Dominic Winter Auctioneers: 2025 Military & Aviation Highlights

Introduction

As 2025 draws to a close, we take a look back at two highly successful Military & Aviation History, Coins, Medals & Militaria specialist auctions.

We have been fortunate to offer a number of private collections including Arms and Armour from a deceased estate; Irish militaria; the Arthur Gibson and Ray Hanna Aviation Collections. 

Here are a few of the many highlights researched, catalogued and sold in our auctions this year.

Military & Aviation highlights from 2025

Figures quoted below are hammer prices.

£3000
A Napoleonic bone model three-masted ship of the line, circa 1800, displayed within a straw-work case. This came to us as part of a collection from a Surrey estate.

It is interesting in as much as during the Napoleonic Wars (1792-1815), French soldiers who were interned as prisoners in de-rigged ships known as "Hulks" off the south coast of England, made ship models, gaming pieces and automata of war. The models were mainly made from the leftover beef bones on their plates, and the prisoners were allowed to sell these models in the local markets to buy food rations.

£2800
A rare pair of Carl Zeiss 'Starmorbi' turret binoculars, No 1441 , in good working condition with brown leather case and wooden tripod stand.

£11,000
The historically important WWI ‘Gallipoli Landings, “V” Beach’ Conspicuous Gallantry medal group awarded to Petty Officer Frederick Gibson, CGM., MID, Royal Navy. Gibson, on seeing that the landing bridge from the River Clyde didn’t reach the shore, jumped overboard from his ship HMS Albion and, under heavy enemy fire, transported multiple wounded men back to River Clyde in a rowing boat. On his second trip to the beach, he grabbed a tin of biscuits and used this to protect his back; the tin was hit three times.

£5800
A collector consigned this important and well documented Crimean War Medals to Private Anthony Wilder, 11th Hussars, who was one of only 200 men who survived the famous "Charge of the Light Brigade" on 25 October 1854, the lot included his service medals plus original ephemera including souvenir book for the veterans banquet on 25 October 1875.

£32,000

The Arthur Gibson (1926-1992) official Concorde and Red Arrows photographer collection including a vast archive of aircraft negatives and transparencies (approximately 50,000).

Arthur Gibson spent decades capturing some of the finest aerial photography and his highlights included “The Best of Britain” which featured the Red Arrows, Concorde and Canard’s QE2. Gibson was also great friends with Ray Hanna, the eminent leader of the Red Arrows. This collection came to us via the Gibson family and raced past the £2000-3000 estimate to sell an astonishing £32,000.

£5400

A highly important Pioneer Aviation collection of photographic glass negatives by A. G. Cooke, taken at Hendon, circa 1913-1923. This lot included Cooke’s camera and over 800 glass plate negatives, including unrecorded images of the Royal Flying Corps and famous pioneer aviators. It was a remarkable collection consigned from an Isle of Wight estate.

£3000
A superb collection of several thousand WWII and later aircraft manufacturers, press and service photographs. This lot was vast and unsorted but it highlights great strength in the market, racing past the £700-1000 estimate to sell for a £3000 hammer price.

£11,000
The Battle of Britain is at the heart of our aviation auctions and we have sold hundreds if not thousands of related lots. Last year we sold a logbook kept by Pilot Officer K.H. Cox, 610 Squadron who was killed in action (£19,500). We included the emotive Battle of Britain Spitfire pilot's logbook kept by Sergeant Sidney 'Clot' Baxter, 222 Squadron who was killed in action on 14 September 1940 in our second auction and it attracted a number of collectors and sold for a hammer price of £11,000 (estimate £5000-8000).

Baxter acquired his nickname 'Clot' because he had a habit of checking his aircraft and asking the ground crew more questions than any of the other pilots. When this was questioned by one of the air mechanics, he replied that he was the 'clot' who had to fly the aircraft. His Spitfires became known as Clot I and Clot II

£31,000
The Ray Hanna Aviation Collection sold for a total hammer price of £31,000 and included his brown leather flying helmet by Campbell Aero Classic NZ (£1700), his Breitling Navitimer chronometer wristwatch (£3600), Folland Gnat T.Mk.1. XR 540 tail fin presented to Hanna in 1968 (£2000). The collection was very mixed but we grouped many of the pieces and this was well received by collectors and the bids sailed past the estimates.

We sold a wonderful collection of gold coins in our October auction which fetched a combined hammer price of £17,000, the highlights included;

£4800
Italy. 40 Lire, 1814, Milan

£1700
Great Britain. George IV Sovereign, 1825

£2800
Great Britain. Victorian Sovereign, 1851

£4000
The Uniform Coinage of India, East India Company. Victorian 1 Mohur, 1841

Military lots to watch in 2026

Our next Military auction will be held on 22 May 2026 and here are a few interesting lots included in this sale.

An English Civil War basket-hilted broad sword, circa 1640 discovered in the grounds of Basing House in 1827. Basing House was the location of three sieges during the Civil War. The sword was previously sold by Wallis & Wallis in 1993 is sold with related paperwork and letters of provenance. Estimate £2000-3000.

On view in our reception is a fine suit of armour. The German Cuirassier Armour originates from the second quarter of the 17^th century includes the eerie “deaths head” burgonet helmet.  The armour has been in the hands of a deceased collector for several decades and has a presale estimate of £7000-10,0000.

A George III silver "dog head" sword belonging to W. Townsend, circa 1790. Estimate £500-800. 

An impressive WWI M.C. group to 'Ace' Lieutenant R. Hill, Royal Flying Corps, credited for 7 aerial victories over the Western Front. Estimate £3000-4000.

A good Korean War Military Medal group awarded to Corporal R. S. Critcher, Essex Regiment, formerly Suffolk Regiment, who gained the award of his MM for gallantry in the Samichon Valley whilst attached to the 1st Battalion, Norfolk Regiment - When his night patrol was ambushed, without hesitation he moved out into the open where he could see the enemy and standing firing his Bren gun from the hip, he drew their fire, thus allowing the withdrawal to go ahead without further casualties, even though he himself had received a bullet wound in the action. Estimate £4000-5000.

Several coin collections, including ancient Roman and Greek coins, British hammered and milled coins including some nice examples from the reign of William & Mary, Queen Anne.  

And finally, one heart felt story for 2025

Our May auction included a WWI brass roll of honour which was part of deceased estate.

The roll of honour was from the Queen Street Methodist Church in South Shields and was unveiled in 1920. The church was built in 1861, but by the 1950s it had gone into decline and by the 1970s it was used by a local clothing firm as a warehouse. The church was demolished in the 1970s, and the plaque was presumably discarded and saved from the hands of the scrap man. It found its way into the hands of a militaria collector and didn't see the light of day again until it came to Dominic Winter Auctioneers.

We were contacted by the War Memorial Trust requesting we withdraw the roll of honour from the auction, on the basis that the public sale of such pieces would potentially promote the theft of war memorials for financial gain. We agreed and after speaking with the vendor the roll of honour was withdrawn and we donated it back into the South Shields community where it is on public display for all to see.