Gallipoli VC medal sets auction record
Published July 24th, 2006
Australia’s last privately owned Victoria Cross medal awarded at Gallipoli sold at auction in Sydney, setting a world record price of $1 million.
The medal was purchased by a prominent philanthropic Australian businessman who wished to remain anonymous and who bid over the phone.
Lot 1078 included seven other medals with a combined value of less than $100,000.
The $1 million price tag breaks the record of $595,000 set in 2005 for a medal won by captain Thomas Hardy at Lord Nelson’s victory at Trafalgar in 1805.
The highest price paid previously for a VC was $575,000 in 2004 for a medal awarded to Sergeant Norman C Jackson, a British Royal Air Force pilot during World War II in 1944.
The VC sold was awarded posthumously to New Zealand-born Australian soldier Captain Alfred Shout, It was put up for sale by his grandson, 67-year-old Graham Thomas.
Auctioneer Tim Goodman, of Bonhams and Goodman auction house, told the crowd there were plans for the medal to soon be on public display.
