A group of medals belonging to Wing Commander William Anderson Beaumont of the RAF, RAAF and ROC, topped Tennants Auctioneers’ Militaria & Ethnographica Sale on the 21st September, when they sold for £2,500 (all figures, exclude buyer’s premium) against an estimate of £800-1,200. The lot comprised a group of medals including the Ordinary Companion of the Order of the Bath (Civil Division) neck badge, OBE Breast Badge (Military) and Burma Star, as well as a logbook, Beaumont’s badges and membership cards for the Caterpillar Club and Goldfish Club, and a crest badge of Christ Church, Oxford, his alma mater. While flying on 2nd September 1945 to drop supplies to a POW camp, Wing Commander Beaumont and his crew were forced to bale out of their damaged Liberator aircraft. Beaumont was missing in the jungle for four days, surviving by perching on a platform he had built to raise himself above the flood waters of the Ganges Delta. He had no food but drank rainwater dripping from the leaves. He was rescued after spending four days and nights in the jungle. Beaumont later in life became the Speaker’s Secretary.
Following the success of the Beaumont group, a group consisting of a pair of Second World War German U-boat 7X50 binoculars by Carl Zeiss, a pair of 20X45 binoculars by Lieberman & Goertz, and two Second World War German badges sold for £1,200, having been offered at an estimate of £500-700.
A series of swords proved strong in the sale, such as a 19th Century Omani Khanjar with a Moroccan Jambiya (sold for £1,900), three late 19th century Nepalese Kukris (sold for £1,700), and a 19th Century Omani Kattara (sold for £1,100). Of interest, a Jellalabad Medal (1st issue), 1842 sold particularly well at £850. With its striking watered pattern ribbon of red, white, yellow, white, and blue, as with most campaign medals issued by the East India Company, this medal was awarded to soldiers who were present at the Battle of Jellalabad, a key event in the First Afghan War. The first issue of this medal with its simplistic obverse design of a mural crown is curious, since it is part of a small collection of medals issued before the Jellalabad Medal was officially redesigned by William Wyon of the Royal Mint in London – the second version of the medal’s observe features a bust of Queen Victoria and the reverse, Victory in flight with the Union Jack. A group consisting of a Sultanate of Oman Rhinoceros Hide Buckler, a Sultanate of Oman Coconut Shell Powder Flask, and two Sultanate of Oman Powder Flasks, sold well at £1,200.
The sale also included an extensive collection of police memorabilia comprising of a rare Rutland County Constabulary Police Chief Constable Alan Bond's Cap Badge (sold for £450), a Rutland County Police Helmet Plate (sold for £700), and a Victorian Royal Irish Constabulary belt buckle front plate (sold for £500). These strong figures are testimony to the loyal following that such police memorabilia attracts at Tennants.
