hope general service medal 1900 - equal vertical stripes - blue/black, yellow, blue/black
Queen's South Africa medal - unequal vertical stripes - wide orange centre, narrow black, red edge
1914-15 Star - equal vertical stripes - red, white, blue
British War Medal - unequal vertical stripes - wide orange centre, narrow white, narrow black, narrow blue edge
Victory medal - vertical stripes - rainbow effect

The medals should have a name inscribed on the rim which will enable you to sort them into "who got what" groups.

I haven't yet identified the two ribbons on the bar but I am working on it.

[philipsearching]

re the 1914-15 Star for Corporal T S A Miller.  The abbreviation below the name stands for the 2nd Light Horse regiment of the Australian Imperial Forces.  To the best of my knowledge this regiment served in Gallipoli and Palestine fighting against the Ottoman Empire (Turkey).

All the best
Philip

[philipsearching]

The two medal ribbons on the bar in your image M9 are for medals issued by the United States of America:
(left) Army good conduct medal - vertical stripes varying widths red and white
(right) European-African-Middle Eastern campaign medal - vertical stripes varying widths red, green, grey, black and white (for 1942-45, issued in 1947)


The two medals on the left in picture M5 are:
Queen's South Africa medal, with Cape Colony clasp (1899-1902)
Cape of Good Hope general service medal with Bechuanaland clasp (1896-97)

[doverrog]

Many thanks for all the information philipsearching. I can now match up the ribbons.
I'm surprised at the variety of where and when they were awarded. For example the American  and Australian medals. It seems they may have been awarded to different people. They also cover a large span of years and locations from South Africa to Europe and Asia.
After your initial reply I have been looking into the medical area, but it seems I have a variety of medals awarded for "conventional" soldiering as well.
From what you've been kind enough to tell me so far, I imagine that the "Pip, Squeek and Wilfred" ones are fairly common, but you said you think that the "collection of four medals on the bar is worth from £300 upwards (probably at least £500 depending on interest)". Do you think any of the others would be valuable, especially as I seem to have some cases for some?

[philipsearching]

Greetings.

It is difficult to put an accurate value on medals because much depends on the rank or fame of the person to whom they were issued and whether or not that person was killed in a famous action (for example a medal trio for a soldier killed on the first day of the battle of the Somme, or a seaman killed at the battle of Jutland, or an airman shot down by Baron von Richthofen).  Medals for Sir W F Miller would, because of the knighthood, be rarer and more valuable than the same medals issued to Corporal Miller.  Sets of medals issued to one person are worth more than the combined value of single medals.  Original cases also add value.  Rarity (of either the medal, the clasp, the set, or the regiment) is also a factor.

To get an idea of medal values I suggest you look at a specialist website (such as http://www.british-medals.co.uk/ or http://www.liverpoolmedals.com/) and an online auction site (such as e-bay).

Very approximately the lowest values are:
Indian mutiny medal (with no clasps) £200
British South Africa Company medal (with no clasps) £450
Queen's South Africa medal (with no clasps) £90
Cape of Good Hope general service medal (with no clasps) £150
1914-15 Star £30
British war medal £18
Victory medal £18
British war medal and Victory medal pair £45
British WW1 medal trio £100
US ribbon pair on bar £5
Bear in mind that these are the lowest values and that the value could be multiplied by 2 or more times depending on historical interest.

Personally, I do hope that the medals remain in the family (I was very upset when I learned that my Dad had pawned his medals so they are lost to the family!), but if they must be sold their value would be increased by having documents to go with them (service records, obituaries, photographs etc.)

All the best
Philip