UNBELIEVABLE FIND !! WW1 Trio Reunited With 1882 Egypt Campaign Medal !!

[dpast32]

Good Morning Gentleman,    I am extremely pleased to report that after 32 years, I can say that I have finally located one, of the two missing awards from my WW1 1914-15 Trio. I picked it up at a local Gunshow way back in 1990, & thought it was simply another Trio. Well, it turned out the recipient had entered the R.N. as an Boy 2nd Class in 1876, & served continuously in either the RN or later in the HM Coast Guard until finally being Demobilzed due to age on 27 July 1917. ( RE: Robert Joseph STEELE, No. 95097, formerly of Crumlin, County Antrim, Ireland / Born: 1860 - Died: 1924. ) During my research, I determind that he was aboard the HMS Achilles during the 1882 Egypt Campaign, & was therefore entitled to, & awarded the two requisite Medals, 1882 Egypt w/o Clasp, & of course the 1882 Khedives Star. Well, neither of those were to be found when I bought his Trio, so for all these years I've been searching for them, primarily of course the Egypt example, as that was the named one.

 

     Sooooo, flash forward to yesterday morning 16 February 2022, when for some unknown reason, I Posted a Query on my other UK Collector Forum, & was planning to Post here also. However, within 2 - 3 minutes of my Post, I received an reply to my question, & therefore didn't need to ask again here. OK, so now, as always, I thanked those who replied, & just almost sarcastically mentioned the improbability of my actually coming across the recipient's two long missing medals, almost in jest !!

 

     Well, about 2 minutes later, comes a Post from another member alerting me to the fact that 'my Guy's named 1882 Egypt Medal was indeed being offered for sale, & appeared to still available !! Needless to say, although I personally felt it to be somewhat overpriced, I simply could not pass it up, price notwithstanding. I mean that particular situation simply does not occur frequently, at least in my experience. So know, all I need to do is search around for a similar condition 1882 Khedive Star, [ unnamed of course ] & my long separated Group is now actually complete !! Honestly, I still have a hard time believing it, but I can assure you it's true. OK, I just wished to share this very uncommon happening with my fellow collectors. Hopefully, it will serve as an lesson of sorts, not to ever give up & admit defeat. Somewhere out there 'your' missing medal[s] could be waiting for you to reunite them with their siblings. How my Trio ended up in Rhode Island, USA, while the other Medals apparently remained in, or around the Cheshire, UK area is beyond me, although we're all aware that these situations do occur somewhat frequently. Take care Gents, & keep hunting !!

 

               Best regards,     Dom Pastore Jr.  /  'dpast32'

[azyeoman]

Congratulations!  It’s a wonderful feeling to reunite a broken group. I’ve had the pleasure of doing so nine times over 44 years of collecting. Please post a photo when they’re all together. 

[BlackcowboyBS]

wonderfull! These are the moments we live for as medal collectors! Congratulations on it.

[dpast32]

THANK YOU Guys,   I appreciate the comments !  As I said earlier, finding, or actually purchasing that particular Medal was the furthest from my mind when I posted my question checking to determine if I could actually confirm my man was presented his two Medals, not just entitled to them ? Then, within the next 15 or so minutes, I became the new owner of that 'missing' Medal ! If I had any inkling of buying one, I surely would have at least looked into their current market value, uni to have an idea as to what's fair, & perhaps more importantly, what is not. Well, I didn't have any time to do that, so I simply had to pay the Dealer's asking price, be it either high, low, or at current market value. I can't recall if we're all to mention prices paid  here, so unless someone advises me that it's acceptable, I can not state what I ended up paying, which IMHO, did appear a bit high, especially considering this example's somewhat heavy wear in various areas. ( It was explained away as being due to long-time & frequent wearing, which indeed may be the truth. )  Of course, now I'll start the search for an suitable example of his final missing award, the 1882 Khedives Star, which most thankfully was almost always presented unnamed. I still do have to say that I always find it odd how so many Groups become separated during their lifetime, & sadly, very few actually become reunited. I guess these people simply don't consider us collectors !! ( Just kidding. )  

 

     Honestly, I would just love to know what his duties were during his few years upon being reactivated at Pembroke from 1914 - July 1917 ? I have been advised that due to his remaining of the 'Old Standard', that would have precluded him from certain types of duties which stationed there ? Perhaps he we assigned t

as part of their 'Training Cadre', training new Recruits, & or similar, related duties ? Although I've read over his Service Document numerous times, a good many notations are somewhat difficult to read, due perhaps to the handwriting style, etc.  I just 'assumed' that based upon his age, he never did see 'Sea Duty', actually serving aboard any RN Vessel ? However, I don't recall at the moment, but someone did report that he did have such 'Sea Service', as evidenced by his full WW1 Trio, as opposed to just an BWM, & or Victory Medal ? If anyone can elaborate on this fact I will as always, be extremely interested in hearing from them ! Well, I guess that's it for now, from an extremely happy fellow Collector. THANKS AGAIN

 

                Best,      Dom P. 

