The medals are inscribed, so they should be easily traced to the person they were given to. I had a similar instance where my dad's WW2 and grand dad's WW1 medals were stolen, although they have yet to resurface. As far as the article goes, I don't care what that woman at the auction house says, the medals were stolen. They're just trying to cover their rear-end. Perhaps they should show the paper trail back to the original owner.