The E-Sylum:  Volume 9, Number 33, August 13, 2006, Article 14

ORDERS AND MEDALS SOCIETY OF AMERICA MEETS

According to an August 10 story in the Arizona Republic, "The
ballroom at the Doubletree Paradise Valley Resort held the
history of thousands of soldiers, each of their stories encased
in a bit of metal, with some ribbon and tiny engravings almost
too small to read.

More than 200 dealers and collectors converged on the resort Saturday
and Sunday for the annual convention of the Orders and Medals Society
of America. They came equipped with rare collections, some worth
hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Richard McDonald, a full-time dealer from Seattle, presided over a
display of medals awarded to Thomas M. Watt, an American who flew
for the Royal Canadian Air Force in World War II. Watt is best known
to a certain generation (and lovers of classic movies) as "the
Scrounger," a character played by James Garner in the 1963 film The
Great Escape."

"Dealers represented nations from around the world, from Finland to
Japan. Some cases held glittering, bejeweled medals from France and
czarist Russia, but the gems do not necessarily mean they are the
most valued.

James Morton, who co-owns a London agency, reached past the enameled
flourishes of Russian awards to the seemingly plainer Naval General
Service Medal issued in 1848 for actions related to HMS Indefatigable
in 1797. Engraved with the tiniest of words, the medal would sell for
about $60,000."

[Do we have any members of the Orders and Medals Society among us?
Was anyone at the convention?  -Editor]

To read the complete article, see: Full Story

To visit the Orders and Medals Society of America web site: Full Story

  Wayne Homren, Editor

	coinbooks.org Web

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