Jump to content
News Ticker
  • I am now accepting the following payment methods: Card Payments, Apple Pay, Google Pay and PayPal
  • Latest News

    Odessa Medal


    Recommended Posts

    Hi Gentlemen,

    this medal for Defence of Odessa has poor relief details, especially on the soldiers figures. Is this a worn original or a copy?

    What are you opinions?

    thank you :)
    Tomasz

    Odessa_A.jpg

    Odessa_R.jpg

    Odessa_D.jpg

    Edited by tompress
    Link to comment
    Share on other sites

    It is a bad reproduction, for a number of reasons. Everything on the avers is too approximate. The suspension ring is totally unrealistic. In addition, I would be always prudent with medals showing such a strong wear traces in the middle of the reverse (look at the N (H) in нашу). Finally, the reverse of the medal shows details of the voenkomat versions, in contrast with the soldered ring.

    Link to comment
    Share on other sites

    From the pictures I do not see anything obviously wrong with this medal, but keep in mind I am not an expert and Odessa counts a variety of fakes of very good quality. Compared with the one published in mondvor website, there are anyhow some differences which might be due to illumination effects, like the general impression that there are too many details especially on the avers, compared to the general "soft" aspect of the odessa medal. Also in this case, the high contrast might be due to the light impingement angle.  Let's see if other collectors will leave more conclusive comments.

    odessa.jpg

    Link to comment
    Share on other sites

    • 1 year later...

    Hello Tomasz

    I have a similar one that someone has removed the original ring and soldered a new ring on to try to turn it into an early one.

    The thing that I was looking at to see if it was genuine was the top arm of the 'K'.

    The 'K' on mine, and it looks like yours, the arm appears to be straight while I am lead to believe that the top arm of the 'K' should have a curve in it. it is hard to see on the Mondvor site unless you can magnify the picture.

    Can anyone confirm that my observation is correct.

    Cheers

    Frank 

    Link to comment
    Share on other sites

    • 1 month later...
    • 4 weeks later...

    Voenkomat is an abbreviation (Военкомат) from the Russian "Военный комиссариат" or Military Commissariat, similar, in some respects I imagine, to U. S. Draft Boards.  It refers to medals issued by the various city and regional military commissariats located throughout the former Soviet Union in the period after the war.  They were usually issued/awarded many years later so the medals appear newer, unworn, mint.  Here, for example, is a Voenkomat Defense of Stalingrad Medal.  I have Voenkomat issued documents some as late as 1990.  Their relative value is less because they are newer and not period issued.  I have heard them referred to as "catch-up" awards, much like the Red Stars, Bravery Medals, Orders of Glory, and so on issued in the 1970's &1980's for war wounds.

    Defense of Stalingrad Commissariat issue obverse.jpg

    Defense of Stalingrad Commissariat issue reverse.jpg

    Edited by Bill Garvy
    Link to comment
    Share on other sites

    • 2 weeks later...
    On ‎03‎/‎11‎/‎2018 at 08:03, Bill Garvy said:

    throughout the former Soviet Union in the period after the war.  They were usually issued/awarded many years later so the medals appear

    So completely original, but awarded much later.  How long were these official medals actually manufactored?  1980s?

    Link to comment
    Share on other sites

    • 3 months later...

    Awarding of Commemorative Medals for the WW2 campaigns was carried out until the fall of Soviet Union, and very likely also after the USSR had disappeared. I have seen an awarding booklet for Defense of the Polar Region dated 1995.

    The term "Voenkomat" is often associated to a specific variation of the medals, corresponding to the Type 3 on most of the WW2 commemorative medals, which started being manufactured in the early 60-ies. In 1960, most of the WW2 veterans had already left the army, therefore late awards had to be collected at the Military Commissariats.

    The suspension ring struck with the coin is the most important feature. Its implementation required completely new dies, both for the avers and the reverse of the medal. The font of the letters in "For our Socialist Motherland" changed in many details (see the picture with a side-by-side comparison between a Type 1 and a Type 3). The Defense of Kiev is a clear example of Voenkomat medal, since the award was instituted in 1961, and the medal only exists in the type 3. 

    Moscow-trio-rear-03 copy.jpg

    Link to comment
    Share on other sites

    Create an account or sign in to comment

    You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

    Create an account

    Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

    Register a new account

    Sign in

    Already have an account? Sign in here.

    Sign In Now
    ×
    ×
    • Create New...

    Important Information

    We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.