slava1stclass

Gents, Full Cavalier M. Yeryomenko. Regards, slava1stclass

Gents, Ya. I. Samsonov. A very nice 4x4 Full Cavalier - four St. George crosses and four St. George medals. Regards, slava1stclass

Gents, Full Cavalier K. Vashatko took a lickin' and kept on tickin'. A nice mix of decorations to boot. Regards, slava1stclass

Gents, HSU Captain First Rank M. V. Greshilov. There's gotta be a mouth there somewhere. Regards, slava1stclass

Gents, Gospodin A. I. Tsimbalyuk is in the club. Regards, slava1stclass

Gents, Meet "Long Boy 2." Regards, slava1stclass

Chris, It's unlikely for a couple of reasons: 1) many of the enlisted and officer ranks who were awarded Soviet decorations would have demobilized immediately at war's end and would not have been on active duty during the Korean War; 2) for those career enlisted men/officers/GOs still on active duty, I can only surmise that like their Soviet counterparts who received Allied decorations, they opted (or were instructed from high) not to wear decorations of a now "adversarial" nation. The present day U.S. Army has a procedure to request approval to wear awarded foreign decorations and badges. Relatedly, it also maintains a list of foreigh badges authorized for wear on the U.S. Army service uniform. I do not know if a similar request/authorization system was in place in the 1940s and 1950s. Regards, slava1stclass

Gents, NavyFCO is correct. This image depicts U.S. Army officers (note .45 cal sidearms) congratulating fellow 2nd Infantry Division soldiers who were just presented the Order of Glory 3rd Class by a Red Army general officer. I first posted this image over five years ago: http://gmic.co.uk/in...id/#entry200707 The likely presentation site, however, is Czechoslovakia based on the 2nd ID's location at war's end as well as separate, but related images of similar presentations to 2nd ID personnel. Regards, slava1stclass

Nick, Thanks for the additional images - the one of the DSM to the Senior Sergeant is nice. As for Maj Gen Antoshkin, we had his I.D. down some time ago. Regards, slava1stclass

Gents, It always disheartens me to see the very obvious gold check "slices" and "gouges" on Glory 1st Class orders. I've encountered these unsightly, intentional disfigurements made by less-than-well educated middlemen on specimens for sale as far back as the early to mid '90s. As a collector, one must assess whether the presence of such blemishes outweighs the opportunity to purchase either a loose Glory 1st or one that is part of a Full Cavalier set. Given the Glory 1st's relative rarity (compared to the HSU gold star for instance) and pure combat-related pedigree, it can be a touchy call. Regards, slava1stclass

Continued.

Gents, The well-known NYC-area dealer is currently offering this composite Full Cavalier set for $14,000.00 - his first Full Cavalier set offering in seven months. It is a composite set because the Order of Glory 2nd Class, while original, had its original serial number altered to match this recipient's Order of Glory 2nd Class' serial number. This is a Category 4 set in that it includes the recipient's Ordenskaya Knizkha (see post #1 above for explantion of categories). The question is whether one would be comfortable purchasing a "Full Cavalier set" wherein one of the orders is not original to the set. His $14,000.00 asking price would seem to account for this discrepancy. Regards, slava1stclass

Gents, A second image (albeit blurrier) of the same officer/jump wings (post # 117 above) from a different angle. Regards, slava1stclass

Gents, This is the first single Glory 1st Class offered by the well-known NYC-area dealer in quite some time. Asking price: $9,000.00. Condition is average. This price is broadly in line with the asking price he tagged to the last single Glory 1st Class he had for sale. That said, the world's continuing economic malaise has dampened any market-influenced price inflation. He has listed this one before. Way back in September 2001, he offered it for $1,575.00. At the current asking price, a 471% return on investment is not all too shabby. Regards, slava1stclass

Gents, While not a decoration per se, this is the first time I've ever encountered an immediate post-war image of a Red Army soldier wearing U.S. Army Airborne wings. We know U.S. Army personnel were awarded Red Army Guards badges at war's end. We now have evidence of a Red Army officer wearing U.S. Army jump wings. Regards, slava1stclass

Noor, 20 Red Army personnel received the U.S. Army Distinguished Service Medal during WW II. See this link for more: http://gmic.co.uk/in...hl__ u.s. army Regards, slava1stclass

Moderating Team, With 10,695 unique views as of this post, could consideration be given to pinning this topic thread? Thank you. Regards, slava1stclass

Bob, Concur in your thinking as spelled out in point one above. Depending on how many years ago one "bought in", your second point may also hold true - although to a lesser degree. One thing that is undisputed (and has been the case for at least ten years) is that the flow from the East is nothing like it was in the early 90's to very early 00's. Even if Full Cavalier sets were to surface in the East today, they would likely remain in place given the much changed income demographic among certain strata of Russian/Ukrainian society. Regards, slava1stclass

Gents, Other than the occasional fake Full Cavalier set listing on eBay, there have been no original Full Cavalier sets to hit the open market for many months now. The continuing down economy (especially in Europe and the United States) undoubtedly plays a large role in this fact. It remains to be seen if we'll again experience the go-go days of the late '90s/early 00s when new Full Cavalier sets and single Glory 1s were hitting the market with much greater regularity. Regards, slava1stclass

Chief, His full name (albeit transliterated into English) is included in post #1 above. Regards, slava1stclass

Gents, The Glory 1st in post #112 above is no longer listed on his site. Regards, slava1stclass

Gents, The referenced Full Cavalier set (asking price $29,000.00) is no longer listed on his site. One can assume it was returned unsold to the consigner. Regards, slava1stclass

Gents, The new year brings a new offering - Order of Glory 1st Class (s/n 812) with an asking price of $8,500.00. I would assess it as falling in the 5 to 6 range (out of 10) on the condition scale. Unfortunately, no original documentation comes with the order. I can only assume the world economy's continuing malaise is the catalyst prying loose the recent Glory 1st Class orders we've seen enter the market from private collections. Regards, slava1stclass

Gents, The Glory 1st Class in question (s/n 121) is no longer listed on his site. It appears the $800.00 drop in price (to $8,900.00) moved it along. Realistic pricing does matter in the end. Regards, slava1stclass

Gents, He recently dropped the price on the single Glory 1st Class by $800.00. He is also now offering a "composite" Full Cavalier set that contains the original Glory 1st Class, the Full Cavalier's 1985-issue OPW 1 and a Glory II and Glory III that were added to round out the set (with their associated "made to match" serial numbers). FWIW, there is a nice set of documents with this offering. Asking price for this "composite" set is $11,500.00. Regards, slava1stclass