russian federation UMALATOVA MEDALS

[TacHel]

I refer to these medals as "Umalatova". For those not familiar with the term, it refers to Sazhi Umalatova, a Russian politician who pined for past Soviet glory. She was the chairwoman of the Party of Peace and Unity, they issued their own medals in the Soviet style. These medals were basically to remain in the public eye and to raise funds for the party. You might've contributed to a Russian political party without even knowing it! (I did it myself unknowingly 2 years ago )

If you want to see an interview of this lady, CLICK HERE The page also contains a bit of info on the party.

The medals below are ALL "UMALATOVAs", beware of buyers advertizing them as Soviet or Russian military medals. They are in fact, as unofficial as they come.

NOTE: This thread is apolitical, I make no remarks about the lady or the party she represents, nor am I trying to dissuade you from purchasing and collecting these medals. My only concern is to inform my fellow collectors as to their true nature. Most dealers have no idea whatsoever!

Edited December 20, 2016 by TacHel

[TacHel]

1- Medal “Marshal of the Soviet Union Zhukov”

2- Medal “Veteran Internationalist”

3- Order of Stalin

4- Medal “Soviet Fleet Admiral Kuznetsov"

5- Medal “50 Years of Atomic Energy in the USSR”

6- Medal “50 Years of Victory of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War”

7- Medal “80 Years of the Great October Socialist Revolution”

[TacHel]

8- Medal “80 Years of the KGB”

9- Medal “70 Years since the Creation of the Airborne Troops of the USSR”

10- Medal “55 Years of Victory of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War”

11- Medal “80 Years of the Komsomol”

12- Medal “80 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR”

13- Medal “1879-1999 to commemorate the 120th anniversary of the birth of Stalin”

14- Medal “20 Years since the Withdrawal of Soviet Troops from Afghanistan”

[TacHel]

15- Jubilee Medal “90 years of the Union Leninist Communist Youth League”

16- Medal “80 Years of the Border Troops of the USSR”

17- Medal “90 Years of the Great October Revolution”

[bmsm]

15- Jubilee Medal "90 years of the Union Leninist Communist Youth League"

16- Medal "80 Years of the Border Troops of the USSR"

17- Medal "90 Years of the Great October Revolution"

Frank,

Very good information. I'm sure many of the dealers selling these " medals" don't even know this. Keep up the good work!!

Bob

[Ferdinand]

Sorry, disregard.

Edited July 24, 2010 by Ferdinand

[Ferdinand]

But Umalatova also awarded Soviet awards, like almost all Soviet orders and medals and even Hero of the Soviet Union Gold Stars. One of their "New HSUs" was Mikhail Minin, one of the guys that supposedly planted the first Soviet flag on top of the Reichstag in May 1945. Here he is seen wearing his Umalatova Gold Star:

[Ferdinand]

I don't think Umalatova had access to the vaults with unawarded Soviet awards, so they produced their own. This is an Umalatova Order of the Patriotic War. It is numbered 6415 and marked "PP" (perhaps Platinapribor?). It seems to be made of aluminium and cold enamel:

[Ferdinand]

Reverse:

[Ferdinand]

And the screwplate (which is marked and numbered as well, but 3970):

[Ferdinand]

Umalatova also reissued the Soviet campaign medals. Here are a Stalingrad, Kiev, Partisan 2nd Class, Sevastopol and Polar Region Medal:

[Ferdinand]

And their reverses:

[Ferdinand]

I also have a bunch of award certificates for these reissued medals. Here are blank documents for the Polar Region, Partisan 2nd Class, Sevastopol, and Kiev Medal:

[Ferdinand]

Here's a certificate for an Umalatova Order of the Red Banner:

[Ferdinand]

On some of these certificates, worn ribbons, brass suspensions and slightly worn and patinated medals can be seen, so I think they photographed original Soviet awards for some of their reissue certificates.

[Ferdinand]

This is the certificate for the OPW2 shown above. As you can see they simply photographed a Soviet 1985-issue OPW2:

[TacHel]

To be perfectly honest with you... These "re minted" and most of the time extremely poor copies with very questionable documents are meant for sale to fill the party coffers... Not to actually reward anybody...

I forgot to mention: the WW2 ones are made in Poland BTW...:whistle:

Edited July 24, 2010 by TacHel

[Ferdinand]

I wouldn't call the quality of - for example - the campaign medals above poor, the quality is just as moderate as the other Umalatova medals. If the awards and documents are produced purely for the collectors' market, they utterly failed, because I have yet to find anyone who collects these. Do you have any proof that they aren't "awarded" or is that a hypothesis?

[TacHel]

No hypothesis here... I'm a member of 3 Russian (language) phaleristic forums, these "things" were a hot topic last year.

[TacHel]

UMALATOVA medals are no more!

There will be no new ones. The new Russian laws are "FINALLY" being put into effect. They are not permitted to, matter of fact, they're outright forbidden to produce and/or bestow any more medals.

Conversely, and somewhat incredibly, their prices have suddenly gone up. So, if you have a penchant for such things, I suggest you acquire them sooner than later because their prices will soon border on the ridiculous...

[tonytdyagain]

Well, I have a ridiculous pile of these things so if anybody wants to trade, say a 7-Series Beemer for them, let me know.

[army historian]

I have one comment: Anyone who would put Stalin on a medal or anything else is a real sicko!!! He killed more Russians than the Nazies. He, Hilter and Mao are the greatest evils of the 20th Century. If you do not believe me look it up! Cheers Captain Albert

[monfort1]

Hi

Thank you Franck for this very interesting topic

[SergioV]

Thank you for the informations Frank

[Bill Garvy]

Blank "Umalatova" documents for the Order of the Red Star and Development of the Non-Black Earth Regions...