Canadian Orders and medals group of Greek interest

[makedon]

Dear collectors,

I just acquired this interesting medal group, mounted at J R Gaunt, Montreal. It consists of:

-Order of Canada Member

-Order of St John Officer

-Queen Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee medal

-Greece-Red Cross Gold Cross

-Greece-Order of George I, Officer's Cross

-Greece-National Fund decoration

-Greece-National Struggle Cross 1946-1950

-Greece-Military Merit medal, 4th class

-Greece-Interallied Victory medal

It is interesting to see for the first time an unofficial state award, as the National Fund decoration, attached on a group of medals.

I do have some questions whether this group is genuine or not, as the Victory medal was awarded no later than 1919, while the silver Jubilee medal couldn't have been awarded before 1977. I am wondering if anyone knows where I could find information about the owner of this group. The only thing I have is that the Order of Canada has a number of "296" inscribed on its reverse. If anybody can help, your assistance would be highly appreciated!

Regards,

Dimitris

[Megan]

A quick check online - http://www.gg.ca/document.aspx?id=5 - reveals an excellent search facility completely based on knowing the name of the recipient! Numbers on insignia are not referenced so even the thought of reading the complete list of recipients doesn't work... you could try asking if there are any such records, though.

[Nightbreak]

The Royal Order of George I was abolished in 1975. The Order of Canada started in 1967. And:

"The Greek military merit medal (4th class), awarded to Greek officers for meritorious service in the army. The medal was instituted in 1917 by the Revolutionary Government of Thessaloniki shortly before Greece entered WWI and was awarded from 1917 until 1974 in 4 classes, depending on the grade of the recipient. On the back side it is written “GREECE 1916-17”."

This person would have had to have rendered services to both countries for some years to cover the span of medals, plus be very old to have received them all. So, a Greek Officer who received the Order of Canada ... and was a member of the Order of St. John.. Can't dig one up offhand.

I'm here in Ottawa and can ask the Chancellery of Honours to see if they'll give up the name to go with the number, but that's a long shot.

[makedon]

Hello Nightbreak,

The person was most probably a conscript who served his duty during WWI and then immigrated to Canada and became a prominent member of the Greek-Canadian Community. Then it would't have been very hard for him (through his services to the community) to get some more "civilian" awards.

Please do not bother to ask-I have already done myself so and their answer was that they would give NO info. Moreover, they told me to tell the owner of this medal bar to RETURN the Order of Canada to their service, because it is the property of H.M. the Queen. I think this is something they should have done upon death of the recipients; or, they could bid themselves on the auctions where these Orders come out, right??

By the way, does anybody have a clue if it is legal to buy or sell an Order of Canada in Canada or the UK and how much would that cost?

[saumua]

Very, very nice.......

Dear collectors,

I just acquired this interesting medal group, mounted at J R Gaunt, Montreal. It consists of:

-Order of Canada Member

-Order of St John Officer

-Queen Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee medal

-Greece-Red Cross Gold Cross

-Greece-Order of George I, Officer's Cross

-Greece-National Fund decoration

-Greece-National Struggle Cross 1946-1950

-Greece-Military Merit medal, 4th class

-Greece-Interallied Victory medal

It is interesting to see for the first time an unofficial state award, as the National Fund decoration, attached on a group of medals.

I do have some questions whether this group is genuine or not, as the Victory medal was awarded no later than 1919, while the silver Jubilee medal couldn't have been awarded before 1977. I am wondering if anyone knows where I could find information about the owner of this group. The only thing I have is that the Order of Canada has a number of "296" inscribed on its reverse. If anybody can help, your assistance would be highly appreciated!

Regards,

Dimitris

[peter monahan]

Hello Nightbreak,

Please do not bother to ask-I have already done myself so and their answer was that they would give NO info. Moreover, they told me to tell the owner of this medal bar to RETURN the Order of Canada to their service, because it is the property of H.M. the Queen.

By the way, does anybody have a clue if it is legal to buy or sell an Order of Canada in Canada or the UK and how much would that cost?

I think you've answered your own question: if an award is the property of H.M. the Queen, then it cannot be legal to sell or buy it! As to what the relevant office should have done, I suspect that the paperwork which accompanied the award stipulated that it was to be returned on the death of the recipient, but how many relatives would know or care years after the award? As to the Chancery Office bidding for it at auction, well, would you bid on your car if someone had stolen it and put it on auction? Or call a cop?

Not being judgemental, BTW. I have in the past owned medal groups with items in them which probably technically beloged to H.M. and I can't say it ever cost me any sleepless nights. I would, however, be very leery of asking officialdom what status it had!

My tuppence worth.

Peter

Edited August 26, 2010 by peter monahan

[Brian Wolfe]

I think you've answered your own question: if an award is the property of H.M. the Queen, then it cannot be legal to sell or buy it! As to what the relevant office should have done, I suspect that the paperwork which accompanied the award stipulated that it was to be returned on the death of the recipient, but how many relatives would know or care years after the award? As to the Chancery Office bidding for it at auction, well, would you bid on your car if someone had stolen it and put it on auction? Or call a cop?

Not being judgemental, BTW. I have in the past owned medal groups with items in them which probably technically beloged to H.M. and I can't say it ever cost me any sleepless nights. I would, however, be very leery of asking officialdom what status it had!

My tuppence worth.

Peter

Quite so Peter.

Regards

Brian