Soviet And another ORB for the collection...

[Gerd Becker]

Gentlemen,

this arrived today in my mailbox and i wanted to share it with you, as this ORB isn?t just another example, but a very special one. Its obviously a Type 3 Variation 4 after the PMD-classification and a Type 3 Variation 5 on the MONDVOR-website. The appearance of this piece is a little different to other T3 V5 from the MONDVOR website, but thats not the reason, why it is special.

So, what is the reason, why this one is special?

Andreas, you are excluded from this quiz

Here it is:

[Alfred]

nice piece Gerd ,

that would be an enrichment for your collection and to the group to which to red banner belongs.

What other awards are missing from the group ?

regards

Andreas

"So, what is the reason, why this one is special?

Andreas, you are excluded from this quiz "

[Gerd Becker]

Du alter Spielverderber

Also missing are two more Red Stars and a Lenin. You never know...

Andreas, can you see the differences to the piece on the MONDVOR website?

Edited February 21, 2007 by Gerd Becker

[Ed_Haynes]

So this is a happy reunification?? Well done, everyone!

This is the sort of event we all wish was more common, as the broken history comes back together again.

[Gerd Becker]

So this is a happy reunification?? Well done, everyone!

This is the sort of event we all wish was more common, as the broken history comes back together again.

Yes, Ed, thats it

Take a look at this thread:

http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=2405

Here are the two pieces reunited. I allways wanted a multiple Red Banner group, but that i would get it piece by piece, who would have known?

My deepest thanks to Andrew (MONDVOR) for finding this piece for me and managing the trade, also to Eugene and Alex Filer for their assistence

[Gerd Becker]

award card

[deptfordboy]

Hey Gerd, great result - you must be really happy, and it's good to see a reunite here.

Incidentally, is anyone keeping track of the number of reunites brought about by this forum, third party websites listing known numbers etc? I know this is something that is done with British medals...

Cheers

Gilbert

[JimZ]

Cool!!! Hard work pays off!!!!!

Just so happy on the rare occasions it happens!

Jim

[Gerd Becker]

Thanks Gilbert

I know, that at least Andrew has a large database and tries to reunite broken groups and as far as i know, he was successful four times so far.

Yes, of course i am very happy to reunite these two pieces and i wonder, when and where these may have been seperated. In a dealers inventar or directly in the family? I know at least for sure, that the dealer, i bought the screwback from, did not intentionally broke up a group. The later ORB popped up in a collection in the USA and luckily the owner was willing to trade it for another ORB.

But all this wouldn?t have been possible if Andrew did not keep track of the orders on the market and in collections worldwide

Gerd

[Gerd Becker]

Cool!!! Hard work pays off!!!!!

Just so happy on the rare occasions it happens!

Jim

Absolutely, Jim Me too, whereever it happens. The soviet-screwback.com website had three results and Andrew was lucky four times to reunite pieces.

Long live the world wide (collector) web

[Bryan]

Amazing! Congratulations for the great work! It would be nice if it was happening more often.

You?ve got yourself a very nice ORB group. May I ask you how many ORB you have in your collection?

[Gerd Becker]

Thanks, Bryan. Indeed, i also wish, it would happen more often.

I don?t have so many Red Banners, 8 only, i have switched a bit to OPW?s in the last year and this is the first new ORB since quite some while...

[Mondvor]

I feel really happy when the groups separated years ago by greedy dealers or careless veteran's relatives finally can reunite once again. Those orders deserve to stay together because they are real witnesses of many historical events of XX century.

I hope some day missing Red Star from this group would also reappear somewhere. So far, unfortunately, I don't have any traces of this number. Let's keep our eyes open. If two orders from the group came to the market, it is a great chance to find another one.

[Gerd Becker]

I feel really happy when the groups separated years ago by greedy dealers or careless veteran's relatives finally can reunite once again. Those orders deserve to stay together because they are real witnesses of many historical events of XX century.

I hope some day missing Red Star from this group would also reappear somewhere. So far, unfortunately, I don't have any traces of this number. Let's keep our eyes open. If two orders from the group came to the market, it is a great chance to find another one.

