A Medal of Honor, Illegal to Sell in the US, Triples Its Estimate at a German Auction House—Infuriating Ted Cruz

Last week, a 122-year-old US
Medal of Honor sold at auction in Germany for over $15,000—despite
the best efforts of Texas Senator Ted Cruz and other American
politicians.

Hermann Historica, a
Munich-based auction house that specializes in vintage military
paraphernalia, included the medal as one of around 900 lots in its
May 28 collectibles sale. Awarded in 1898 to a US soldier for acts
of valor during the Spanish-American War, the object was estimated
to go for $5,000.

But interest in the item spiked
after Texas Senator Ted Cruz called for the auction to be
stopped. 

“The sale harms the dignity and
honor of all recipients of the Medal of Honor,” Cruz wrote in a
letter addressed to US
Secretary of State, Michael Pompeo.

“I guarantee you, we are going
to be flooded now with offers to auction off a Medal of Honor,”
Bernhard Pacher, the managing director of Hermann Historica,
told Stars and
Stripes after Cruz’s comments were
published. “You’ll achieve the
opposite of what you wanted with that.”

Numerous collectors exchanged
bids for the item, with American bidders especially driving up its
price, according to Pacher.

Senator Cruz’s office did not
respond to Artnet News’s request for comment.

The bronze and copper-embossed
medal was awarded to Army Private Thomas Kelly, an Irish immigrant
who enlisted in the US Army in April 1894. Alongside future
President Theodore Roosevelt and the Rough Riders, Kelly fought in
the Battle of San Juan Hill—thought to be the deadliest conflict in
the Spanish-American War—where he rescued wounded soldiers from the
field of battle.

Kelly served in the military up
until his death in 1920. It’s unclear how the medal, the highest
honor bewstowed by the military, ended up in a collector’s hands.
Selling medals awarded by Congress is illegal in the United States
and is punishable by fines of up to $100,000 and a year in jail.
However, it is not illegal in Germany. 

Joe Daniels, president and CEO
of the National Medal of Honor Museum in Arlington, Texas, joined
Cruz’s campaign in trying to halt the sale. Last week, the leader
of the museum sent letters to Pompeo, President Donald
Trump, Secretary
of Defense Mark Esper, and Attorney General William Barr to stop the
auction.

“This Medal of Honor is a
priceless American treasure that belongs here in our country,”
Daniels said in a statement.

The post A Medal of Honor, Illegal to Sell in the US,
Triples Its Estimate at a German Auction House—Infuriating Ted
Cruz appeared first on artnet News.