Medals of Unremitting R.A.F. Hero go under the hammer

Posted by ricey on April 11, 2007 9:57 AM

On 19th April 2007 Spink will auction the remarkable and unique Medal Group of Air Chief Sir Basil Embry, which is expected to fetch between £150,000 to £180,000. The sheer scale of his medal group, a total of 18, is truly a feast for the enthusiast’s eyes. They represent innumerable acts of heroism and are a symbol of daring deeds performed by Embry over the course of his spectacular military career. Described as “both charming and rude, prejudiced and broad-minded, pliable and obstinate, dedicated and human. Above all things he was a gallant leader of men.�

Embry Timeline of Events and awards:

· 28 February 1902 –Born in Barnwood, Gloucester and educated at Bromsgrove School, Worcestershire.

· March 1921- Commissioned Pilot Officer, Royal Air Force

· August 1922 – Served for five years in Iraq, the majority of this time was spent piloting an Air Ambulance –on one occasion he had to transport a serviceman suffering from the plague!

· January 1926 – As a result of his service in Iraq he received the Air Force Cross, the first of many awards to follow during his glittering career.

· October 1937 – After several more years service in India and subsequent promotions he received the first of his four D.S.O.s for inflicting heavy casualties on the enemy and exceptional flying ability.

· September 1939 – In command of No.107 Squadron at R.A.F. Wattisham, a Blenheim bomber unit, which had already begun operations and suffered casualties. On 25 September Embry led a formation of three Blenheims on a reconnaissance mission to Germany. They were attacked by German fighters and Embry’s aircraft suffered serious damage to wings and fuselage. He carried out a one-wheel landing on reaching Wattisham.

· With the German campaign in full swing Embry’s Squadron, detached to Scotland, carried out ten raids in eight days on the airfield Stavanager in treacherous weather conditions resulting in frostbite for Embry and the award of his first bar to his D.S.O.

· 10 May 1940, the German blitzkrieg invasion of the Low Countries erupted and Embry and his crews were in the thick of the battle to stem the German advance, each crew flying two or three sorties daily across the Channel to France. His leadership and personal gallantry at this time resulted in the award of a second bar to his D.S.O.

· 26 May 1940 – Due to the tremendous workload of flying missions that Embry had taken upon himself to lead, he was ordered to take a ‘back seat’ and given command of R.A.F. West Raynham with promotion to Group Captain. He could not resist, however, one last hurrah before relinquishing command. The next day he led his Squadron for the last time in an attack on German troops advancing on Dunkirk. His aircraft received a direct hit, killing the air gunner and sending the aircraft out of control. He and his navigator bailed out and Embry landed behind enemy lines near St Omer. He was captured by the Germans and marched away to a POW camp. En route he saw a road sign “Embry, 3 km,� which he took as a good omen. He rolled down a bank and successfully escaped and evaded the Germans for two months eventually making his way through France and Spain to Gibraltar. Nine weeks and five days after bailing out of his aircraft, Embry stepped ashore in the UK.

· After a brief flirtation with fighter command and a secondment to the Desert Air Force in North Africa, Embry was appointed Acting Air Vice Marshal with command initially of some 10 squadrons operating a variety of aircrafts.

· 18 February 1944 - Operation Jericho, the Mosquitoes attacked Amiens prison and liberated hundreds of French patriots, many under sentence of death by the Gestapo. Whilst Embry planned this raid, he was ordered by higher authority not to participate. Although, Embry did take part in several other equally successful precision attacks, often under the pseudonym ‘Wing Commander Smith,’ including on the Gestapo Headquarters in Aarhus, Copenhagen and Odense.

· 1945 – First peacetime appointment as Director General of Training

· 1947 – Promoted to Air Vice Marshal

· For the following four years he was an Air Officer Commanding-In-Chief, Fighter Command from April 1949 to April 1953, with the rank of Air Marshal from January 1951, and he was a representative of the R.A.F. both at the funeral of King George VI, and the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.

· July 1953 - Appointed to N.A.T.O. as Commander-In-Chief, Allied Air Forces Central Europe and was promoted to his final rank of Air Chief Marshal that December.

· February 1956 - Embry left his post at N.A.T.O. after frustrations with trying to revise the attitudes on vital importance of air power.

· April 1956 – Emigrated to New Zealand and wrote an auto-biography covering his experiences of the 35 years that he served, titled Mission Accomplished. He later moved to Western Australia where he took up farming and established a thriving farm out in the bush.

· 8 December 1977 – Air Chief Marshal Sir Basil Embry dies.

Thanks to Spink for this press release.

Update 19th April 2007

Today Spink auctioned the remarkable and unique Medal Group of Air Chief Sir Basil Embry. After an intense bidding battle the group was sold to Michael Naxton, an agent, for £155,350.

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RUSSIA AND ENGLAND GO HEAD TO HEAD AT SPINK

Posted by ricey on March 29, 2007 4:11 PM

Spink’s auction room saw a bidding frenzy today with the sale of Ancient, English & Foreign Coins & Commemorative Medals. The 448 lot sale brought £580,442 with two coins in particular drawing a great deal of attention.

