A catalogue of medals for sale has always been published by the company but it was in 1992 that we first published Dixon’s Gazette, our retail sales catalogue. In September 1992 we published Dixon's Gazette number one and in September 2020 we published our one-hundredth edition.
It is a significant reference work which we see referred to as ‘provenance’ in various auctions. As well as a large selection of medals covering all periods of history it also contains articles written and submitted by our clients which are educational and entertaining. Updates in fakes and forged medals, a wants list and a stolen list is also featured.
The Gazette is available on a subscription basis at £20 for UK, £25 for Europe and £30 for the rest of the world. To purchase a handy printed subscription and enjoy this superb publication off-line simply click on the black button [Printed] option or download a digital (Acrobat PDF) version right now...
Bridlington - lifeboat history and naval ship-wrecks
Bridlington sits in a sheltered bay with Flamborough Head on one side and Spurn Point to the south
The Bridlington lifeboat has always been a big part of the community in the first one arrived in 1805 supplied by Gateshead. They have a record of bravery on more than one occasions in the last two centuries including in 1915 when the lifeboat was launched to a mine sweeper in March. Robert Carr, who was riding one of the launching horses, was swept out to sea and drowned. Two of the horses were also drowned. The second rider was saved only by being hauled into the lifeboat as she was carried past him. Committee of Management voted £100 to dependant relatives.
Each year a memorial service is held in memory of the great gale at Bridlington on 10 February 1871, when 70 lives were lost, and 30 ships were wrecked. Two lifeboats put out from Bridlington to many wrecks – the Institution’s lifeboat and a smaller one not owned or administered by the Institution (there were at that time many such lifeboats). It appears that the crew of the small lifeboat were exhausted by their exertions and their place was taken by a volunteer crew. Unfortunately, the boat, the Harbinger presented to the Bowman of Bridlington by Count Gustave Batthyany, capsized with loss of six of her crew of nine (see the book Lifeboat Gallantry by Barry Cox available through our book link for the Lifesaving awards to the Bridlington lifeboat crew ). This coast line has seen many shipwrecks also to name just two.
The Bonhomme Richard
This lost naval wreck was the most mythical, the vessel was a US Navy warship that was the first to defeat the Royal Navy in British waters during a pitched sea battle off Flamborough Head that astonished those who witnessed it. The ship, captained by the US Navy's 'founding father', John Paul Jones, foundered after a battle with British ship Serapis in 1779, during the American War of Independence. When its captain Richard Pearson asked if Jones had surrendered, Jones famously replied, "Surrender? I have not yet begun to fight!" Although Jones won the battle and captured the Serapis, the Bonhomme Richard was badly damaged in the three-and-a-half-hour engagement and sank about 36 hours later during a storm and stills lies in the water within sight of Bridlington.
SS Rohilla
This 1914 grounding was one of the worst losses of life on the Whitby stretch of coast. The Rohilla was a requisitioned hospital ship on its way to evacuate wounded soldiers from France when it came to grief in a gale. The shore lighthouses were unlit during the war to deter enemy activity, and the captain believed they had hit a mine, although this was never confirmed. The death toll was 84, but all the nurses and a Titanic survivor were rescued by RNLI lifeboats over a 50-hour period (see the book Shipwrecks of the East Coast).
Dixon's Gazette - subscribe to our printed edition
Dixon's Gazette is a significant reference work which we see referred to as ‘provenance’ in various auctions. As well as a large selection of medals covering all periods of history it also contains articles written and submitted by our clients which are educational and entertaining. Updates in fakes and forged medals, a wants list and a stolen list is also featured.
