Can You Sell Military Medals? Federal Ban and Exceptions

Can you sell military medals? Under 18 U.S.C. § 704, selling, buying, or trading almost any U.S. military decoration is a federal crime punishable by up to six months in prison, and up to a year for high-valor awards like the Medal of Honor, Purple Heart, and Silver Star. The statute contains one narrow escape: sales “authorized under regulations made pursuant to law,” which permits a certified commercial channel for newly manufactured medals. Everything else, including a veteran selling a medal they earned or a family selling an inherited one, falls inside the prohibition as written.¹

What the Federal Ban Covers

18 U.S.C. § 704(a) makes it a federal crime to knowingly sell, buy, trade, barter, or exchange for anything of value any decoration or medal authorized by Congress for the U.S. armed forces. The prohibition reaches beyond the medal itself to service badges, ribbons, buttons, rosettes, and “colorable imitations” of any of those items. A first-tier violation carries a fine, up to six months in prison, or both.¹

The statute doesn’t distinguish between a veteran selling a medal personally earned and a stranger selling one picked up at a flea market. It draws no line for age, historical significance, or the seller’s motives. The only carveout in the text is that single phrase about sales authorized by regulation.

Medals That Carry a One-Year Sentence

Certain decorations trigger the enhanced maximum of one year in prison. The Medal of Honor stands alone in its own enhanced provision. A second group covers:

Distinguished Service Cross (Army)
Navy Cross
Air Force Cross
Silver Star
Purple Heart
Combat badges: the Combat Infantryman’s Badge, Combat Action Badge, Combat Medical Badge, Combat Action Ribbon, and Combat Action Medal

Replacement or duplicate versions of any of these decorations carry the same enhanced penalty. There is no discount for selling a duplicate rather than an original.¹

The Narrow Legal Path to a Lawful Sale

The regulatory exception lives in 32 CFR Part 507. Under those rules, the Institute of Heraldry (TIOH) at Fort Belvoir certifies manufacturers who can produce heraldic items to government specifications. Only certified manufacturers may make these items, and every piece must carry a TIOH-assigned hallmark.²

Retail sellers don’t need a manufacturing certificate, but each item they sell must bear a TIOH hallmark and trace back to a certified producer. That is how military exchanges and authorized commercial dealers lawfully move new medals, ribbons, and badges. If a medal doesn’t come out of that certified channel, no regulatory exception is protecting the sale.

The Medal of Honor sits outside this framework entirely. It, along with its service ribbon, rosette, and flag, cannot be manufactured or sold commercially at all, except under direct contract with the Defense Logistics Agency. No TIOH certification opens that door.²

A related restriction targets merchandise. No one may manufacture commercial products that incorporate the designs or likenesses of decorations, service medals, service ribbons, or lapel buttons. A Purple Heart T-shirt or a Silver Star coffee mug is prohibited, even though the design might feel like public property.

Selling Inherited Medals

The text of § 704 contains no exemption for heirs, next of kin, or estate representatives. A widow selling her late husband’s campaign medals is technically subject to the same prohibition as anyone else. The statute says “whoever knowingly” sells and does not ask how the seller acquired the item.³

The enforcement picture looks different. Families sell inherited medals routinely through estate sales, online auctions, and militaria dealers, and prosecutions of bereaved family members are essentially unheard of. Federal enforcement of § 704 has focused on fraud, counterfeiting, and Stolen Valor cases rather than the secondary market for genuine medals. Unlikely to be prosecuted is not the same as legal, and the technical risk sits with the seller.

Families who want to honor the medals without selling them have a better route. The National Personnel Records Center issues replacement medals at no cost to next of kin for most branches. For Army, Navy, and Marine Corps veterans, this applies regardless of when the veteran separated. For Air Force and Coast Guard veterans who separated more than 62 years ago, next-of-kin requests may not be accepted, and the family would need a commercial source instead.⁴ Donating the originals to a museum while keeping government-issued replacements is one way families preserve both the legacy and the artifacts.

