An important group of Second World War RAF medals awarded to a member of the “Guinea Pig Club” sold for £9,000 in the Militaria and Ethnographica Sale at Tennants Auctioneers on 16th December (all figures exclude buyer’s premium). The lot included the Distinguished Flying Medal, the 1939-45 Star, Air Crew Europe Star, Defence and War Medals, along with a small archive of related material such as Benbow’s flight logbook, Guinea Pig Club badges and ephemera.
The medals were awarded to Flight Sergeant (Air Gunner) James ‘Jimmy’ Benbow, who became a member of the Guinea Pig Club – a group of wartime airmen who received pioneering treatment for burns – after he was the sole survivor when his plane crashed on landing following a bombing raid over Berlin. Having suffered serious burns, Benbow was taken to Queen Victoria Hospital, East Grinstead and was placed under the care of pioneering plastic surgeon Sir Archibald McIndoe. Here, experimental treatments such as skin grafting revolutionised the care of burns patients. However, McIndoe didn’t just try and restore the men’s physical appearance, he encouraged them to return to normal social life and regain confidence, revolutionary in reconstructive medicine at the time.
Many of patients jokingly referred to themselves as ‘guinea pigs’, which led to the establishment of the Guinea Pig Club, a powerful support network and social club for the 649 men who were recipients of the experimental treatment at the hospital. A further interesting medal in the sale, selling for £650, was a King’s Police Medal awarded to Chief Inspector Charles J Faragher for distinguished service.
The sale saw strong bidding for a wide range of cap badges and insignia, many of which came from a good private collection. Notable results were seen for a Quantity of Mainly Second World War Cloth Insignia that sold for ten times the bottom estimate at £3,000, a Collection of Two Hundred and Thirty Late 19th/Early 20th Century British Regimental Badges that sold for £1,600, and a George V Officer’s Silver Pouch Belt Plate to the 3rd Gurkha Rifles (Queen Alexandra’s Own) that sold for £700.
Highlights of the militaria section of the sale were led by a Pair of Second World War German D.F. 10x80 Luftwaffe Flak Artillery Binoculars made by Joseph Schneider (sold for £1,600), a Second World War British Parachute Regiment Maroon Beret made by Kangol (sold for £1,400) and set of Mid-19th Century Medallion Portraits with Anglo-Sikh War (1845-1846) interest (sold for £550).
An Early 17th Century Hounslow Rapier, made circa 1629-40 by Clemens Meigenn, one of the cutlers at the Hounslow sword factory who had been recruited by King Charles I from Solingen in Germany, a centre of excellence for blade making sold for £750, and in a good offering of firearms a Pair of Early 19th Century Percussion Duelling Pistols by Osborn & Gunby, a well-known Birmingham maker sold for £3,000. The pistols are sold with a letter to The Right Honourable Lord Middleton of Birdsall House from the York gunsmiths Thomas Horsley & Son discussing the pistols’ restoration. Selling well, too, at £2,000 were a Pair of Early 19th Century Percussion Duelling Pistols by Thomas Gill of London.
The sale achieved a total hammer price of £76,710 for 299 lots and an 88% sold rate.
View Results
