PREV ARTICLE
NEXT ARTICLE
FULL ISSUE
PREV FULL ISSUE
DOG'S 1945 DICKIN MEDAL SOLD AT AUCTION It's been a while since we've reported news about a Dickin medal. The Dickin Medal for animal gallantry has been awarded to dogs, pigeons, horses and a cat. The winning bidder on a 1945 Dickin medal at a recent Spink auction in central London wanted to remain anonymous. Here's the medal's story from The Telegraph. -Editor  A medal for gallantry awarded to a stray dog who helped recover victims from the rubble of the Blitz fetched £24,250 at auction.The mongrel, called Rip, was awarded a Dickin Medal in 1945 after sniffing out dozens of air raid victims during the blitz. The founder of veterinary charity PDSA, Maria Dickin, began awarding the medals in 1943 to recognise animals which showed "conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty". Rip was found homeless and starving after an air raid in 1940. An air raid warden working at Southill Street Air Raid Patrol in Poplar, east London, adopted the dog and Rip began sniffing out people trapped in the rubble. The warden found the dog, which had no official training, was always on duty, never got in the way and was quick to locate casualties. During the Blitz he helped to find and rescue more than 100 air raid victims. Rip wore the Dickin Medal on his collar for the rest of his life. He died in 1948 and was the first of 12 "supreme animal heroes" to be buried in the PDSA cemetery in Ilford, Essex. To read the complete article, see: (www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/5216457/ Gallantry-medal-given-to-dog-in-Second-World-War-sells-for-24000.html) Wayne Homren, Editor The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org. To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor at this address: whomren@gmail.com To subscribe go to: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum All Rights Reserved. NBS Home Page Contact the NBS webmaster 
|