Myer Tutzer Cohen’s Medals and Papers Found in Toronto Pawn Shop

What changed

A Toronto coin collector found the medals, military citations and personal effects of Lt. Myer Tutzer Cohen in a pawn shop. Cohen, a Toronto-born Jewish officer, died during Canada’s victory over German forces at Passchendaele, Belgium, in 1917.

Why it matters

The discovery gives physical shape to a nearly forgotten life. These are not just old objects behind a counter: they are the surviving traces of an officer whose story had largely disappeared from view.

The setting matters, too. Cohen’s medals and papers were not preserved in a clearly identified archive or family collection. They surfaced in a pawn shop, where history can sit beside ordinary secondhand goods until someone recognizes what it is.

The items’ full provenance, authenticity and future disposition are not yet established. But their discovery has already renewed attention to Cohen and to the gap between a person’s service being formally recorded and their life being remembered.