utopis

Nicely done, though I prefer the display in the corresponding cases. Where are these from?

A great joke by the auction house Spink: Their military auction on the 24th of July features a Russian made breast star of the Order of the DD 1st type 2nd class 3rd grade. The joke, you ask? Estimate: 3000 - 4000 GBP

Well, to be honest I was too lazy and I thought that you would do it, once you'd see the topic. Seems I was right. - The second one is just hilarious. It was offered on YJ a short while ago, if remember correctly. I wonder what they did to the reverse...

Oh, come on. Maybe for someone that never handled any order in his life the quality would be acceptable. But compared to the original this (luckily) is garbage. As the thread says "slowly and not expertly"

It seems that the same manufacturers that made the fake 2nd class rising sun, now faked the paulonian flowers breast star: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Star-of-the-Grand-Cordon-of-the-Order-of-the-Paulownia-Flowers-Japanese-WW-2-/301232811164?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4622dfec9c

Sold for ~ $15.000

We shall await the miracle!

I'll let you in on a secret - but psst, no one needs to know: ebay

I'd agree if the neck badge was undamaged and actually belonged to the star

For the record: selling price was $16.5K

This is how the case looks like. (not my collection)

Actually, that's not the case of this award. The silhouette on the velvet shows that such a cross was placed in this case but they don't belong together. Also the case is inscribed with 1932 on the reverse but the War Victory Cross was established in 1939.

Do you mean the War victory cross?

Not a new type it's a doctored piece. The breast star lost the central medallion. The silver star base is authentic the piece on top of it is not. Neck badge is fine.

Well, there are only four possibilities: 1. made by the mint 2. made by the bureau responsible for the awardings - they received the award by the mint and had them engraved separately 3. commissioned by the recipient 4. made by someone after communism to increase the value - 2. not likely why not commission by the mint? 3. What would be the sense? Only a central numeric systems would by logical 4. Not likely. One would need several very hard to get early versions. And than what? Mix them together with forged documents of Communist celebrities or what?

By the way - what do you mean by "not professionally". How is handwork by an artisan less professional then mechanical stamping? The engraving is done excellently, far better then Soviet Mint engraving of that time. Lastly, we shouldn't forget that the Labor Heroes weren't produced on stock. Every piece was commissioned solely, assembled and finished one at a time.

So by whom, then? Do you think someone bought several early Labor heroes just to engrave them with numbers? I don't think so.

Yes, that's the one. - Although the image quality is very bad you can clearly make out that this is another one.

20% chance

I think you are mistaken. Take a close look at all five "golden" women: Two of them have heads that point to the right, one of them has a head that points to the left and two of them have straight heads. The golden wreath is a circle - it's purely up to the person that assembled the piece which woman would be at the south position and thereby determining where the head would point.

I have seen several numbered pieces, all of them bearing very low numbers and in my book these deserve a higher price than the much more frequently encountered unnumbered ones. Only the pieces made with naturally mined rubies deserve a higher price. - I don't know why some of them have arrows on their back but these seem all to be late pieces made from gilded silver. Does one really need an instruction which side goes up on an order with a motif that clearly defines top and bottom? A technical instruction for the assembler would be placed on the hidden side, I would assume. - Care to elaborate the last point?

I don't understand what you mean. there are numbered versions and there are unnumbered ones.

Yes, the seller himself describes that the large stones were removed and he replaced the missing ones. I don't think the central stones were changed. Other than that: too expensive for this damaged unnumbered version.

Maybe... Still it's his listing saying 100% original. That's just sloppy Additionally: He is now informed so if he doesn't take down the listing he still sold a fake which, technically seen, is the essence of a fakes seller.

I thought we discussed this fake extensively already (-> http://gmic.co.uk/index.php/topic/52001-fakes-quality-slowly-and-not-expertly-is-on-the-raise/page-18) But since this fake still sells for ridiculous amounts maybe we should have a look on it, again. Just look at that: $1.150 already!!! http://www.ebay.com/itm/BEAUTIFUL-2nd-CLASS-ORDER-of-RISING-SUN-MEDAL-BREAST-BADGE-JAPANESE-JAPAN/380907055647?_trksid=p2050601.c100085.m2372&_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20140211132617%26meid%3D7008464255839801309%26pid%3D100085%26prg%3D20140211132617%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D4%26sd%3D380907055647%26clkid%3D7008466890564561789&_qi=RTM1562569 By the way another one for our list of fake sellers - this atrocity is described as 100% original (and to describe it as "beautiful" is an act of sacrilege against the whole collector-hood). This fake is the whole package: -incorrect shape (white rays don't match the length of the star base) -very bad gilt paint -low quality white enamels -very low quality red enamel cabochon (the real one isn't dull, it's like a red mirror) -screws look like they were bought from the hardware store -wrong stamp pattern of the seals -very low quality hinge -star base has an irregular shape -cut-out was made very crudely -the fake patina colour doesn't look like a real patina