What is a fair price for a different variety of US medals?

[MCPJSmits]

Hello everyone,

Although I'm a brand new member to this forum, I do have a question already; is there anybody here who can help me out concerning the value of certain US medals? Once a vivid collector of a variety of US military items, I own 4 US medals which I am now considering selling, but since I'm not from the US (and people in The Netherlands recommended this website) I decided to raise the question on this forum.

The 4 medals I'm referring to are;

- US Navy Cross; in "display" case, with ribbon and "civilian ribbon",

- Silver Star medal; in "display" case, with ribbon, "civilian ribbon" and miniature medal,

- Purple Heart; in "display" case, with ribbon, "civilian ribbon" and miniature medal,

- Vietnam War Campaign Medal; in small case with ribbon.

I do have some pictures, but they seem to be too large for my account to upload, if needed I can e-mail these to whoever wants them.

Thank you all in advance!!

Michael

[Paul C]

The price all depends upon the age, condition and if the are named. Pic would help.

[Odulf]

Hi Michael,

You could try to place your pics on an external photo hosting site like Photo Bucket and publish the link on this forum.

Another possibility is reducing the size (with MS Paint) and try again.

Best of luck!

[Paul L Murphy]

Can you explain what you mean by "civilian ribbon" please ? Are you referring to the little metal and enamel lapel badge that comes with the medal set for wear in civilian clothes ?

One of the key factors in the value will be the era of the medals and whether or not they were actually awarded. Hence are there are numbers impressed in the edge of them, are any of them named, and what type of broach they have (these can be used to date them) are all important. If you can get photos posted then we will be better able to help.

Cheers,

Paul

[Chris Liontas]

I agree. More Information is needed. Price varies widely depending on when the medals were awarded. Would love to see them

[Paul R]

Yes... variables such as the type(when it was struck) and whether it is named make a HUGE difference in pricing.

[MCPJSmits]

Hi Michael,

You could try to place your pics on an external photo hosting site like Photo Bucket and publish the link on this forum.

Another possibility is reducing the size (with MS Paint) and try again.

Best of luck!

Thanks, just created an account at Photobucket, uploading as we speak! In the meantime; I do not have any certificates or anything else with names on them, nor are there any names engraved on any of the medals.

[MCPJSmits]

The link to the pics! I guess you want/need to see the backside as well, but I'm not at home at the moment, if there is a need to see these, let me know!

http://photobucket.com/usmedals

[MCPJSmits]

Can you explain what you mean by "civilian ribbon" please ? Are you referring to the little metal and enamel lapel badge that comes with the medal set for wear in civilian clothes ?

That's exactly what I meant Paul, see the images for further details!

[Taz]

Purple Heart; in "display" case, with ribbon, "civilian ribbon" and miniature medal.

[Taz]

Vietnam War Campaign Medal; in small case with ribbon.

[Taz]

US Navy Cross; in "display" case, with ribbon and "civilian ribbon",

[MCPJSmits]

Thanks Taz!

[Taz]

Silver Star medal; in "display" case, with ribbon, "civilian ribbon" and miniature medal,

[Taz]

Hi,

You are welcome, not a big fan of external links, if it's broken the thread becomes rather pointless

Not really anything to add about the prices though, i'll leave that to the experts, age, if they are named and what variation are all important factors though.

Regrads Eddie

[censlenov]

I'll jump in and suggest that a realistic price you could expect to get would be around the $120-150 range. These modern cased sets are really common and i can get them for between $30-50 dollars at local gunshows.

Cheers

Chris

[MCPJSmits]

I'll jump in and suggest that a realistic price you could expect to get would be around the $120-150 range. These modern cased sets are really common and i can get them for between $30-50 dollars at local gunshows.

Cheers

Chris

Thanks Chris, thought so, but since I'm not from the US I might be able to raise the price a little ;-)

[Paul R]

You can raise the price as much as you like... the market will always dictate. Anyway, do any of them have names inscribed onto the back?

[MCPJSmits]

You can raise the price as much as you like... the market will always dictate. Anyway, do any of them have names inscribed onto the back?

Unfortunately, no, none of them have inscriptions on them...

[dmiller8]

I can see that these awards have never been issued, and they're fairly modern, including a miniature medal for later assembly into a medal bar. The Purple Heart looks interesting in that it includes a rosette, where customarily, only the Medal of Honor includes a rosette for wear on civilian clothing. There is a provision in the Stolen Valor Act of 2005 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stolen_Valor_Act_of_2005) which prohibits unauthorized persons, " to wear, buy, sell, barter, trade, or manufacture “any decoration or medal authorized by Congress for the armed forces of the United States...". This should be kept in mind if contemplating sales to buyers in the US.

[Harvey]

@ Paul Murphy-

To my knowledge, it's not a common practice for US medals to be engraved on the back. Usually, this is only done at private expense. I've never seen a US medal that was engraved/stamped on the edge - that seems to be a British practice.