Antique and Historical Medals

Collectors often assume that older medals must be exempt. They aren’t. The statute covers “any decoration or medal authorized by Congress for the armed forces of the United States,” with no time limit and no historical cutoff. A Civil War decoration, a World War I campaign medal, and a World War II service award are all inside the ban.³

The market for antique U.S. military medals is not exactly hidden. Auction houses regularly sell historical decorations, and militaria shows fill tables with them. Some dealers argue that 32 CFR Part 507’s authorized-sale framework protects legitimate collector activity, and a Congressional Research Service legal opinion supported the view that sales authorized by regulation remain lawful regardless of the Stolen Valor Act amendments. Prosecutors, working with limited resources, have concentrated on fraud and false-claim cases rather than collector transactions.

None of that changes the letter of the law. If you buy or sell antique U.S. military medals, you’re in a space where the statute says one thing and enforcement points somewhere else. Thorough provenance documentation is the single most practical thing a collector can keep.

Foreign Medals Are Not Covered

The prohibition applies specifically to decorations “authorized by Congress for the armed forces of the United States.”¹ Foreign military decorations fall outside the statute entirely. British, French, German, Soviet, and other nations’ medals can be bought and sold in the United States without violating § 704. If a foreign government awarded a medal to a U.S. service member, it still isn’t a decoration authorized by Congress, and the same logic applies.

Stolen Valor Adds a Second Offense

The Stolen Valor Act of 2013 added a fraud-based offense under 18 U.S.C. § 704(b). Anyone who fraudulently claims to be a medal recipient with intent to obtain money, property, or another tangible benefit faces up to one year in prison and a fine.⁵

For sellers, this creates a second layer of exposure. Someone who sells a medal while falsely claiming to be the veteran who earned it is violating both provisions at once. The sale ban only requires that you knowingly sell; the Stolen Valor provision targets deliberate misrepresentation, and prosecutors pursue those cases more aggressively.

Tax Consequences if a Sale Happens

The IRS treats military medals as collectibles for capital gains purposes, in the same category as coins, art, and antiques. Long-term capital gains on collectibles are taxed at a maximum rate of 28%. If your ordinary income tax rate is below 28%, that lower rate applies instead. Short-term gains on collectibles held one year or less are taxed as ordinary income.⁶

Your cost basis is usually what you paid for the medal. If you inherited it, the basis is generally the fair market value on the date of the decedent’s death. Keep receipts, appraisal records, and provenance documentation.

Verifying Authenticity and Provenance

Whether you’re buying or selling, provenance is the most important piece of documentation. Useful records include original award certificates, the veteran’s DD-214 separation form, and correspondence from the recipient or family. The National Archives and the VA offer resources for requesting copies of service records that can help establish a medal’s history.⁷

Physical authentication looks at metal quality, construction, inscriptions, and wear consistent with age. Artificially distressed reproductions are common. The ribbon should match the correct period and medal type; wrong fabric, wrong pattern, or modern synthetic materials on a supposedly vintage piece are warning signs. Comparing the item to known authentic examples in reference books or museum collections beats trusting a seller’s description. Professional appraisers who specialize in military memorabilia can handle borderline cases for a fee.

Medals from TIOH-certified manufacturers carry hallmarks, small identifying stamps assigned by the Institute of Heraldry. A hallmark on a newer medal confirms it came through legitimate channels. Its absence on a medal that should have one may indicate a counterfeit, which brings its own legal problems under both § 704 and general fraud statutes.²

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 704 Military Medals or Decorations
2
eCFR. Part 507 Manufacture, Sale, Wear, and Quality Control of Heraldic Items
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 US Code 704 – Military Medals or Decorations
4
National Archives. Replace Veterans Medals, Awards, and Decorations
5
U.S. Government Publishing Office. Public Law 113-12
6
Internal Revenue Service. Topic no. 409, Capital Gains and Losses
7
National Archives. Request Military Service Records