Broken Collection

I've been working through my Uncle's collection that I've inherited and come across something that I'm sure I wouldn't have if it were a complete collection, but what would cause someone to break up a collection? I have the Knight of the Order of Orange-Nassau for Mervyn Arthur Upham and the documentation that goes with it, but he also earned an Order of the British Empire and of course the base WWII medals for his campaigns none of which I have. I could understand maybe if this was something from further back and someone who died a long time ago, but this was a prominent Canadian who only died in 1999. Why would someone break this out of the collection and or break up the collection at all?

The interesting thing is that all the medals that you mentioned are in-named and the group could be put back together.......

So long as you have all the paperwork......

Mike

There are any number of reasons for the situation you describe. I think the question now is, what do you want to do with the existing material?

I'll for sure work on getting the documentation for his base medals and I have lots of un-stamped medals I could use to rebuild. I guess my question for you guys would be; isn't it cheating/fraudulent for me to fully rebuild his collection with spare parts and claim it as complete? Even if I could get supporting documentation that yes he earned those medals, only one was ever actually in his hands. I recognize its the collecting of data + the artifacts that bring life to the collection, but I'm very new to this and want to make sure I do it properly and honourably. My uncle spent his life working on this to bring honour to these people and I want to help continue what he started and left me with. WWI is so much easier, everything is stamped so you know its legit :)

I agree about your concerns about putting a set together..... But if you document fully what you have done and keep it with the medals.......


Mike

True, and I certainly have a few collections that way where he had documents, photographs... and then a letter from the government confirming which medals the individual had earned which he built a display page for to complete the package.
Thanks. I feel more secure in moving forward that direction now.

I see no problem if you say it is a representative group, with the exception of...
It only becomes fraud when / if one was to try and sell the group as original.

Representative group with exception. I'll have to remember that. Very good term, thanks!