Doug Sarah has been left heartbroken after thieves, who had been invited into his home to look at furniture he was selling, rummaged through his personal belongings, stealing his prized medal.

Mr Sarah, who is selling his home in Ballarat North, had opened up the home on Saturday morning, offering a number of small items for sale, but as he is downsizing.

He was also offering to sell some furniture and invited interested customers to take a look at what he had on offer.

As he tended to other customers, thieves have rummaged through bedrooms, stealing a number of smaller items including his OAM and jewellery belonging to his late partner Penny which had been placed in what he thought was a secure cupboard while people were going through the house.

Mr Sarah said he was "incredibly embarrassed" about the theft, but hoped a public plea may see his prized medal returned.

"We had the garage sale on Saturday, and as with all garage sales, they started coming in at 6am," Mr Sarah said.

"The people who were looking at the furniture started to come in about 8.30am, so I let a few in and they seemed alright. But by 9am, as soon as the door was open, more and more came in and you should see what they've done, they've rummaged through everything.

"We had the door where the valuables were kept closed, but anyone who came in and asked about the furniture we let through."

Mr Sarah said he partially blamed himself for not having someone in every room.

"My mistake is I didn't have enough people with me to have someone if every room. And this is my absolute advice to people if you are doing something like this," he said.

"We had one person handling money, a couple of people helping with prices, but we didn't have eyes everywhere."

Mr Sarah said his confidence in others had been left shaken by the theft.

"It disappoints me, I've been with people all my life and you don't expect things like that to happen," he said.

"All I want is for someone, to perhaps drop the medal into The Courier office in a brown paper bag.

"The people who have the stolen stuff that's valuable, clearly they need it more than I do and I'm okay with that, but they don't deserve an OAM. You earn an OAM and you can't sell an OAM belonging to someone else.

"It's part of the devastation you feel. I take some of the blame because I just trust people and think they're honest. But the actual truth they are not."

If you have or know someone who has the medal, please drop it into The Courier office at 2 Webster Street or at the Ballarat Police Station in Dana Street.

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