Lot 228, the Russian, Peter the Great, gold medallic coin of 1702 was fought for by eight bidders, three in the room and five on the phone. In the end the coin sold for £92,400, to Dmitry Markov, of Dmitry Markov Coins and Medals, New York, nearly quadrupling its estimate. Struck from the dies for a Half-Rouble to the weight of 7-Ducats, this coin has a fantastic provenance; from the collections of Count Hutten-Czapski and Grand Duke Mikhailovich, one of Russia’s most famous collectors. It is one of seven specimens known.

Excitement mounted again with Lot 428, the celebrated Vigo Five Guineas of 1703, struck from the gold captured from Spanish ships in Vigo Bay. Several collectors both on the phone and in the room drove the price upwards in an attempt to acquire an important piece of history. The hammer finally fell with an anonymous buyer paying £92,400. Only five other examples of this coin have been offered at auction in Britain in the past 45 years.

Other highlights included:

Lot 230 Russia, Peter III, Gold 10-Roubles, 1762 £29,150

Lot 440 Victoria, Proof Set, 1839 gold 5 Pounds £29,150

Lot 345 Eire, Bronze Penny, 1938 £23,400

Lot 250 U.S.A., 10-Dollars, 1799 £9,600

Lot 343 Eire, Florin, 1943 £9,600

Lot 251 U.S.A. 2 ½ Dollars, 1799 £7,300

Lot 405 Charles I, Crown, Briot’s first milled issue £6,380

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Spink buy brutus denarius, commemorating the murder of julius caesar

Posted by ricey on March 22, 2007 11:39 AM

Only three days after the Ides of March, Spink purchased one of the most famous coins of antiquity- a Brutus silver denarius - on behalf of an American collector. Spink were underbidders in a Swiss sale in 1959 for the same coin which fetched SF 5400. It was purchased this week for €103,500.

The coin commemorates the assassination of Julius Caesar by Brutus. On the obverse of the coin we see the portrait of Brutus and on the reverse the date of the assassination and daggers, the weapons used to carry out the act. Between the two daggers there is a Pileus which symbolizes liberty and clearly suggests the death of Caesar as an act of patriotism.

The coin was minted under the orders of Brutus by a traveling mint in 42BC. It was the equivalent of one day’s wages for his foot soldiers. Around 50 of these coins exist in the world today and only 8 or 9 in private hands.

Brutus’ Denarius is one of very few coins which are noted by Dio Cassius in Roman History: “Brutus stamped upon the coins which were being minted his own likeness and a cap and two daggers, indicating by this and by the inscription that he and Cassius had liberated the fatherland.�

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Spink Acheives unprecedented prices for banknotes of hong kong and China at auction

Posted by ricey on January 20, 2007 1:49 PM

Today London based auction house, Spink, hosted a full house for the Fine Banknotes of Hong Kong and China sale at the Mandarin Oriental in Hong Kong. The auction benefited from a first in the Far East, Spink Live, a live audio/video platform allowing collectors from around the globe to bid as if they were in the room. The result was fantastic with prices soaring to unprecedented levels for Chinese and Hong Kong Banknotes. The sale realized a total of over HK$8 million.

Highlights Included:

Lot 2121, Chartered Mercantile Bank of India, London & China, unissued $25, 18- (c.1958)

Sold for HK$ 782,000

Lot 2032, Hong Kong & Shanghai Banking Corporation, $25, 1 December 1884, serial number 38000)

Sold for HK$ 736,000

Lot 2049, Hong Kong & Shanghai Banking Corporation, specimen $100, 18- (c.1890)

Sold for HK$ 598,000

Lot 1708, Hong Kong & Shanghai Banking Corporation, unissued 50 taels, Shanghai, 18-

Sold for HK$ 448,500

Lot 2033, Hong Kong & Shanghai Banking Corporation, specimen $50, 1 January 1923,

Sold for HK$ 149,500

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Titanic Cover with a tragic tale Sells at Spink for £5,980

Posted by ricey on January 20, 2007 1:43 PM

A recovered postal slip from the Titanic sold at Spink yesterday for £5,980. The piece survived the catastrophic sinking of the Titanic thanks to one man – Oscar Woody, the mail clerk on the ship.

On the evening of the 14th April 1912 Woody and his colleagues took a break from their post room duties to celebrate Woody’s 44th birthday. During the festivities the Titanic collided with a giant iceberg and the post clerks dashed back to the post room only to find it already knee deep in water. Before jumping into icy water Woody did his best to save as much mail from the ship as he could. Oscar Woody was found dead on an iceberg clutching the bag of mail he abandoned ship with.

It is estimated that there were over 3400 bags of mail that sank with the Titanic which would have contained over 7 million letters, registered mail and packages with perhaps over $150,000 in money orders having ended up on the ocean’s floor.

Courtesy of http://www.spink.com

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