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Exactly where these World War I medals have spent the past two decades will probably remain a mystery.
But whatever their story, Aucklander Paul Hitchfield, the grandson of the soldier they belonged to, is rapt to have them back.
Auckland police found the medals - engraved with "Gunner Percy James McCabe" - in a stolen Subaru driven by a career criminal after a police chase in North Shore City in March 2007.
Officers were forced to wait for the court process before they could return them to their rightful owner.
Constable Martin Renouf turned to the Herald when the New Zealand Army Museum at Waiouru and the national Army archives could not lead him to the soldier's surviving family.
The Herald tracked down Mr Hitchfield, who was delighted to be re-united with the medals last night.
Mr Hitchfield said he had no idea how or when the medals were lost.
He said his grandfather returned from the war in good health, but died from a heart attack in 1971, aged 80. Mr Hitchfield was then 13 and is now his grandfather's next surviving relative.
Mr Hitchfield said he remembered the medals and some old coins being stored in a desk about 20 years ago.
The desk had been in the care of family members while he lived in Japan for 10 years, so the medals could have disappeared then - or possibly even earlier in an unnoticed burglary, he said. Either way, he was thrilled to have them back.
"It's great," Mr Hitchfield said. "I sometimes wondered what happened to them and just thought they'd been lost by somebody while I was in Japan."
Mr Renouf said the man caught with the medals was sentenced to nine months in prison for stealing the car and dangerous driving.
"Like most criminals, he denied any knowledge of this. He said a friend of his stole the car and he was simply using it. He said the medals and coins were in the car when he took it.
"I'm curious to know what on earth he was doing with them. We're never going to get to the bottom of it, unfortunately."
A spokeswoman at the Waiouru Army Museum said the two medals were known as the British War Medal and the Victory Medal, which were awarded to most soldiers in World War I.
When he enlisted for service, Mr McCabe was working for the railways.
