Boldon Auction Galleries

Boldon Auction Galleries are delighted to be offering for auction the following fantastic items.

The lots will be for sale in our upcoming Antiques and Interiors Sale on Wednesday 11^th May 

 

Military Cross, awarded to

Lieutenant G.S. Bird

On March 24th 1920,

For actions at the Somme, March 1918

A little bit of history of the Military Cross

Since 28th December 1914 the third-level military decoration, The Military Cross (MC) has been awarded to officers of the British Armed Forces. In 1993 a review of the honours system saw the award granted to other ranks of the British Armed Forces.  The Military Cross is granted for “an act or acts of exemplary gallantry during active operations against the enemy on land to all members, of any rank in Our Armed Forces”. Since 1979 the award can be granted posthumously along with a number of other military awards.

A little bit of battle history

The First Battle of the Somme, 1918, was officially named by the British Battles Nomenclature Committee due to much of the ground being fought over being wilderness left from the 1916 Battle of the Somme.  The battle saw the beginning of the end of the First World War when the offensive failed. Although reinforcements arrived in France from the United States of America to give aid and replace the Entente casualties, the German Army were already unable to recover from their losses. The offensive known as Operation Michael were unable to achieve their aim and the German advance was reversed in the Allied Hundred Days Offensive in the Second Battle for Somme 1918.

Operation Michael began its Spring offensive on 21st March 1918, it was a First World War German military operation; launching from the Hindenburg Line, in the vicinity of Saint-Quentin, France. Once they had broken through Allied lines, they aimed to advance north-west and seize the Channel ports, hoping to drive the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) into the sea. Ludendorff however made a change to this plan and two days later pushed for an offensive due west, along the whole of the British front north of the River Somme. His intention was to separate the British and French Armies, crushing the British forces into the sea. At Villers-Bretonneux, the offensive came to an end, the Entente were able to stop the German advance east of the Allied communications centre at Amiens; having suffered many casualties at this point the German armies were unable to continue supplying the advancing troops.

A very rare and stylish 1930’s enamel and chrome Bahamas Automobile club badge, with enamelled crown motif, and central detail of a galleon at sea with legend, ‘Expulsis-Piratis-Resti-Tuta-Commercia’, translating to ‘Pirates Expelled – Commerce Restored’.