I absolutely agree with you, Andrew. You are doing a great job and its fantastic, that you were able to recognize it as the missing long-service ORB to my screwback ORB.

And yes, that makes sense, if this one was out there somewhere, there is a chance, that there are his Red Stars or his Lenin out there too. That would be awesome and is probably too much luck to ask for, if one of those would be found.

[Ed_Haynes]

At least in the collecting world I know best, if one medal of a broken group comes to market, the chances are high that the others are -- as they used to say in the 'X-Files' -- 'out there'. Good hunting!

[Mondvor]

Unfortunately for the Order of Lenin chances are not that good as for the other awards. I've seen many groups where the only missing thing was Lenin. In 80th and early 90th Red Stars, GPWs and Red Banners were pretty cheap. Their price was around 10 - 25 USD and one would not have much profit by selling them. At the same time Lenin was 300 USD because it was made of 0.900 gold. When I just started my career as a dentist in one of Kiev's city clinics in 1998 I met an old dental technician. He told me a horrible story that 15 - 20 years ago every week they destroyed 2 to 3 Lenins to make golden crowns or bridges (they were popular). Regular gold jewelery was made of 0.583 or 0.585 gold and it was not enough for golden crowns. But Lenin with 0.900 gold (as well as Russian Empire 5 and 10 Rouble coins) perfectly matched the standarts of dental appliances. So many Lenins all over USSR were lost forever. You can see their traces observing "golden smiles" of some old Russian folks

[Gerd Becker]

Sad, but true. But if you think of the hard times many people had to go through in the USSR, one can understand, that these were just a piece of valuable metal for them. And the dental technicians were happy, that they could buy gold cheaper than on other markets.

Unfortunately not everyone treasures these things like we collectors do and i don?t even want to start to think about how many beautiful history-loaden german and international awards are lying on the garbage dumps in Germany.

[order_of_victory]

Crongats Gerd

I wish I could have some look like that with on of my dismembered groups

Order of Victory

[Guest Rick Research]

So tell us: how far apart from each other-- distance and time-- did these two turn up from each other?

[JimZ]

When I just started my career as a dentist in one of Kiev's city clinics in 1998 I met an old dental technician. He told me a horrible story that 15 - 20 years ago every week they destroyed 2 to 3 Lenins to make golden crowns or bridges (they were popular). Regular gold jewelery was made of 0.583 or 0.585 gold and it was not enough for golden crowns. But Lenin with 0.900 gold (as well as Russian Empire 5 and 10 Rouble coins) perfectly matched the standarts of dental appliances. So many Lenins all over USSR were lost forever. You can see their traces observing "golden smiles" of some old Russian folks

Ouch! Not a very encouraging fact!!

Interesting though how gold keeps on being re-used and recyled. Makes me wonder if any of the gold ever used in the manufacture ever came from post war East Germany that was originally gathered during a darker period of German history! Just wondering of course - Not saying it did or it could have!!!

Jim

[Gerd Becker]

So tell us: how far apart from each other-- distance and time-- did these two turn up from each other?

Rick, i bought the first one three years ago from Alexei Merezkho and this one was found in a colletion in New Jersey, about a month ago. I guess, they were split up by a dealer or collector some time ago. Although i am sure, Alexei did not break up this group.

OoV, if you have posted your researched pieces here on the GMIC, then you data is very likely already in Andrews and others database, so there are people out there, who keep an eye out for your missing orders too.

Thanks again everyone

Gerd

Edited February 22, 2007 by Gerd Becker

[Alfred]

Du alter Spielverderber

Also missing are two more Red Stars and a Lenin. You never know...

Andreas, can you see the differences to the piece on the MONDVOR website?

The difference to a Typ 3 Var 5 seem to be in the torch and the middle where the hammer and sickle are.

regards

Andreas

[Gerd Becker]

The difference to a Typ 3 Var 5 seem to be in the torch and the middle where the hammer and sickle are.

regards

Andreas

Ganz genau, Andreas.

These exaclty are the most obvious differences to a normal Variation 5 from the MONDVOR-website, what you show in your comparison. Andrew has discovered this variation. The torch and the "berries" of the wreath around Hammer&Sickel looks like on Type 4 ORB?s.

all the best,

Gerd