The Order of Glory, which was modelled closely upon the Tsarist Cross of St. George, had three degrees. A person initially received the third degree, and would subsequently be promoted to higher degrees for further acts of bravery; one who received all three degrees was called polniy kavaler ordenov slavy (full Cavalier of the Order of Glory). In total only 2620 gold first class orders were awarded and attained this Full Cavalier status.

The Order of Glory became defunct upon the collapse of the Soviet Union. In 2000, the Cross of St. George was revived to serve the same purpose of rewarding bravery in NCO’s and enlisted service personnel.

The rare Order of Glory medal has been valued at £4,000-£6,000 and will feature in the Silver, Plated Ware, Coins & Medals auction to be held on 30 November at Fellows & Sons auction rooms in Birmingham.

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The medal was presented to Alfred N Beavan, captain of the steamship ‘Brika’ for the rescue of three seamen from their sinking ship ‘Theresa’ by the Life Saving Benevolent Association of New York (LSBA). The ship had been found in heavy sea 120 miles off St Michael’s in the Azores.

The seamen were from Huelva, Spain and had set sail from Providence to fish off the North West coast of Africa – a storm had almost sunk the vessel. Captain Jauquia Réné, José Fonseca and Manuel Andredo arrived as shipwrecked mariners in New York on the Brika on 2 August 1911.  The Brika herself was torpedoed and sunk on 13 March 1917 by a German U-47 boat commanded by Günther Prien.

The medal had been spotted in a consignment of gold which was due to be scrapped by Liverpool jewellers, W J Edwards.

Margot Walker and Peter Edwards, Partners of W J Edwards said: “This medal simply stood out as it was in impeccable condition when we found it. We realised that it must have been something special when we read the inscription on the back of the medal and simply had to find out more about it.”

Stephen Whittaker, Managing Partner, Fellows & Sons said: “This Life Saving Medal is unique and carries an interesting history. Currently there is a tendency for jewellers to scrap gold but I am delighted that W J Edwards spotted the potential interest of this medal for collectors both here in the UK and the United States”

The medal has an estimate of £2,000 – £3,000 and will be sold with copies of the account from the New York Times in the Silver, Plated Ware, Coins & Medals auction on Monday 30 November.

The online catalogue is available at: www.fellows.co.uk

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