Chatting this morning about the acquisition of Richard Todds beret for the Airborne Forces museum.
I had a long chat with Richard in 2008 when the museum moved up to Duxford from Aldershot, and I am sure we spoke about his smock and beret used in WW2 at Pegasus Bridge and also in the 1962 film Longest Day where he played Major John Howard who took the bridge in the most daring glider operation of the war. The precision was outstanding.
Sadly a year later in 2009 Richard died aged 90. A sad loss.
Sadly, unless the auction winner donates it to us at the museum, we can't raise those types of funds!
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'Tonight my men and I have been through hell and back again, but the look on your faces when we let you out of the hall - we'd do it all again tomorrow.' Major Chris Keeble's words to Goose Green villagers on 29th May 1982 - 2 PARA
'Tonight my men and I have been through hell and back again, but the look on your faces when we let you out of the hall - we'd do it all again tomorrow.' Major Chris Keeble's words to Goose Green villagers on 29th May 1982 - 2 PARA
Agreed...............if he had signed a piece of paper to say it was his and as provenance before he died or supplied definitive proof of it through holes identification it might be worth that to a collector I suppose.
I have two old berets I could say anything about and put a value on them, so whats to say this isn't somebody elses beret being put up. Real value up to £500 on a good day.
Shame on the guy not looking at Richards Regimental Museum first, rather than trying to make a profit from a house clearance IMHO!!
'Tonight my men and I have been through hell and back again, but the look on your faces when we let you out of the hall - we'd do it all again tomorrow.' Major Chris Keeble's words to Goose Green villagers on 29th May 1982 - 2 PARA
If house clearance is his business then, of course, he needs to make money to live.
A great number, probably most, military museums have vast swathes of undisplayed exhibits, donated from well wishing relatives, only for the artefacts never to see light of day.
Hardly any Victoria Crosses in museums are the real one, normally replaced by a copy because of insurance purposes, whilst the original languishes in a safe 'out the back'.
Even articles 'loaned' to museums have been sold off when relocating or closing down and the relatives only finding out when the auction occurs, if at all.
I am sure the Airborne Museum would have proudly displayed the beret, but in this day and age, having it gifted by someone with no family connection is an unrealistic expectation.
The real question is, did he not have family ? Was there nobody who wanted to keep it in the family, or did they just want the house emptied, sold and divided.....................................
Quite true, in recent years the Royal Ontario Museum In Toronto put a large number of firearms in their collection up for sale, not to collectors but to museums outside Ontario. The estimated value was $300,000 dollars. A small museum in the west were offered the arms and were given a certain amount of time to raise the funds but were unable to raise them. At the expiry date they had only raised $15,000 , a gift from a gun collecting association in Alberta. The ROM let them have them for the 15g's and they were shipped west with the stipulation they could not be sold to the public. These arms that had been loaned and or gifted to the museum over the years left the province of Ontario for their new home in the west. To keep a long story short the recipient museum folded and the guns were dealt away into private hands secretly. And that my friends has been the fate of many artifacts. The Beret truly belongs in the regimental museum but if and when it does papers should be drawn up to ensure it remains there by the donor. Donated items become the property of museums and can become deaccessioned at their discretion.
Roy,
We have all our Regimental Victoria Crosses in a safe. As you say the copies are on show behind glass.
This guy is not playing the historic game, he needs to make money out of what normally is rubbish to many. Someone happened to mention whose house it was and Bobs your uncle, he's onto a winner. Why the family didn't ask us is beyond me!
I suppose all his awards will turn up one day on Ebay!!
'Tonight my men and I have been through hell and back again, but the look on your faces when we let you out of the hall - we'd do it all again tomorrow.' Major Chris Keeble's words to Goose Green villagers on 29th May 1982 - 2 PARA