[QSAMIKE]

Congratulations,,,,,  I have only been able to do 2 in 50 years and just missed out on one yesterday buy when the fates let it happen it feels great.....

 

Mike

[Marcon1]

For those among you who are also looking for ways to find missing medals it may be of interest to take out a subscription to MEDAL NEWS, published 10 times a year by TOKEN PUBLISHING.

They offer (for free to subscribers) a service called MEDAL TRACKER.

 

Marcon1.

[azyeoman]

Marcon1,

Thanks for reminding me of this excellent resource.

All the best, JL

[dpast32]

THANK YOU Guys very much for the kind replies !!  I also, along with probably numerous members here have additional Groups which need reuniting, but as with the above noted unbelievable happening, I honestly don't feel that anything similar will occur anytime soon ! But, I guess I shouldn't say never, right ? My new focus will be on locating the WW1 Trio belonging to Lieut. / Captain George Craig, Border Regiment, who's MBE I currently possess. I guess I should keep searching for him too. 

 

Also, I thought that I would include the relevant page for my recent find.

 

Liverpool Medals

HOME / BRITISH MEDALS AND DECORATIONS / SINGLE CAMPAIGN MEDALS / EGYPT 1882 HMS ACHILLES WW1 SERVICE

 

 

 

 

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Egypt 1882 HMS Achilles WW1 Service

 

 

Egypt Medal, dated 1882, no bar, Robert Joseph Steele, A.B. HMS Achilles, later a Chief Boatman in the Coast Guard and returned from retirement for WW1 service.

Out of Stock

 

SKU: J7413Category: 

Origin: United Kingdom

Very Fine

Description

Egypt Medal, dated 1882, no bar, Robert Joseph Steele, A.B. HMS Achilles, later a Chief Boatman in the Coast Guard and returned from retirement for WW1 service.

 

Officially engraved: R. Steele. A.B. H.M.S. “Achilles”, Star contact marking over a long career, it was almost 40 years since he first entered the Navy when he returned during WW1.

 

Total Navy Service: 15 years including WW1, Coast Guard Service: 16 years.

 

His Obituary during 1924:
Steele – At 35 Bon-Accord Street, Aberdeen, on the 27th August, Robert J. Steele, Late R.N., aged 63 years.
Funeral on Saturday, 30th Inst, at 2.30. PM, to Allenvale Cemetery, All friends respectfully invited.

 

Robert Joseph Steele was born on 4th October 1860 in Crumlin, County Antrim, Ireland.

 

He first entered the Royal Navy as a Boy 2nd Class aged 15 on 22nd February 1876, aboard HMS Iron Duke.
Having been through 7 ships in 2 years he finally became an Ordinary Seaman on his 18th Birthday onboard HMS Arab, 4th October 1878.

 

He was on board HMS Achilles from 4th September 1880 until 22nd December 1882 when he earned this medal.

 

He saw further service on the Excellent, Lord Warden, Dolphin, Temeriare and the Neptune before transferring to the Coast Guard as a Boatman on 1st January 1888 at Port Isaac.

 

He would then spend the next 15 years or so on various stations throughout Scotland with the Coast Guard.

 

Promoted to Commissioned Boatman at Leith, 6th April 1894.
Promoted to Chief Boatman, 14th May 1900, Portsoy Scotland
Reduced to Commissioned Boatman on 6th February 1901.

 

He finished off his service in the South of Ireland from June 1903 until 13th February 1904 when he finally enrolled for the Royal Fleet Reserve on 6th August 1904.

 

Discharged from the Fleet Reserve on 3rd October 1910 due to Age as he turned 50 years old.

 

However he was brought back into service on 2nd August 1914 at HMS Columbine as a Petty Officer 2nd Class, becoming Petty Officer 1st Class (Original System) on 18th October 1916.

 

Through the war he served at HMS Columbine through 1914, Pembroke I from 10th December 1914 until 19th July 1917 before being finally demobilised.