slava1stclass

To all: The Russian Order of Saint Andrew would seem to be an appropriate "on menu" contemporary award. For those of you with a command of the Russian language, check it out at: http://award.adm.gov.ru/ Note, too, the decree establishing the Hero of Russia states: "1. Звание Героя Российской Федерации присваивается за заслуги перед государством и народом, связанные с совершением геройского подвига." Translation: "1. The title Hero of the Russian Federation is awarded for services before the government and nation characterized by the accomplishment of heroic achievements." Whereas former U.S. Olympic silver medalist ice skater Nancy Kerrigan would clearly qualify (after surviving Tonya Harding's goons' vicious assault), the same doesn't hold true for the aforementioned Russian skater. Regards, slava1stclass

To all: Personally, I wholeheartedly agree. To award a Hero of Russia for winning a slew of Winter Olympic medals (see first post in this thread), however, is a major distortion. Regards, slava1stclass

To all: While I do not disagree with Dave's points, one must not overlook the fact that a Full Cavalier of the Order of Glory was accorded the same rights and privileges as a HSU within Soviet society - a HSU and a Full Cavalier of the Order of Glory were equals in this respect. As Dave noted, the HSU was a "Title" and not a "Decoration." Considering the HSU could be awarded for non-combat acts, its pure combat-related nature is diminished - unlike the Order of Glory. The Victoria Cross and Medal of Honor are decorations (not titles) awarded solely for combat valor - pure and simple. That said, my position reference the relative importance/ranking of Full Cavaliers of the Order of Glory remains firm. Regards, slava1stclass

Lieber Herr Zulus, As I am not a dealer, it was not my intent to associate current price ranges with the categories of Full Cavalier sets I've established above. Suffice it to say, however, that pricing among the more well-known Western dealers tends to follow this categorization. I anticipate prices to continue to rise across all categories. Why you may ask? The answer lies in the following reasons: 1) Full Cavalier sets' relative rarity. Beyond the fact that there were only some 2600 Full Cavaliers to begin with, one need simply remember the "golden days" of the early to mid '90s. As Soviet orders and medals began to flow freely out of the East, there were countless instances of original, loose/single Slava/Glory 1st Class orders available on the market. Back then, the focus was more on the gold aspect of the 1st Class than it was on retaining the historical integrity of the Full Cavalier set itself. That said, the true number of Full Cavalier sets is even lower. This fact alone will contribute to continuing price inflation for complete Full Cavalier sets. 2) The Full Cavalier booklet was not introduced until early 1976 - some 31 years after the war ended. By that time a good number of Full Cavalier winners had died reducing even further the number of Full Cavalier sets that may come with the Full Cavalier booklet. I (and clearly the dealers) associate more value to a Full Cavalier set that has a Full Cavalier booklet because the booklet is a form of research in and of itself. In the booklet one normally has the winner's photo as well as a brief synopsis of his unit assignment history given the award authority information contained therein. 3) A given nation's highest military order for combat valor always retains the edge in pricing and collectability. One need only think of the British Victoria Cross and the U.S. Medal of Honor. I firmly believe a Full Cavalier of the Order of Glory set ranks in this category. Bottom Line: My personal recommendation is that if one could own only one (or more) Soviet group of orders it should be an Order of Glory Full Cavalier set. Hope this helps. Regards, slava1stclass

To all: Col Gen Dmitri Svyatayev, CG, 33rd Soviet Army gets ready to lay a wet one on LTG William M. Simpson, CG, 9th U.S. Army after Simpson awarded him the Legion of Merit at Simpson's HQ in the vicinity of Braunschweig, Germany on May 28th, 1945. Now that's the spirit of Allied cooperation! Regards, slava1stclass

To all: The above ranking remains valid as of 2 October 2006. It has been quite some time since I've seen a Category 1, 2 or 3 Full Cavalier set on the market. A partial Category 4 set (discussed at http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=11402) is the only set I've seen on the market of late. Regards, slava1stclass

To all: First time I've ever witnessed this - a dealer who assesses that PMD's condition ratings were too high! Normally, they argue in the other direction. Regards, slava1stclass "Please note, that we do not agree with high condition ratings, given by Paul McDaniel to both Orders, since both of them do show signs of possible repairs on reverse. We believe that condition ratings should be at least 1 point lower, for both Orders. Early Red Banner also seems to be converted to suspension and some point, and later restored to original. Despite all that, overall condition is above average on all Orders, with superb eye appeal."

