Jump to content

THE most rare US medals, ever...


Bluehawk
 Share

Recommended Posts

Reading a thread about a beautiful US Navy DSC last night, made me want to ask:

 

Which US medals from all our history are considered THE most rare, hard if not practically impossible sometimes, to come by or even to see?

 

There may have been a previous thread of this nature in our ten years of USMF, but if not, just thought I would ask - maybe even see some images of the rarest of the rare?

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah. An Issued MOH would be close!

 

 

-Ski

Found these two medals... Does any private collector actually have either of these?

post-3976-0-95717100-1483459567.jpg

post-3976-0-15050100-1483459606.jpeg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Found these two medals... Does any private collector actually have either of these?

attachicon.gifresized_MeritBadge.jpg

attachicon.gifresized_Unknown.jpeg

 

Going off memory, I believe one of the three original Purple Hearts is in the hands of a collector. One is up at the National Purple Heart Hall of Honor in NY.

 

There are plenty of Medals of Honor in private hands.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Going off memory, I believe one of the three original Purple Hearts is in the hands of a collector.

 

Not to go off topic, but I wonder how the proposed law will affect that one? (if he wanted to sell it and buy a new house)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

-NC-4 full size and miniature

-USMC Brevet medal

-Specially Meritorious Service U.S. Navy Campaign West Indies Medal - Named

-Navy Bailey Medal?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Original Specially Meritorious Service Medal (unnamed) & original West Indies Campaign Medal named to SMSM holder CGM David Hepburn from the USS (TB2) Ericsson.

 

post-15093-0-05709600-1483496383_thumb.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

USMC Brevet for sure...if memory serves, the only ones that reside in collections are replacement types...all 29 awarded are accounted for in museums and families

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

If it is authentic, it would certainly fall into this category. There are some pretty convincing fakes of this unofficial medal.

 

I believe that the original medals were made from a die that broke after less then 100 original medals were struck.

 

would the Faciat Georgius fall into that category?

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I just have a general question. How rare is the Civil War campaign medal? What would be a fair price to pay for one?

 

Jacob

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Jacob: There are many variables to consider regarding these medals....among them are traceability - generally via numbers stamped on the edge & associated issue lists - and thereby to whom they were issued, ribbon type, and which campaigns a recipient may have participated in. I think a nice example of an Army Civil War campaign with numbering from the US Mint (these have "MNo." prefixes) could be acquired for around $125; they very frequently show up on eBay. They are predominantly untraceable because the issue records have not been located but they are official issues. If you are looking for a very good representative Army piece they would definately be the way to go. The price for the ones originally issued to in-service & retired Army - they have "No." prefixed numbers - are considerably more. I cant accurately say how much more those would fetch these days but a WAG is $2500; don't quote me though. Additionally, if the ribbon from which the medal hangs is the first type - flag colors v. blue/grey - it would be worth more since it would be in its "as issued" state. Needless to say if the recipient was, for example, a Medal of Honor winner at Gettysburg, the ante would go up. And lets not forget Desire: it can make us do things we wouldn't normally do (its why there are a flood of wedding chapels in Las Vegas). As far as the sea services: these were always plain numbers but the rules above apply. I've attached an eBay sale for a Navy Civil War campaign. It apparently wasn't traceable since the listing didn't state that. And again: prices are subject to conditions at the time. Now as far as an original Marine Corps Civil War campaign? Not "Priceless" but upwards of $9000 i would suspect.

 

Disclaimer: this talk of prices on medals always irks me; as a young collector i totally resented my hobby being monetarized (sp?) in the early auctions. I would like them to be a lot lower, even free, but long ago i had to face the fact that in the universe which we reside there exists such things as marketplaces which we must accept. I guess the old saying "Such is Life" is appropriate. End of rant.

 

Hope this helps somewhat.

 

.....

 

To relate this post to the original question: i'd say that the rarest obtainable medal would be a Brevet Medal. But it'd have to be documented (as in the Brevet group Roger Sullivan had back in the day).

post-152102-0-98446000-1488564396_thumb.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Jacob: There are many variables to consider regarding these medals....among them are traceability - generally via numbers stamped on the edge & associated issue lists - and thereby to whom they were issued, ribbon type, and which campaigns a recipient may have participated in. I think a nice example of an Army Civil War campaign with numbering from the US Mint (these have "MNo." prefixes) could be acquired for around $125; they very frequently show up on eBay. They are predominantly untraceable because the issue records have not been located but they are official issues. If you are looking for a very good representative Army piece they would definately be the way to go. The price for the ones originally issued to in-service & retired Army - they have "No." prefixed numbers - are considerably more. I cant accurately say how much more those would fetch these days but a WAG is $2500; don't quote me though. Additionally, if the ribbon from which the medal hangs is the first type - flag colors v. blue/grey - it would be worth more since it would be in its "as issued" state. Needless to say if the recipient was, for example, a Medal of Honor winner at Gettysburg, the ante would go up. And lets not forget Desire: it can make us do things we wouldn't normally do (its why there are a flood of wedding chapels in Las Vegas). As far as the sea services: these were always plain numbers but the rules above apply. I've attached an eBay sale for a Navy Civil War campaign. It apparently wasn't traceable since the listing didn't state that. And again: prices are subject to conditions at the time. Now as far as an original Marine Corps Civil War campaign? Not "Priceless" but upwards of $9000 i would suspect.

 

Disclaimer: this talk of prices on medals always irks me; as a young collector i totally resented my hobby being monetarized (sp?) in the early auctions. I would like them to be a lot lower, even free, but long ago i had to face the fact that in the universe which we reside there exists such things as marketplaces which we must accept. I guess the old saying "Such is Life" is appropriate. End of rant.

 

Hope this helps somewhat.

 

.....

 

To relate this post to the original question: i'd say that the rarest obtainable medal would be a Brevet Medal. But it'd have to be documented (as in the Brevet group Roger Sullivan had back in the day).

Thank you so much for the information!

 

Jacob

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...