The Arctic Star

[Birkie94]

Hi guys, How much is a Royal Mint issue Arctic Star worth? And does anyone know how many ace stars were awarded? Thanks! 

[Claudius]

I honestly don't know how much it is worth.  They are obviously worth quite a lot to the veterans of the conflict that asked for their issuance for nearly 70 years until they were finally issued in early 2013.  

I believe it was the intention to award the Arctic Star to the approximately 400 remaining living veterans (in 2013) and to others posthumously.

I have not seen one for sale, but if the other WWII stars are any indication...around $50.  Maybe more because it is a "newer" medal to the collecting community.  Maybe less because it came out in 2013 and are not (yet) engraved to the recipient.

[Alex K]

Hi Claudius is right, the value of attributable pieces with known provenance will depend on many factors, person, action etc, lone unattributable examples, not a great deal, less than many may realise it seems, attached is a link which many give you a dealer perspective.

http://www.hillmilitarymedals.co.uk/british-military-medals/

 

regards

 

Alex K

 

Edited October 22, 2016 by Alex K

[peter monahan]

Sounds as if we're talking a rather small total of authorized issues but, as Alex says, provenance will be key here and an unnamed issue or one with a spurious or incomplete pedigree will bring far less than one verifiably issued to a verteran of the Arctic convoys.

I'm old enough to remember when the first Falklands conflict GSMs appeared in toronto, Canada, the two I sawe complete with hand written notes suggesting they'd been bought in a pub in Liverpool the day the QE2 docked there with a load of Royal Marines aboard.  I take no position on how likely that was to be true, but I do know tat the Mint quite quickly started stamping '"replacement" on the re-issued medlas, as so many were being 'lost' by serving soldiers.  I also seem to recall that a number were lost by one of the Guards battalions on Buck House duty, as the suspenders weren't up to the repeated stamping and clashing produced by such use.  

So, a question with no simple answer!