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Stolen, found/returned medals (merged)

It is interesting to note that one of the finest collections of Victoria Crosses anywhere in the world (162 crosses) is now on public display in the Imperial War Museum in London because of the efforts of  Lord Ashcroft (a collector) who purchased them.

Most collectors take great pride in their collections and actually research the individuals and thus can tell their stories.  Frankly collectors do more for the preservation of their memories than most families.  If the choice is between collecting dust and being forgotten in an old trunk or being mounted and displayed in a collection somewhere, I vote for the collector.

Stealing medals is abhorrent, but so is allowing them to be forgotten in time.  Collectors play a valuable role in the preservation of history.
 
I would be more concern with the despicable practice of selling of medals for their scrap weight which is now back in vogue with current silver prices.
 
Grunt_031 said:
I would be more concern with the despicable practice of selling of medals for their scrap weight which is now back in vogue with current silver prices.

That practice, I suspect, is less about the intentional selling of medals for scrap prices than it is purchasers of precious medals scamming owners who simply do not understand what they have. Not unlike the many "gold buyers" that have appeared in recent years. With medals there exists the added possibility that a "medal buyer" is also preying upon the unwary, offering low set rates for groups that they will then examine and resell at market values based upon the recipient's details.

The current market value for silver is about $39.29 per ounce, or $1.26 per gram. A First World War British War Medal (.925 sterling silver) is about 33 grams, giving it a value of 41.58. That does not, of course allow for the expectation that each of the middlemen will be wanting to take profit from their transactions, so the offer to the owner is going to be less than that. Many single Canadian BWMs will sell for more than that on the collectors market as long as the seller understands what they have and describes it correctly - I am continually amazed at how many medals appear for sale that the seller doesn't even know to look on the rims of First World War medals for naming, or the significance their may attribute to the group. The seller doesn't have to research the recipient, the buyers will do the essential steps before the sale closes if they have the information.

 
Shared with the usual provisions...

Original Link

Ottawa vet asks for help to find his lost war medals


An Ottawa war veteran is looking for help to find his service medals and keep them from being sold.

Eighty-year-old George Guertin said he lost six medals at a Vanier funeral home as he brought them to the service for a fellow veteran a few days ago.

"I was always proud to wear them because this is what I was in my younger days," he said, referring to his service in Korea almost 60 years ago.

Guertin said he scoured the area around the funeral home and called a nearby pawn shop to see if someone had tried to sell them.

"I do hope they will eventually show up again, because they mean so much to me, and to my family," he said.

The medals could fetch several hundred dollars on the open market, but Guertin said it's the emotional value that means the most to him.

"When my passing comes. . . I want to frame them and give them to my son because the surname is in the bottom," he said.

If you find the set of six medals with Guertin's name engraved on three of them, you can contact CTV Ottawa at ottawanews@ctv.ca or on our Twitter account, @ctvottawa.
 
Some GOOD news for a change about missing medals....
It took two years, but military medals belonging to a deceased veteran have finally found their way home, thanks to the work of three Mounties and a retired military major.

The story began in 2009, when Surrey RCMP officers found the medals during a raid on a crack house in Surrey, B.C.

For two years, the medals sat in the RCMP detachment, with officers unable to identify who actually owned the stolen medals.

"Our investigators were very keen that these were significant to somebody," said RCMP Cpl. Drew Grainger.

Officers went through databases, used Statistics Canada information and did their best to match the medals to a soldier. But they remained stumped until they contacted the Royal Canadian Legion, who put their best man on the job.

Gary Campbell, a retired major and a war historian in New Brunswick, was able to catch a clue in the Second World War medals.

"It was a bit of a problem, because being World War II medals, they weren't named. Although, along with the medals was a War Services badge. It's a lapel pin and it has a serial number."

That led the search to Ontario, where Campbell uncovered the name of a soldier named Arthur Bird.

Bird died in 1975, but the medals had moved west with his daughter.

Thanks to the investigation, the medals have now been returned to Paul Jackson, who is Bird's grandson ....
CTV.ca, 30 Nov 11
 
quote:
"It was a bit of a problem, because being World War II medals, they weren't named. Although, along with the medals was a War Services badge. It's a lapel pin and it has a serial number."

Glad to see that the medals were returned to the family.

http://forums.army.ca/forums/threads/100399/post-1043763.html#msg1043763
IMO, I think when compared to the criteria for the "new" service pin, the WWII pins reflected the soldiers service in greater detail.

Perhaps serial numbers could be re-introduced for the "new" lapel pin.
Just a thought.
 
FlyingDutchman said:
Why were they in a crack house is what I want to know.

Stolen property in a crack house....seems plausible to me.  ;D
 
Occam said:
Stolen property in a crack house....seems plausible to me.  ;D
True, but here I was thinking 'logical thing to do would be' then stopped myself, as that does not apply well to crack users.
 
Funny I was dowtown 6-7 year's ago.. Seen this sign "appraise medal's" so i checked
Explained my grandad's medal's from the Boer,ww1,ww2. Dropped Grandad's medal's
off to be appraised. 4-5 days later I call ... No answer. Called and called. Nothing.. so
went Still looking for the looking and found the shop locked up. "Outta business"...
Still lookin for the A-@@@. And when I recover Grandad's medal he's gonna get a S@@@
Kick@@. Hope none of you folk's never had this exsperience... Best Regard's All,
Scoty B
 
wildman0101 said:
Funny I was dowtown 6-7 year's ago.. Seen this sign "appraise medal's" so i checked
Explained my grandad's medal's from the Boer,ww1,ww2. Dropped Grandad's medal's
off to be appraised. 4-5 days later I call ... No answer. Called and called. Nothing.. so
went Still looking for the looking and found the shop locked up. "Outta business"...
Still lookin for the A-@@@. And when I recover Grandad's medal he's gonna get a S@@@
Kick@@. Hope none of you folk's never had this exsperience... Best Regard's All,
Scoty B
Sorry to hear about that Scoty.  Did you try going to the police to see if they can be of any help?  Since your Grandfather's medals are now stolen property.
 
canadian trucker,,
      Yup. Got my Cav Cousin's on it. Also been online lookin at auction's, because most are sold through
them. Including every pawn shop, second hand, flea market ect. I'll find em and him ... Thank's for the
interest. Cheer's. Scoty B
 
FlyingDutchman said:
Why were they in a crack house is what I want to know.

I don't mean to speculate, but its also possible that the medals could have been traded for goods offered by said crack house. Stolen OR not.
 
It is also possible that said "Crack House" was not always a crack house. A previous owner my have left the medals there. There could be any number of reasons that they were there. The important thing here is that they were returned to the family.  :cdn:
Marc
 
Medals and decorations lose meaning from one generation to the next. The great great grandchildren of a WW1 Vet will find very little meaning in WW1 medals unless they were educated from a very early age as to the why and where "Grandad" recieved those medals.
 
Anybody know someone in the Niagara Region that is missing their CD?  As well, the NATO "medal" doesn't appear to have a ribbon.  Anybody know what operation it was for?

I'm a little surprised that the Niagara Regional Police just don't look on the edge of the CD in order to get the rank, initials and last name of the mbr (of course the rank would be when they were awarded the CD).  Then with this info the NRP could just go to the local armoury (in St. Catharines on Lake St) and ask the local unit to help.  It'll probably be one of their members anyways.

http://www.niagarapolice.ca/en/News/index.aspx?newsId=a01ac5cb-09b7-44de-af1f-7c14534ddf77
 
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