To all: I have long held that if one could own only one grouping of Soviet combat-related orders that grouping should be a Full Cavalier set of the Order of Glory. Such a set truly embodies the up close and personal nature of combat one envisions when studying the campaigns in the East. As others have already opined in this thread, certain Soviet orders may be higher in precedence - like the Order of Lenin. With the Lenin, however, one runs the risk that it could have been awarded for exceeding the year's quota for tractor production as easily as it could have been awarded for a valorous act. With the Order of Glory, there is no such chance. As Wild Card previously noted, to each his own. Regards, slava1stclass

Dave, I'm happy to hear you were able to move one of your two two-digit Glory 1st sets. I concur with you that the price you sold it at was indeed very, very reasonable. As for the current asking price for a Glory 1st, I would tend to believe that given its sheer rarity in numbers (when compared to a HSU for example), pricing in the 7K range (especially for a non-duplicate version) does not seem all that far off the mark. Regards, slava1stclass

Gerd, Alles klar. Regards, slava1stclass

To all: $15,000.00 is about right for the current asking price for a Full cavalier set - variants aside. Actually the pricing on this set is a bit high as the 3rd Class is in fact a cast copy/substitute and not the recipient's original order. As for the current market asking price for an individual/single Order of Glory 1st Class, it's more in the range of $7,000.00. Regards, slava1stclass

To all: Currently available at a well-known NYC-area dealer. Asking price: $14,700. Details follow: Regards, slava1stclass Full Cavalier of Orders of Glory set to a reconnaissance soldier. Group includes: 1) Order of Glory 1st Class #1743. 2) Order of Glory 2nd Class #21 (!!!), "BORDER" reverse. 3) Cast copy of Order of Glory 2nd Class, worn long time by comrade Pravdenko in place of his lost 3rd Class. One of the photographs shows it distinctively on his tri-glory bar. 4) Order of Patriotic War 2nd Class #762426. 5) Order's Book, listing all his Orders of Glory, together with Order of Patriotic War 2nd Class. There is also a medal "For Bravery" listed, bu ' missing. 6) Medal "For Victory over Germany" with Certificate. 7) Medal "For Victory over Japan". 8) Medal "20 years Anniversary of Victory over Germany". 9) Medal "50 years Anniversary of Soviet Armed Forces". 10) 2 large original photos of comrade Pravdenko P.D.. 11) Original Ukrainian newspaper with photo and large article about comrade Pravdenko P.D., called "Reconnaissance Wingman", by Colonel G.Andreev, Rt. (in ukrainian). 12) English translation for the above article. 13) Copy of biography of comrade Pravdenko, from the book "Full Cavaliers of Orders of Glory" (includes photo). Excellent condition on all items! Superb set with very rare 2nd Class Order of Glory #21 !!! $14,700

To all: Ed raises an interesting point. While I agree that many of this (and other) forum's members tend to focus on the military element, it by no means equates to a general denigration of all things civil. The USSR had more than enough orders/medals that were intended for non-military actions/achievements and some (like the Order of Lenin) that could be legitimately bestowed for either. If the civil side is your kick, all the more power to you. My personal preference, however, is the military side in particular those orders/medals that were solely bestowed for combat-related valor. As a well-known NYC-area dealer recently opined, if there was only one Soviet order/group of orders he could own, it would be a Full Cavalier group. Regards, slava1stclass

To all: I thought I'd seen it all, but this one definitely takes the cake: http://www.warheroes.ru/hero/hero.asp?Hero_id=3070 For those of you who don't read Russian here's the bottom line: Awarded the Hero of Russia for her "leading achievements in sports, courage and heroism displayed at the ХVIII Winter Olympics in 1998." As if her four gold and one silver Olympic medals weren't enough. Now you know why I focus on the Order of Glory with particular emphasis on its Full Cavaliers. Order of Glory = in your face combat valor - no ifs, ands or buts about it. Regards, slava1stclass

To all: http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/08/11...s.ap/index.html http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/08/13...reut/index.html Regards, slava1stclass

Alan, Unfortunately the sad fact is that for many caught in a potential compromising position the simpler solution will prevail namely, the tried and proven Soviet method of pulling out a file/sharp instrument and removing the serial number. Regards, slava1stclass

To all: http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/08/10...t.ap/index.html Regards, slava1stclass

Rick, Danke for the merge! Sorry for the misfire. Regards, slava1stclass

To all: One of the well-known NYC-area dealers currently has a cased, documented and PMD-certified Tractor Lenin available. Serial number 74. Asking price: $77,000.00. Regards, slava1stclass

To all: Sold for $5,250.00 Regards, slava1stclass

To all: As for the Terek-Dagestan connection, if you look closely at the shoulder board you will notice a lowercase cyrillic "g" after the uppercase cyrillic "D" as Dave noted in his original post. Although the "g" doesn't appear in the above graphic, this would appear to be the unit. Regards, slava1stclass

To all: Note, too, that this is not a complete original Full Cavalier set. A cast copy of his Glory II has been substituted for the missing original Glory III. Regards, slava1stclass

To all: Hermann Goering would be my guess. Regards, slava1stclass

To all: End state Army/Corps unit designations may be found on the following link: http://www.army.mil/modularforces/map2.htm Scroll over each patch for details. 1st Army no longer exists per se although its former patch lives on. 6th Army is resurrected. The Army designation for USARPAC is yet to be determined although 8th Army would be a logical choice. Regards, slava1stclass

Dave, Happy to hear that you were able to move them along - hopefully at the price you were seeking. Regards, slava1stclass