Belaruski

Thanks for sharing!

May not apply to this one.. but Polish eagle without Crown is generally Communist era. The fact these all look of similar manufacture may (may!) indicate that they were made as a representation of Polish insignia across a time frame. Rather than issued items.

Beautiful medal dymovdb!

oh yeah! just spotted it on the close up! Very nice! I've seen some German and Austrian made early post war Soviet bits, but this is nice!

Thanks! Of all the Albanian items I have it's the one I don't think I'd be able to replace!

And the back...

Here's a really nice set of medals on a one piece mount with the plastic ribbons 99% intact!

I don't mind that! It's nice to get things like this from time to time. Like the gold Order of Bravery someone posted here and the gold centred Skanderbeg 1st classes by Prawema.

I finally found a silver order and Bob's right it's definately a finished award and there's no sign of any gold finish having worn away.

I just got this meritorious teacher title and it's interesting to see the difference in quality between it and other Albanian made awards. I need to keep an eye out for the artist ones now!

My ever growing collection of Albanian 'tinnies'. Some nice ones here even the lower quaility badges. The 9th congress of the Party of Labour (top left) is particularly nice! Also note the badge celebrating 100 years of the birth of Stalin.

A nice Mennica made Order that I got this week. I think it's made with real silver too.

Thanks for the info!

Another couple of books worth a look at! Pickaxe and Rifle: The Story of the Albanian People by William Ash. A Coming of Age: Albania under Enver Hoxha by James S. O'donnell. Both are really interesting and the former in particular adds another angle to the history of Albania from a socialist perspective.

Thanks for the comment Brian! Just be warned if thinking of getting one, genuine diving helmets are scarce and very expensive! Most of what you will be fake. If you're interested in diving helmets you really ought to buy my book! (shameless plug) from: http://www.amazon.com/Dressed-For-Deep-Stewart-Parker/dp/1471077640/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1348562085&sr=8-1&keywords=dressed+for+the+deep You're right about tha naval connection too, I used to collect Navy diving badges from over the world but realised I was collecting too many 'spheres of interest'!

I'll have to resize some pictures of various bits, but here's the (Russian) helmet I dived almost 2 years ago. Here's a link to a thread of my stuff on a Red Army forum. http://www.redarmylivinghistory.com/soviet-navy-deep-sea-diving-equipment-t1814.html

Hello all, as well as the medals etc. I also have a passion for old fashioned hard hat diving and wrote a relatively light hearted book on the subject that was published last year. I also collect toy divers and action figures so long as they are ye olde helmet divers type, not Scuba, although atmospheric pressure suits are allowed! I am hoping to finish this year a collectors photobook of toy divers so if anyone has any knocking about, please let me know. Thanks!

Heres my set of all 3. The 1st class is the early Prawema one I showed earlier, while 2&3 are Ikom ones. Side by side the Ikom ones are 'finer' with sharper detail and a slightly less chunky feel, although that does sound vague! These really are nice awards.

Here's my order to go with the medal, if anyone has a pic of the RPSH version, I'd love to see (and buy!) it.

Reverse and screwplate :)

I finally picked up a Mennica made Order of Labour for a reasonable price! Apparently only a few hundred made? This one is a 2nd class and the quality is very nice!

2 more variations on the sports/ ready for work and defence badge.

Well, don't throw it away! But you should post some pictures!

That's a great medal, never seen one before, and I may have to look out for one now!

No problem! This was one I never thought I'd find, so I'm happy to share!