Updated: 11 May, 2008

Britain - Medals 

Campaign Medals

Early Campaign Medals

Abyssinian War Medal

British and other Campaign and Gallantry Medals from the Collection of Lester Watson (1889-1959) 

Mr Lester Watson, who was an investment banker in Boston, Mass., seems to have started collecting medals while he was still at College – the earliest recorded provenance is a medal given to him by his uncle Charles Pfaff in 1904. He subsequently acquired most of the medals during the 1920s, some from US dealers, but mainly bought from the London firms Baldwins, Spink and Seaby during his visits to Britain. The collection is remarkable for its systematic representation of gallantry and campaign medals awarded to British servicemen during the period 1791-c. 1930. It has many rarities, including no fewer than two VCs and its New Zealand equivalent, of which only twenty-three have been awarded. Most of the medals had been acquired by 1928/29, and only a few more were added in the 1930s. The last pieces to be bought were in 1937. The Watson collection contains 411 individual items, 379 in the main catalogue and a few pieces separately numbered, as well as an array of grouped medals (awarded to the same person, and sometimes arranged on the same bar for wearing on dress uniform). For ease of browsing, the catalogue has been divided into five sections. fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk 

WWI Era Medals

WWII Era Medals