How / Where to Try to Return 'Memories' to their Owners / Descendants?

[Leanne Pethick]

Hi All,

I buy & sell antique furniture for a living, and often come across old photographs and other 'Treasures' - things that I would love to have if they were of / belonged to etc my ancestors in drawers.
Have often thought it would be great to have somewhere that I could upload photos and descriptions etc in the hope that someone wanted them.

I recently came across something unusual - a large, round, and quite heavy, bronze? disc and took photos of it with some other 'old stuff' (vintage tins and things like matchboxes etc) to sell on eBay - part of my CV clean out ;-)

Anyway, tonight I was looking at the photos to 'describe' the items in my eBay listing and realised there was a name on the disc: Vivian Gilbert Garner.
A quick google took me to the Australian War Memorial website - he was a young man who was killed in action in Belgium in WW1!
https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/R1730667

Maybe it was seeing the photo and that he came from a small town in rural Victoria... but it prompted me to come here and ask...

What is the best thing to do with it?

I did a search on Vic BDM and he was born in Talbot and there is no marriage for him (he was 27yo when killed).  Also none of the trees in Ancestry have a wife or children for him.

Might be being silly... ??

[youngtug]

It's a "death penny"

[AntonyMMM]

It is a WW1 Memorial Plaque also known as a "death penny". Sent to the families of all those killed, so not a rare item.

They do have a value, and most antique shops I go into have one or two, usually priced around £40-£60. There are also quite a few fakes around.

If you trace the extended famiy of the man and can find descendants of siblings perhaps, they may be interested, but sadly many won't be.

[cath151]

This gives possible parents
https://astreetnearyou.org/person/923683/Second-Lieutenant-Vivian-Gilbert-Garner
Did find at least one tree on Ancestry with James Ponton Garner/Helen Wright with son Vivian Gilbert Garner.
Added... sorry see you have him in trees on Ancestry.

Cathy

[Leanne Pethick]

Thank you so much for your replies!
Yes, I have just read about it on the AWM website: https://www.awm.gov.au/articles/encyclopedia/memorial_scroll

It isn't something I could 'sell'.  Perhaps it is through researching my family and learning how many of them were killed in the WWs, some of them very close to my parents who are both still living. 
I have contacted the AWM to see if it is something they would like.

It would be good to have somewhere to post things like this... I know I would love to find photos, or anything from my ancestors and their families!

PS.  Thanks for the link Cath - I didn't know about that website.  Will add it to my useful research links

[Nanna52]

There is a Garner in the white pages directory.  You could try writing to then to see if they are related.

https://www.whitepages.com.au/garner-j-728991438R

[guest189040]

If you have no luck finding a relative then I would send it to:-

The Australian War Memorial
Treloar Crescent
Campbell ACT 2612
Australia

That said there is a tree on Ancestry that I found where he is listed together with his Brothers and Sisters and working trough the marriages and their children there are no boys to continue the Garner surname.

[sonofthom]

"I know I would love to find photos, or anything from my ancestors and their families!" - problem is that most early photos don't have the sitter's name on them so almost impossible to allocate them to a particular family. I do have a collection of early (1850s/1860s) photos and the number with details written on them is in single figures.

[ThrelfallYorky]

Really hope that you manage to find surviving family. One of my great uncles death resulted in one, but it is sadly long lost to us. We'd like to think some one is at least cherishing it. Good luck.