Medals awarded to Blitz bomb-disposing hero lead Militaria Sale

​Medals were in high demand in Tennants Auctioneers’ Militaria and Ethnographic Sale on March 20, with good results seen for rare medals, and those lots with strong provenance.
By The Newsroom
Published 1st Apr 2024, 08:00 BST
A Second World War George Medal Group of Four, Charles A Halls – sold for £3,600A Second World War George Medal Group of Four, Charles A Halls – sold for £3,600
A Second World War George Medal Group of Four, Charles A Halls – sold for £3,600

The top lot was a Second World War George Medal Group of Four, selling for £3,600 (plus buyer’s premium), which was awarded to A.B. Charles A. Halls and comprised the George Medal (George VI), 1939-45 Star, Atlantic Star and War Medal.

Charles ‘Charlie’ Halls was recognised for his great bravery, having volunteered to work on mine disposal while serving in the Royal Navy in 1942.

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Born in 1922, Charlie joined the Royal Navy aged just 15, and was serving in Aden when war was declared. Following a training course, he was posted to the Admiralty and spent the next 18 months defusing mines on land.

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Napoleon Bonaparte Interest – A Fragment of Red and Yellow Striped Silk sold for £1,100Napoleon Bonaparte Interest – A Fragment of Red and Yellow Striped Silk sold for £1,100
Napoleon Bonaparte Interest – A Fragment of Red and Yellow Striped Silk sold for £1,100

Sea mines, also used by the Germans as land mines, were dropped with a parachute from enemy planes.

These mines, which were eight feet long and weighed one ton, hit the ground at 40 mph acting like a bomb. They were often booby trapped in case they didn’t explode on impact.

It was a skilful and dangerous job to deactivate them. Charlie deactivated 15 mines and was awarded the George Medal for deactivating two very difficult examples, one being at Charing Cross Station.

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Also selling well was a Waterloo Medal 1815 awarded to Thomas Wilding (sold for £2,000), a circa 1975 Republic of Iraq Order of the Two Rivers, First Class Grand Cross, Civil Division (sold for £1,600), and an Indian Mutiny Medal 1857-59, with clasp for the Defence of Lucknow awarded to P. Flemming (sold for £1,600).

Section of a 19th Century West African Divination Bowl, possibly Yoruba – sold for £1,300Section of a 19th Century West African Divination Bowl, possibly Yoruba – sold for £1,300
Section of a 19th Century West African Divination Bowl, possibly Yoruba – sold for £1,300

An Arctic Medal 1818-1855 sold for £1,100, an Honourable East India Company Seringapatam Medal 1808 for £800, and a collection of Polish Medals and Badges for £950.

A scrap of red and yellow striped silk thought to be from a bed in which Napoleon Bonaparte slept, sold for £1,100 against an estimate of £100-150.

An accompanying card, which belonged to Achille Souquet, Vice-Consul of Denmark and the Netherlands, stated that Napoleon slept in the bed from which the silk was taken between June 1803 and June 1804 outside the camp established at Boulogne and Etaples for the embarkation of the armed fleet on the banks of the River Liane and Canache, prior to the planned invasion of England.

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A Pair of 19th Century Dutch Bronze Signal or Salute Cannons in 17th Century Style sold for £3,200, a George III Long Sea Service Flintlock Pistol for £1,200, and a rare Anti-Garotte Folding Knife by Unwin and Rodgers of Sheffield sold for £750.

Finally, among Ethnographica in the sale, was a 19th Century West African Divination Bowl, possibly originating with the Yoruba people, which sold for £1,300.

The sale achieved a total hammer price of £77,810 for the 303 lots with an 84 per cent selling rate.