Featured Mappin & Webb 1938 silver medal for Royal Military School of Music

This is one of the things that were in the display piece I bought a few weeks back. While photographing & researching this piece I was quite surprised that I could not find anything like it listed anywhere & that it was not silver plated.

I found the man that won this medal when he was 21 years old. He ultimately went on to a fairly distinguished career as a conductor & composer in Iraq (his home country), England & the United States. He died about 10 years ago.

It is hallmarked for 1938 Birmingham as well as by Mappin Webb on the one side. It is 1 3/4" across & is 1/8" thick & weighs 42 grams.

Pieces from the Royal Military School of Music do sell but I was hoping one of our members across the pond can tell me how common it is to find something like this for sale. I know this one has value as far as the silver but I am hoping it is worth more to someone who collects items from the school.

I also have a bronze medal that he won for Conducting but the photos turned out really crappy so I will have to retake them.



@Ownedbybear @daveydempsey @Houseful @KSW or anybody else that may be able to help me.

Thanks for any & all advice or opinions!!!

 

https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/lajollalight/name/albert-chaffoo-obituary?pid=142071567

 

NOT A CLUE what these symbols mean......




And I was unable to make what's here readable.....
​

 

Aqui - those are the Birmingham city mark (an anchor), sterling fineness lion rampant and O date code for 1938 - as referenced above. On the far left is the maker's mark for Mappin & Webb.

 

@Roaring20s - I did see that earlier today when I decided to see if the "student" went on to a career as a conductor or something else. The obit also explained how the medals came to be in this area.

The man whose estate they are liquidating was a long-time frequent visitor to flea markets, antique shows, etc. They have no idea what was family possessions & what he picked up down the road at the flea market.

@Aquitaine - I did a quick cleanup of the medal to get a good look at the edge. I think it was just shadowing & tarnish that was making it look like there was something there.

I just wonder if there was ever a gold medal.

 

Sorry both @Bakersgma & @bercrystal ….guess I didn’t read above thoroughly enough…..

 

No big deal. It did look like something was there & I really did need to clean it up before I listed it.

It cleaned up wonderfully & looks so much better.

 

I think there’s definitely a market for medals that puts their value above just the metal typically. They are such beautiful little works of art often. I think there’s some crossover to the coin collecting world. I’d definitely mention Iraq in the title. There may someone that specifically collects Iraqi related items. That nice original box will have to help it. Hopefully someone collects items from that school too! Nice find.

I just found a little package last night from 2020 with customs marks that I had never opened. Was happy to find a French horticultural silver medal I forgot I had bought. It unfortunately was never engraved with the winners name. Would have been fun to know more like you do about yours.

 

I was surprised not to be able to find more medals awarded by the prolific musical instrument makers Boosey and Hawkes, perhaps someone else will have better luck.

 

I was listening to some music on YouTube, followed by a quick search again for this post.
You probably know of this list of all the past winners ...
https://www.wcomarchive.org.uk/--royal-military-silvers
The location of the music I was listening to (The Beatles, "The Palace of the King of the Birds") was recorded in Twickenham Studio, just under 2 miles from Kneller Hall.
The stars are musically aligned.

 

... and just because ...

 

I sold a silver military sports achievement medal and was surprised how much interest there was in it. Mine was much smaller and insignificant than yours so I think yours would sell really well! If on eBay make sure to enable international shipping as there may be more interest over here. Military stuff sells!.

 

Kneller Hall is the Army School of Music, and very competive for entry. He'd have been highly talented. He'd also have had to be Army.

My car radio is permanently tuned to Classic FM. I also have a huge collection of military band music.

I've not come across Chaffoo before, I'll have to go through my military music and see if he arranged any of the stuff I have. Working with someone as sublime as Barbirolli and Boult is amazing. Two of my favourite British conductors. The obit makes mention of the BBC Symphony orchestra so he may well have conducted or played at the Proms.

Talented family: https://www.grammy.com/press-releas...nounces-head-and-heart-and-jojo-guest-artists

Anyhow, this has M&W as value, plus militaria and classical music, probably Proms too.

 

Thanks to everyone for all the additional information!!!

@Roaring20s - I had not seen that list & was quite surprised as to how few of these are likely out there. That may be the main reason I am having trouble locating others.

@KSW - I have enabled international shipping. I have always shipped internationally without any issues.

@daveydempsey - Thanks for the keyword tip. I will include the word badge in my title & description.

@Ownedbybear - I think he was very talented to have done all he did in his career. It is mentioned in something I read that he had conducted concerts at the Royal Albert Hall.

 

I found this one today. It sold for the equivalent of about $285.55 USD back in 2016 & I did use the 2016 conversion rate. It is a different design & has a little extra badge that you could wear.

https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/...067280-cefc-4c3b-b623-a67500cd2564#lotDetails

I checked & the price of silver was around $19.17 at this point.

 

@daveydempsey - Yes it actually looks like it was dropped in 2 places. I just didn't bother to include those photos here but was going to include them in the listing of course.

The main reason I looked into the silver value is just that there is value as a sterling object that could be melted so that gives me a place to start the bidding.

To be honest I did not realize until I read @Ownedbybear's comment today that the students were in the military.

 

Military bandspeople are all enlisted. I think the Marines, especially, would be slightly pee'd to be called not real soldiers. They do the same training. Some have been killed in conflicts like Afghanistan and WW2.

https://www.forces-war-records.co.uk/units/3894/royal-marines-band

And of course, there's those murdered by the IRA.