Ever wondered what that dusty tin in the attic is worth? Or considered investing in a set of special medals? Roy Butler, the
Antiques Roadshow
’s militaria expert, offers a beginner’s guide to military collectibles
The day I caught the militaria bug is as clear as to me as yesterday. I was eight years old, walking to school with one eye on the gutter, looking for empty Players cigarette packets – we all wanted the cards. We’d gone through the boring wildflowers and film stars, and I picked up this one packet by a lamp-post in Epsom. Inside was a picture of a Highland bonnet – Black Watch – and I just thought ‘Wow’.
Picking up that card changed my world, and militaria has become my life’s passion.
I still have the full set of cards, and today I own two of the helmets that the artist used to illustrate them.
Everyone’s motivations for collecting are different. Some people collect because their father or grandfather was in the forces, or because they have a link with a particular regiment. But whatever the reason, and whatever the item, the golden rules remain the same:
Condition
If you’re collecting for investment, rather than personal reasons, or if you want to pass your collection on to your heirs, don’t waste your money – you must go for condition. If you’ve got a gun and some of the parts have been replaced, or a sword that’s a bit rusty, it just dives in value.
Buying items in good condition won’t just cost you a little more, it’ll cost you a lot more – but it’s worth it in the long run. I’ve turned down helmets many times because they’ve been crushed a bit, or the peaks have been restitched. If you build a collection on junk, then one day all you or your heirs will have is junk. It’s as simple as that.
Provenance
Value can rocket if an item is historic and associated with a particular personality. If you had something that belonged to Wellington or Churchill personally – and the papers to prove it – or if you had a sword with an engraving naming its owner and a famous deed they had performed, then that would make a huge difference to the piece’s value.
People often bring in items and tell me lovely stories – and I’m sure half of them are true. But you can’t sell a story by auction. As an auctioneer, you can say, ‘Vendor states that this item was in his family and belonged to his brother-in-law, who slept with so-and-so’, but it’s just a family story unless you can prove it.
Once I was brought a helmet worn in the Heavy Brigade charge that took place a few hours before the famously disastrous Charge of the Light Brigade in the Crimean War. There was a letter with this helmet, from its original owner, that said: ‘Dear Bob, you always enjoyed looking at my old pot. I’m getting of an age now where I won’t be able to keep it much longer, so I’m going to give it to you. Signed...’ Now that’s what we call good provenance.
