Gordon Craig

The reverse of the award.

A close up of the award.

And the case open.

Gents, All countries present awards that are meant to be displayed and not pinned onto clothing. The DDR was no exception and probably produced more non-portable awards than most. I am going to post two that I picked up on a trip to Berlin last fall. I leave for another trip to Berlin tomorrow and that has prompted me to post these awards in the hopes that I will find some more goodies to post! Regards, Gordon The first award is for 30 years service in the MdI. The case closed.

Grant, Leaving the bar together does not make a lot of sense. Uwe has given you the correct order of precedence but would you ever really expect to see a bar like this in wear? I doubt it. You have some nice early medals there especially the Brotherhood in arms one. I'd be more inclined to rebuild the medal bar into something more logical. In the end though it will be your choice. Regards, Gordon

Uwe, Some great books. The last two I have not seen before. Would love to have a copy of each. I guess I'll have to start looking! Regards, Gordon

Uwe, Thanks for your input but I was not refereing to the grey box for the 25 year awards. I own a number of these 25 year award boxes. I have seen at least one award box to a Kollective that came in a large grey cover. Not a red one. Sorry that I can not post pictures of it. It is not on this computer. Regards, Gordon

Christophe, Thanks for the additional picture. I didn't scroll across the screen so I did not see the right hand side of the first picture you posted. It is different than other award boxes I have seen which were thicker and grey in colour. Regards, Gordon

Another view of the hat showing the fibre ring that was put in the hat after manufacture to help it keep its shape. These were removed for wear but often retained and put back in the cap when it was stored for the period it was not worn. As with other General Officers hats, the sweat band is leather.

The interior showing the organization-NVA-hats size-60-the manufacturers code-1856-and the year of manufacture-Y-1988.

Gentlemen, Here are some pictures of a Border Guard General's winter hat. I am not an expert but the fur appears to be real Astrakan and not an imitation Astrakan. All General Oficers could wear this type of cap in the winter. The difference between the different organizations would be the colour of the material behind the cap badge and the clour of the cloth body. Green body and green backing for the Border Guard, a green body and a darker green than the Border Guard for the backing material of the Polizei, grey body and red backing for the Landstriefkrafte, grey body and blue backing for the Luftstreiftkrafte, dark blue body, dark blue backing, and dark blue Astrakan fur for Volkesmarine Admirals. It is possible that other organizations with senior officers of General rank wore these Astrakan hats in different colours but I have never seen any others than the colours posted here. Here is the front view of my Border Guard Generals Astrakan hat. Regards, Gordon

Christophe, Thanks for the pictures. I particularly liked the Urkunde to the MfS Kollectiv. Was the actual award and award box on the shelf as well? If so, and you have a picture of it, I would appreciate it if you would post the picture. These Kollectiv awards are rare and I have only seen a couple of the presentation cases. Be really nice to see this one for reference. Regards, Gordon

Ed, What you have is basically the same as the two bronze ones that I posted. A flat backed one with the hammer and torch in relief or a 1964 issue plus the dished silver type which is the 1985 issue. Both have the 1980s style pin on the ribbon so date from that era. I noticed that the document is dated 1988 for the dished type which is correct. Regards, Gordon PS-If you want a copy of the Large Medals Book they are still available for around 9,000.00 to 10,000.00 Forints. We could pick you up one if are interested.

The reverse of the miners medals.

Gentlemen, Yesterday when my wife arrived home from work she brought with her an invitation to attend the opening of a new exhibit at the Military Museum in Budapest. This exhibit will cover the time period 1948 to 1968. A period of interest to all of us. Unfortunately, it was at 11:30 today and I had a time conflict. I had hoped to some how fit it into my schedule but a recuring knee problem prevented that. I'll have to go some time in the next week and report, hopefully with some pictures, on the exhibit and just exactly what they have on display. More anon. Cheers, Gordon

Charles, Thanks for clearing up my misunderstanding. I either missed what you said when I read the Large Medals Book or it didn't cover all of these issues. Great for reference purposes. I'll have to print it out and stick it in the translation of the Large Medals Book. Cheers, Gordon

The reverse showing the method of attaching the miniature to the ribbon bar.

Here are the miniatures, in Gold, for the Order of Labour. On your left the ribbon bar miniature. On your right a complete medal as a miniature. On the ribbon bar miniature the star is flat. On the medal miniature, the star is raised above the suface as in the full sized medal. To start with, the obverse.

The reverse of these medals.

Charles, Thanks for your input and the pictures of the early red case and the three piece construction example. Since we started using the Large Medal Book dates of 64 and 85 to diferentiate between the two examples I posted to start the thread I would like to continue in this manner and refer to the multiconstruction ones as the 1954 model. My reasoning for this is that the Large Medals Book refers to the 64 and 85 issues as solid construction with the star rivetted into place but refers to the 53 and 54 issues as multipiece construction. The book does not specify what is meant by multipiece construction. Since the picture you posted has 32 "rays" versus the 16 "rays" of the 53 isssue this type would become the 1954 issue. Here are three uncased examples; Gold, Silver and Bronze of the 1954 issue starting with the obverse. Interesting to note the "striped" red ribbon on the Bronze version and the almost "orange" colour of the ribbons on the Silver and Gold versions. There is a picture in the Large Medals Book which shows the "striped" ribbon in use with the Order of Labour.

Ulsterman, You can always tell the awards that were highly regarded because no matter how they cut corners in their medal production high end awards always had a case made of wood. I learned a lot today in studying these two medals. More inventory work tomorrow and more new info for me I am sure! Regards, Gordon

Paul R. I did a lengthy post on Jahn on the DDR Forum of WAF. I went there ealier today and tried to find the thread so I could post the URL but I couldn't find it. Cheers, Gordon

The right hand side.

The left hand side, as viewed, of the document showing the award.

Next is the award document and cover for the 1985 award. You will no doubt notice that the award document is dated 1984. Obviously this type of award was being given out before the 1985 year used in the Large Medals book. First the front of the document cover. The covers are also painted in the same manner as the medal case.