A collection of medals, including a British Victoria Cross, will auction at Dix Noonan Webb on May 12, the Daily Express reports.
The group was awarded to Frederick Bradley, a British soldier who fought in the second Boer war, in 1901. He is reported to have rescued a comrade while under heavy fire in a siege at Fort Itala.
 The second Boer war was fought between the British and Dutch colonists (above) in South Africa at the turn of the century |
The collection is expected to make £180,000 ($262,839).
The publication quoted historian MC Carter, who described the battle thus: "As a tornado of lead enveloped the post.
"Bullets screamed and howled, the ground rapidly became covered with a shower of broken branches and chopped leaves, the screams and groans of stricken men and of the pathetic unprotected horses filled the air. The constant ear-shattering crash of hundreds of rifles made a sound to match all the thunderbolts of hell."
Victoria Crosses are among the rarest and most desirable medals, with only 1,356 awarded to date. The record for a single specimen stands at £678,662 ($1.1m), set for the example awarded to Australian private Ted Kenna during the second world war.
This higher value can be attributed to the fact that Kenna famously captured a Japanese bunker singlehandedly by walking towards it slowly (and under heavy machine gun fire) while firing a Bren gun from his hip.
Click here to check out our strong militaria range.
Please sign up to our free newsletter to receive exciting news about medals and militaria auctions.
