{"id":334252,"date":"2026-03-17T17:02:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T17:02:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/334252\/"},"modified":"2026-03-17T17:02:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T17:02:08","slug":"record-200k-new-zealand-cross-among-rare-whanganui-medals-up-for-auction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/334252\/","title":{"rendered":"Record $200k New Zealand Cross among rare Whanganui medals up for auction"},"content":{"rendered":"

While the Victoria Cross has been awarded 1358 times, the New Zealand Cross was awarded 23 times.<\/p>\n

Mowbray Collectables managing director David Galt said it was exceptionally rare for one of the medals to be auctioned.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost of them are locked up in museums … but very, very few [are] in the hands of people,\u201d Galt said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s highly likely that it could be a record for a medal sold at a New Zealand auction.\u201d<\/p>\n

The last known sale of a New Zealand Cross was in England in 2011, with a price of \u00a3115,000 ($260,000).<\/p>\n

Featherston\u2019s was passed down through family members after his death in 1876 and is being offered for sale by a descendant.<\/p>\n

Featherston was a prominent figure among P\u0101keh\u0101 and M\u0101ori.<\/p>\n

He was revered for his diplomacy and leadership during the development of the Wellington province, which included Whanganui and Manawat\u016b.<\/p>\n

He received the medal for his bravery under fire in the 1866 battle at \u014ctapawa in South Taranaki where he led 200 Whanganui M\u0101ori aligned with the Crown.<\/p>\n

\u201cDespite being a civilian, he was with that campaign and stood up, exposed himself to fire,\u201d Galt said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe remained a respected figure amongst M\u0101ori.\u201d<\/p>\n

Featherston was offered a knighthood but declined.<\/p>\n

The second rare medal, with an estimated price of $2500, on auction is the Military Cross awarded to Lieutenant Maurie Luxford for three \u201cdaring\u201d reconnaissance missions before the New Zealand 1918 liberation of the French village of Le Quesnoy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\" The Military Cross awarded to Lieutenant Maurie Luxford in 1918 for his part in the New Zealand liberation of the French village of Le Quesnoy after World War I. Photo \/ Mowbray Collectables<\/p>\n

Luxford grew up in Palmerston North and attended Whanganui Collegiate School.<\/p>\n

He enlisted in the First Battalion and NZ Rifle Brigade as a rifleman in 1915. He served in Egypt and Western Europe, rising through the ranks to lieutenant by 1918.<\/p>\n

New Zealand forces liberated Le Quesnoy from its four-year German occupation one week before the end of World War I, with no civilian casualties.<\/p>\n

The liberation is still celebrated in Le Quesnoy.<\/p>\n

\u201c[He] became a lieutenant in what is one of New Zealand\u2019s most famous engagements from World War I.\u201d <\/p>\n

Luxford was discharged in 1919 and later moved to California where he and his first wife Nola Luxford supported Kiwi soldiers during WWII.<\/p>\n

He became known as \u201cMr Golf\u201d for organising charity golf tournaments which raised millions of dollars in US Government War Bonds and was awarded the US Treasury Silver Award Medal for Patriotic Service \u2013 War Finance.<\/p>\n

He rubbed shoulders with many American celebrities.<\/p>\n

When he died in 1971, his pallbearers included General Omar Bradley, Andy Williams, Bob Hope, Bing Crosby and Glen Campbell.<\/p>\n

Bidding is open via the Mowbray Collectables website, email, phone or fax.<\/p>\n

The live auction on Friday, March 20, starts at midday at Mowbray Collectables, 247-253 Main Highway, \u014ctaki.<\/p>\n

Erin Smith is a multimedia journalist based in Whanganui.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While the Victoria Cross has been awarded 1358 times, the New Zealand Cross was awarded 23 times. Mowbray…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":334253,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[19348,29508,3471,1978,1567,17353,40147,30271,2082,179268,49539,117,111,43,139,69,8205,1974,13311,810,1883,102,80],"class_list":["post-334252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-19348","tag-200k","tag-among","tag-auction","tag-awarded","tag-cross","tag-estimated","tag-figures","tag-for","tag-gallantry","tag-medals","tag-new","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-rare","tag-record","tag-sell","tag-up","tag-whanganui","tag-with","tag-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=334252"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334252\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/334253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=334252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=334252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=334252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}