Stogieman

Nice to see so many early and rare variations. I have tons more photos of what my Albert Collection was... but most are pretty small. The limits of 8 year old technology ;>)

Go on, ask how much he paid. He's dying to tell you! ;>)

Fabulous Claudio, nice to see a familiar face!!

Gee whiz WildCard! If you're going to have just one... that's the one to have! That makes exactly two I've seen. Ever. Andreas had the other one in a mounted group that was shown in the SOS report thread.

Zook! Welcome Aboard.. I'd stick with having Marshall find it for you.... Or Detlev Niemann. Less so with Weitze, many more errors there. Not as consistent as others.

Yes, one would suspect that....... but not unheard of when the Honor Cross is here. If he had a Hungarian, Bulgarian and no Austrian, I'd tend to be very suspicious. But with the Honor Cross.... that could simply be a choice.

See how many Albrecht's Orden etuis you can spot! ;>)

And just because......... some interesting variations on the 2.Klasse Verleihungsetui:

Cased Officer's Cross

Rare case for Albert's Cross with Swords

From the former stogieman collection, now residing in Germany:

Whoops! Fabulous Bar. Rare Cross. Wonderful!

Interesting to see that reverse Tom...... about the third that style of pin/hinge/prong....... interesting and unusual. I suspect Godet.

But it's the same situation as the uniform..... Captain's uniform is clear-cut NKVD with correct pleated pockets, etc., etc., etc. Major's uniform is clearly Army blouse made as NKVD (high) officer, 1. quality, etc., etc. Piping, tabs, devices, buttons (correct WW2 2-part) stitching, maker stamps...... all are right as rain. Plain and simple, no-one knows. These types of items simply do not appear on the market so there's not much of anything you can compare to. We really need to get you up here, or maybe if I can visit my sister in Fredericksburg we can meet up. Like to see Robert as well, he's greater DC, should be able to figure this out somehow, sometime. I like minefields....... let's me show people how "detail-oriented" I am..... Check the Narod.Ru site on these..... every single badge is different! There simply is no consistency in these predominently hand-made, hand-finished pieces.... Frustrates the heck out of me.

David my comments above are factual...... every time I have tried to get someone to talk about these items it's the same story, the same half-truths/misinformation and the same secret society type nonsense. And I am not kidding...... the "experts" cannot come to a consensus amongst themselves. I fail to understand how anyone could ever hope to even begin to learn about things that the folks that have been around for awhile refuse to discuss. I have looked at just about every single published photograph around on these badges for the last 8 months. Stared at them for hour after hour after hour......... made comparison photo merges and on and on and on....... you know what? There are none that are exactly the same. Doesn't matter. NKVD, MOOP, MVD no identical badges but lots of badges that are very similar and this includes badges that are within 100 of each other for serial numbers. let's talk serial numbers. The bulk of the NKVD badges out there are 4000++ in serial numbers..... or higher. There appears to be at least 3 different serial number runs.... I don't buy for a minute that all were made at one mint. My outsider point of view. Same deal with the uniform. The prior NKVD uni (Captain) I posted......... no one had any problems there. In order for me to accept the fact that the uniform is garbage.... this means: Fake Visor Cap with fake maker stamps Fake uniform with fake cuffs, fake piping, fake collar tabs, fake rank devices, fake maker stamps, etc., etc. How many NKVD Officer Field Uniforms have even come on the market in the past 20 years? I'm hearing a handful at best....... So there's no baseline There's no standards There's no discussion the experts themselves cannot agree but everyone leaps to inconsistent conclusions David, I don't think your remarks are innappropriate at all and you're certainly entitled to not just your opinion but the right to express it freely. I will ever and always defend your right to express yourself here, whether I agree with the opinion expressed or not......

eBay seller with nice condition: Vol 2: Prussia Vol 3: Saxony Vol 4, 5, 6 http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZsopwithQQhtZ-1 These are basicly almost impossible to find anymore. Good luck if you try for it. I'm not the seller, nor do I know them.... just thought what a great chance to get some fairly scarce books!

I've removed my photos from the thread. I have only a few comments to make here. The uniform is the same type/style/make as another NKVD uniform that was gushed over. Same source. Same source as the pilot uniform that was gushed over. I spoke directly to Robert Pandis, the man who wrote the treatise and currently accepted standard body of work on Honored Employee badges. Robert also wrote the treatise/published work on Imperial German Aviation Badges. Two years later he reversed his published work on aviation badges. Robert put me in touch with a small group of individuals who were the "experts". What I found was that they could not even agree amongst themselves as to what constituted "real" & what constituted "fake". Same badge shown to four different people and no consensus could be found. Same situation with several documents, including documents/badges from the most trusted source in the US and two groups that were direct family purchases. Again, no consensus. What was even more unusual was that one of the "experts" went so far to ask me what I would be willing to pay for one of his badges, which of course was "real". What I have found in Soviet is that there's no shortage of the word "fake", but a clear unwillingness to document and/or back up the assertations with any kind of documentation, facts, or details. I have asked repeatedly, in several places for people to post their examples of these badges and to supply weights, dimensions and details. No one steps up to the plate. Apparently no one has a real one. With one exception of a collector who asked for anonymity who supplied me with detailed photos and dimensions and weights. (which this badge was consistent with BTW)...... of course again the "experts" were evenly split on this group as well... rather interesting, isn't it? Apparently, every single one of these badges that one will ever find is an outright fake........ Unfortunately, it seems that so little is really known about these badges by so few people that no real discussion can take place. I anxiously await the open sharing of information as we find in so many other genres. Frankly, I find the unwillingness to share details and information beyond the word "fake" quite discouraging. But such is life in the collecting field.

Lighter spots where patina is worn is from an aborted attempt to clean the badge. Buttons look "bright" from flashback from the scanner.

I don't know, every major Soviet dealer has them available for sale.... they aren't all gone from what I can see?

Local libraries might be a good starting point. Once upon a time, all the periodicals were microfiched! Good Luck with your search!

I took a look through his stuff last night. In one instance, he's selling an orders book that actually has the entered number and date crossed out and new details written in!

A Leopold in real gold is a very special piece. I've only ever had one. Cased. It was spectacular.....

Wow! 467- Euro for an uncased cross.... now somebody wanted this variation real bad!

Hi Ralph, these unofficial pieces were handed out to every regiment that participated. Often, you'll see these to a specific unit. They're an interesting side-bar and the variety can be pretty amazing. Quality is usually quite high given what they were. First one I've seen on a lapel stud though!!

Congrats Chris. This is only the fourth SBM document I have seen in the past 6 years!!