Ferdinand

Actually, the ORB is higher than the OAN

There is, the protokoly (award issue logs), but these only list awards handled by military units and the Main Personnel Directorate of the Ministry of Defense (GUK MO). Many awards to foreigners were issued at state level and simply taken directly from the vaults of the Supreme Soviet, thus leaving no paperwork in the Ministry of Defense Archive. Therefore, researchers in the Central Archive or the Navy Archive won't be able to research these awards, while people like Yefimov have been able to dig deeper and have access to the relevant archives. Important archives such as GARF and RGASPI are still largely unknown and inaccessible to us and our researchers. Plus, it's a well-known fact in Russia that people like Yefimov, Durov, and Strekalov have better connections and thus access to much more information (such as the mint archives) than the regular researcher does.

This is actually a rare variation that was only awarded once a year, on Saint Patrick's Day.

This badge (well, technically it's more of a plaquette than a badge) was established in 1976 "for labor valor in the ninth five-year plan" (1971-1975) and manufactured by the Moscow Mint. The badge was issued by the Central Committee of the Communist Party (TsK KPSS), the Central Committee of the Komsomol (TsK VLKSM), the Council of Ministers and the Council of Trade Unions (VTsSPS) to organizations, institutions, companies, collective farms, etc. for achievements in the socialist competitions of 1975.

It seems like the image on the left is a drawing, or at least the medals are. The one of the left slightly resembles a 20th Anniversary of the RKKA Medal and the one on the right a Medal for Courage, but with random / fantasy ribbons.

I don't see the big deal. McDaniel clearly states on his certificates that he simply offers his opinion, and that he cannot guarantee factual accuracy. As far as I know every major dealer and authenticator of Soviet awards has been known to accidentally sell or authenticate fakes every once in a while. Every collector should just do his or her homework and not fully rely on CoAs.

Forum member Andreas has a copy: http://gmic.co.uk/index.php/user/235-alfred/

This factory (Red Star Factory in Moscow) was not an official manufacturer of Soviet state orders and medals. Not sure what would have been issued with this box.

The writing on the reverse (МОНЕТНЫЙ ДВОР) is the mint mark, simply meaning 'Mint'.

Here's the order of presedence of Soviet awards: http://medals.org.uk/russia/ussr/ussr-text.htm As you can see, titles come first in the hierarchy, then orders (the Order of the Red Star is one of the lowest military orders though), then medals, then badges, then pins, etc. The concept of an order was slightly different in the USSR (and still is, in most of the former Eastern Bloc) than in the West though: whereas in the West most orders imply a membership into a group, a Soviet order is solely a decoration. Sometimes membership of an order was limited in number, but Soviet decorations had no such limitations, and were awarded purely to recognize the recipient's bravery, merit, accomplishments, or length of service. Regarding the serial numbers: it's important to distinguish between the award date (the date the award was bestowed on paper) and the date of issue (the date the award was actually given to the recipient). The lists you mentioned only contain award dates. The time in between award date and date of issue can vary greatly: sometimes this was just a day, sometimes many years. Soviet awards are no long longer being awarded of course, but even today the Russian government still issues Soviet-era orders and medals to veterans who had been awarded them a long time ago, but have not received them yet. Your Red Star was most likely awarded on December 30, 1956 to an officer for 15 years of service; the OPW2 was most likely awarded by a Leningrad Front unit in the spring of 1945.

Weren't all questions already answered and the research posted on another forum?

Strekalov and Durov's book about the Order of the Red Star (Orden Krasnoi Zvezdy: Istoria uchrezhdenia nagrady I evolyutsia ordenskogo znaka. Kavalery ordena, 2008) has some information and a few great pictures about these German-made Red Star copies, but it's in Russian of course.

#5 is the Badge for 25 Years of Victory in the GPW.

Seeing as how his privileges started in December 1944, his Red Star is most likely a November 1944 long service award, his Red Banner a November 1947 long service award (#164561 was given to Marshal Rokossovsky that month), and his Lenin a 1952/1953 long service award. His OPW2 is his only "real" award. The citation can be found here: http://www.podvignaroda.ru/?n=29911896

Great photo! I love the large crest in the background.

The Red Banner look-alike is a badge issued by the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF) to commemorate the 90th anniversary of something (the Revolution or the creation of the Red Army probably) in 2008. http://gmic.co.uk/uploads/monthly_02_2014/post-2048-0-25349900-1391521064.jpghttp://gmic.co.uk/uploads/monthly_02_2014/post-2048-0-70828400-1391521069.jpg

Nice and relatively scarce OPW2 variation. It was most likely awarded in the spring of 1944.

Yes, a considerable portion of the enamel has been replaced, but other than that the order seems to be original. Still, I would never buy such an award on eBay without having the ability to pay through PayPal - penny wise, pound foolish on the side of the seller, if you ask me.

The one to Boris Tkach was probably an Afghanistan award too, but without knowing the exact award date we can't be sure.

Igor, I tried, but his record card is not in the Central Archive. Somebody with access to the Main Personnel Directorate (GUK) Archive is needed.

I don't have any myself, but the third document from the bottom on this page is the city of Murmansk variation: http://mondvor.narod.ru/MObZapl.html It's easily recognizable by the dual signatures at the bottom (by the Chairman and Secretary). There's also a variation for the Murmansk Oblast instead of the city of Murmansk, which is the second document from the bottom. Both variations were awarded to civilians who took part in the defense of the polar region.

I really don't know what you're trying to do here Nick - the pictures are sharp. Any picture gets blurry if you're trying to zoom in.

They aren't blurry at all! I would recommend, however, to ignore the suspension and post only the medal portion; the suspension is not relevant when discussing originality. This saves file size, which you can use to increase the size of the medal itself.

Seems to be an original one.

Most likely a WW2 catch-up award. With catch-up awards it's nearly impossible to date them more accurately - the medal could have been awarded on paper in 1945 but also in 1941. These medals can certainly be researched. They stopped numbering these in January 1947.