REVIEW: NAVAL MEDALS FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE LATE JASON PILALAS (Pt.1) 23 JULY

The landmark Jason Pilalas collection more than lived up to its reputation, with all 250 lots selling for a combined hammer total of more than £1.8 million.

As expected, the stand-out consignment of this white glove auction proved to be the Great War Victoria Cross group awarded to Captain H.P. Ritchie for his gallant command of H.M.S. Goliath’s steam pinnace at Dar-Es-Salaam on 28 November 1914. It was the Royal Navy’s first VC of the Great War and sold here for £240,000.

Severely wounded several times Ritchie remained in post, inspiring all by his example, until, at his eighth wound, he became unconscious. “The interval between his first and last severe wound was between twenty and twenty-five minutes,” the London Gazette noted.

Other notable successes among the many highlights include the unique and poignant Second War bomb and mine disposal G.C., D.S.C. group of ten awarded to Lieutenant-Commander W. E. Hiscock, Royal Navy.

In his capacity as Controlled Mining Officer at H.M.S. St. Angelo, Malta, Hiscock dealt with no fewer than 125 ‘incidents’ at the height of the island’s siege, among them an ‘Italian torpedo machine’ and other unknown types of ordnance: in dismantling the former, which contained a 650lb. high explosive charge fitted with four firing devices and a time fuse, the clock mechanism whirred into action, but Hiscock calmly neutralised the device nonetheless.

Tragically, he and his wife were killed in a bombing raid on Valetta in February 1942, just a few days after the announcement of his award of the G.C. Expected to fetch £80,000-120,000, it sold for £140,000.

The Naval Gold Medal awarded to Vice-Admiral Sir William Mitchell K.C.B., who commanded H.M.S. Isis at the Battle of Camperdown on 11 October, 1797, also stood out. A major naval action fought against the Batavian Navy, it was the most significant action between the British and Dutch during the French Revolutionary Wars. It sold for a top-estimate £40,000.

The magnificent and unique C.B. K.H. Napoleonic War Group of five awarded to Colonel Sir john Morillyon Wilson, of the 1st Foot was another strong performer. Later the major of Chelsea Hospital, Wilson was wounded a total of 13 times during his service in the Royal Navy and the Army, in the Peninsula and in North America where he was desperately wounded at the battle of Chippewa, his life saved by a native American woman before he was taken prisoner. Hoping to fetch £24,000-28,000, the final hammer price was £36,000.