An Australian VC up for grabs

[Hyperfocal22]

An Australian VC goes under the hammer this Sunday.

http://www.rippledirect.com.au/ECeS.cfm?e=ct8-m-d6-jlyq1t

It is the last item listed.

It was awarded to Private John William Alexander Jackson 17th Battion AIF

His citation is as follows;

On the night of 25-26 June Jackson was one of eighty-two Australian raiders who entered the German trenches. Engineers with the party blew up two bomb stores and five minutes later the party withdrew after causing considerable havoc, but as they crossed no man?s land they suffered casualties from enemy artillery fire. Jackson got back to his lines safely, handed over a prisoner, and immediately went back out into the heavy shell fire to assist in bringing in one of the thirteen wounded. He went out again and was assisting a sergeant to bring in another wounded man when his arm was blown off and the sergeant was knocked unconscious. Despite his terrible wounds Jackson returned to his lines and got assistance, then went out again to search for the sergeant and the wounded man he had been helping in. One of the men was located and escorted to safety and Jackson was then dispatched for treatment. His arm was amputated.

I may be a couple out, but by my calculation there are now only 22 Australian VC's in private hands while the rest are in the Public domain most being found at the Australian War Memorial while 3 are on display overseas (one in the UK and two in New Zealand).

Does anyone have a accurate breakdown of where they all are?

[David S]

Here's the bar

Ironically the auction is on 11 Nov

[Ed_Haynes]

Thanks for adding the image, for the record(s). While perhaps over-cleaned (by the recipient?), this is a nice 'un. In all likelihood, it will wind up in Canberra, either by auction or by legal intervention.

[David S]

Tis a very nice bar

Let's hope it stays down under rather than added to the collection of Lord Ashcan as he has more than enough already

The only other military is a WW1 set & book

http://www.bonhamsandgoodman.com.au/lot_de...amp;auction=167

Edited November 10, 2007 by David S

[redcross]

I was undder the impression that

the laws down under would

prevent an export license

from being granted,

so if it is in AU it will stay there

[Paul R]

How many does Lord Ashcan have? Are they viewable by the public, if even in the form of photographs?

[Tiger-pie]

I was undder the impression that

the laws down under would

prevent an export license

from being granted,

so if it is in AU it will stay there

There are no laws to prevent this group from leaving our shores. It was only through the intervention of a wealthy man that has prevented the last two from going OS. Both of them were then donated to the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.

Regards;

Johnsy

[David S]

How many does Lord Ashcan have? Are they viewable by the public, if even in the form of photographs?

Rumor has it that Lord Ashcroft has in excess of 150 VCs

Here's a link I found . . . I was unaware of the books

http://www.lordashcroft.com/vccollection/index.html

Edited November 10, 2007 by David S

[Tiger-pie]

Rumor has it that Lord Ashcroft has in excess of 150 VCs

Here's a link I found . . . I was unaware of the books

http://www.lordashcroft.com/vccollection/index.html

On a recent doco about the VC introduced by Prince Charles, Ashcan's curator spoke about the collection. I guess if you can afford your own curator your not short of a coin.

[Hyperfocal22]

Well in the end it didn't go up for sale.

From the Sydney Morning Herald online;

A rare Victoria Cross that was to be auctioned on Sunday has been withdrawn because of a disagreement over its value between descendants of the digger who received the medal.

The VC belonged to William Jackson, a private with the 17th Battalion in the Australian Imperial Force fighting on the Western Front in France during World War I.

A spokeswoman for auctioneers Bonhams and Goodman said the three siblings of Pte Jackson had had a disagreement and had withdrawn the medal from the Remembrance Day auction.

"We received instructions unacceptable to us and unrealistic for the lot - they had set too high a reserve price," she said.

She said Bonhams and Goodman valued the VC, along with other service medals won by Pte Jackson who had also fought at Gallipoli, in the range of $500,000 to $800,000.

Pte Jackson, at just 18 years old, received the VC in 1916 after his right arm was blown off by an exploding shell while he rescued wounded soldiers in No Man's Land on the battle front.

He had continued rescuing wounded comrades even after losing his arm.

It was to be the third Victoria Cross to have been sold by the auction house in 16 months.

The previous two were sold for $1.2 million and $480,000 to Seven Network chairman Kerry Stokes who donated the medals to the Australian War Memorial on behalf of the RSL.