Stogieman

Yikes, no photo! Chris, you have my eMail. Send it to me!

Yes, I would agree... the early American History is also rife with all manner of brutal oppression of our fellow man. probably not a lot of "liquidation" orders hanging around and I think our ancesters were probably a little more forthright in expressing their displeasure...... can you just imagine a comparable document from Lexington in 1775?

Samuel Hardy has been found guilty of "anti-American thought". One does not hear a lot about some of this dirt... it is there, but one has to dig a bit. i remember my early texts spoke more along the lines of "Tar & Feathering" and Riding them out of town on a rail sort of activity

I'll interject that even as an ex-patriot Saxon collector, this makes exactly three of these 3-piece AK's I have had a cjance to handle....... ever! Very, very hard to find cross!

And that my friends was just a wild stab into the night...... I could not read this if my life depended on it. But I did remember that there's a number of these earlier style badges that were made there and not at the mint!

I had a Storm TotalScan that I just replaced. I used to do the "empty" background too, with the lid up... what I found though was for some reason, it made huge (KB) scans. I now have a brand new HP "All in one"... takes nice pictures, etc. but it vibrates just enough to tilt a piece before the photo comes in. Very frustrating to work with.

A very sad, but unfortunately quite brutal reality of the early Soviet system. Sad. very sad.

I am happy to say I have confirmation. Now we simply sweat until it's here. I will have the "ScanMan" make nice pix of all the pages in the book!!

Jan, beautiful badge and nice to hear about someone getting a bargain! I think that's still possible and it is what keeps me searching!

Gerd, I've been staring at Igor's SMERSH Group for a long time..... big money, but man... what a spectacular group!

Rusty, I agree.... quality costs and unfortunately for me I have always been one of those 1 really good piece as opposed to a dozen in so-so condition. Groups are a whole other issue though... if it's there, and it's complete... well, that's another story in my eyes!

Ed, I like the steeped in history thing as well........ but I still try to defer to quality, usually equally balanced with rarity/obscurity...... One rar, beat to heck by the owner item will always get my attention!!

Thanks guys, I'm enjoying the discussion!

Yes, please Gentlemen.. let's keep bygones, bygones and leave all our collective baggage at the door please. Remember our aim is to try and have a truly civil exchange of details, information and study.

Thanks!

Moscow Artist's Collaberative?

I agree that the grouping is odd. I will be very curious when I get the 2 double cases to see how the pieces actually fit. I also agree that the style/materials of the cases as can be seen in the photos are pre-1900 easily. A quick check with Glen J and there was no officer listed with this name. (I might have mis-spelled when I sent to Glen, dropping the "t" in Bernhardt. I can see the Jubilee and the 1864, but very curious that he doubled them up in the cases.... the old "I don't want anyone to miss the other side" theory? A first for me. I have handled many, many custom cases, cased groups, etc. in both German and Austrian over the years and this one really "spoke" to me. We shall see!

Final picture.

As an aside, this one's in Armenia and the asking price is 1600 GBP

Reverse.... look at all the casting pocks on this.

The numbers look downright stupid compared to other engraving I've studied so far!

While we are on the subject, I'll toss this one out. Even to my extremely uninitiated eyes this looks like a cast piece of rubbish!

Vatjan! Much thanks for the assist on this one. The price is not out of line with what you suggest so I will take the plunge. My first! Upon receipt, I will post detailed scans of everything for everyone to study. I'd like to say thanks again to everyone who helped me out here!

Wow Danny, Thanks!! I will study it well!

hmmmm, same pin but very different back image. Hmmmmm.

Oh yeah.... can anyone who has the current Mongolian Book that came out recently take a peek and see if there's anything in there that matches this? Thanks!! Rick

Well, any suggestions on anyone who can "read" Mongolian?? French & German I can handle, but I wouldn't even know where to start with something like this!

Unfortunately, this piece was part of a group of three custom cased pieces sold individually ( ) in Germany. All 3 cases bore the name Ferdinand Bernhardt on the lids in gold. I won 2 of the 3 and missed this one. I am currently attempting to plea with the other bidder....

I find these "State Security Badges" fascinating. The intricacy of construction and the enamel work is right up there with what I know and love in Imperial german quality. This is a real minefield and I am trying very hard to learn as much as I can and really appreciate all your help and patience with my (seemingly) endless questions!

I'd buy the one Igor has, but the damages to his put me off. I don't mind the price and trust him to know his stuff pretty cold. My thing is if I'm going to own one of these, I want the condition to be the absolute best I can find.

Like I said, the guy in the photo looks a little too happy to be NKVD ;>)

The badge is tougher for me to gauge as there's so little available to me to reference it against. Thanks much guys! Run away, I shall!

Thanks Mike, just want to make sure I'm retaining the details correctly!!

This fellow has offered me this badge and I am interested, but have no clue on the reality of the piece. Is this a legit Mongolian Badge for anti partisan. The book while very intriguing, doesn't seem to really conform to what I would expect for an award document per se. Any and all opinions are welcome and the guidance greatly appreciated.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...AMEDW%3AIT&rd=1

Thanks much guys!

Thanks Rusty! There's little to go on and this would be a real help for many!!

Good points raised here... The infoirmation I'm seeing gathered is a boon to all and I for one appreciate everything I have learned thus far in this entirely new area for me! Thanks!!

Rusty, please consider not only building the database here for all, but also like Ed stated, remember to retain your rights over both text and images.