kimj

Thanks for the support Christian. I have looked at the numbers and I?m still finding details, some that match and some that differ slightly. One could go mad doing this.

Serial numbers are missing on all badges/orders at some point in the manufacturing process. So who knows? That it?s missing isn?t hard evidence of anything, just that it?s odd.

I disagree that I got a direct verdict on ?the other forum?. It was more like a nice way to say ?fake until proven real?. And it?s just an opinion.

/Kim

Nice badge Doc!

I have not heard anybody researching commissariat badges. But of course it?s possible... in theory. You just need somebody to dig in the archives of USSR Commissariat of Health and find the list.

Here?s mine issued in 1942 to a nurse during the Leningrad blockade. So I guess your serial number makes it late 50-ties early 60ties? Just a guess.

/Kim

Thanks Ed! Are the numbers gold plated? or is it a scanner effect?

And here is a close up of mine. I must say that many things looks the same. But not 100%. Manufacture difference or....

Belaruski: It makes sense that a commemorative badge also could be some sort of award. I would guess that it had been awarded for something related to 1st Cav. Army. Perhaps a flattering historic book/article would be worth a badge...

/Kim

It's a super nice badge Ed! I think it was seeing yours (or if it was Dave's back then) in living colour that made me want one in the first place.

Did it come with any document? A closer look on the years on the reverser would be helpful. I'll try to get a better pic of mine. But it's tricky with a digital cam.

Perhaps Kravchenko was the toughest one-year old around....

/Kim

There are no signs of any serial numer on it. But that only raises more questions. Why, if this is faked, would you fake something perfect and forget a basic thing like that. Ok, maybe some of the guys who make their living from producing fakes aren't that clever. But they got the rest of the reverse right.

Does anybody have an example that we can compare mine with?

/Kim

A new addition to the collection: Veteran of the First Cavalry Army. 1st cav. Army was THE most famous civil war unit with guys like Budenny, Voroshilov, Timoshenko, Meretskov, Zhukov etc. in its ranks. This is the veteran?s badge for me and I have been looking for a while to find one.

Have anyone seen fakes of this one...?? Or am I just being paranoid....

Here is one in Ed?s thread: http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=6207&st=71

/Kim

noor. We have some people namned Johannes here in Sweden too (8804 to be exact, altough some could be Estonian by birth. )

I wrote POW because then you can't lie about where you served, even if it was in the Wehrmacht. So that would end up in your ID. Also if you deserted to the Red Army it would be a plus, in their book. If all Estonian males born 1904-23 were in the German army 1944 then you will have some work ahead if you wanted to send them all to Siberia.

I am not familiar with soviet practice. But I would think that you would need some sort of paper to show that you have done your mandatory military service or good reason why not.

If you could post some pics from other pages like those with no.1-8, with rank, speciality etc. no.22; no.23-24 it would be interesting to see if 24 is filled in. That is the award section.

I?m sure that would get us closer to see what he did after/during the war.

Here is one of my books. You can see some of the stuff you can learn from it. No1-8 tells us lots of stuff what he did as a soldier. The book holding the reserve ID in place is the same guys ww2 ID.

/Kim

Nice book noor!

I don't think he was german at all. Most ethnic germans living in Estonia had been "resettled" back to Germany in 1939-41. So this guy is most likely Estonian. Being Estonian he was called up in the 1944 mobilisation in Estonia. All men born 1904-1923 were called in to the defence force, by order of 31 january 1944. In late september fighting in Estonia was almost over. Perhaps he desided to end the war as a POW...

Any other interesting notes in the book?

As the seller of this bar I hope it turns up something nice in research for you Ed. But I still believe what I wrote when selling it: It is perhaps a 20% chance (or less) that it belonged to one guy. Not impossible though and that?s what fun with the bar. Before the research answer comes... who knows?

Another thing that doesn?t really show on Ed?s excellent scan is the difference in wear on the partisan medal vs. the rest of the medals. Were as the partisan is almost polished out on the obverse the others are in almost mint condition.

Here a pic of a guaranteed ?real? partisan?s bar. Although this one is a little bit better...

/Kim

I posted my navy ones on the other forum. But here is a couple of merchant marine. Same but diffrent..

/Kim

The pics are not that bad Takc. Better a bad one than none at all.. And the helmet looks very nice!

Here is a coal miner wearing a similar helmet, if not the same model. Not the Best pic as it was photographed from the book... Said to be from 1939.

/Kim

Anybody know if the Kurdish part of Iraq has any unofficial medals?

By the way, Ed your PM box is full.

/Kim

Gerd: Yes, I still have the bar. I doubt the screw did much good mounted with the other awards. My guess is that it was remade to be worn as a single screwback order. Later perhaps mounted with the others. Why? Who knows... it's just a guess.

Dave: I like the way you make the bar plausible. I know that it's somewhat of a long shot that it's "real" but then again stranger thing have happened. Regulation and soviet style award-wearing are not always what you would expect.

Ohh, I almost forgot. I have ordered reserch for the first RB. Now it's just the loooooong wait for results to come in. Is it or ...... But I promise that I will post what comes from it.

/Kim

The metal part of the ribbon looks like:

al-Jamhūrīyah al-`Arabīyah al-Yamanīyah (At least my wife thinks it looks like that... )

The medal text is too blurry for chances. Possibly Medal for ...(Victory???) But nothing for sure. A better pic would help.

Not much but something.

/Kim

Thanks for the pic Belaruski! Now to find one....

Iteressting badge Brian. What size is it? I agree with Richie that it looks a bit like an air force-something. But the hammer/monkey wrench is the same shape as the railroad used. The enamel star is a common army as Richie pointed out. So what could it be????

/Kim

Black light will show if your enamel is hot/baked, in other words glass, or was replaced with paint/plastic or other strange things. Replaced parts will glow white under the black light. Original enamel will stay the same.

Could Belaruski's cap badge be a -68 made example? Sometimes hammer/plow badges sell as made in -68 for the parade. But I haven't seen one with 100%-sure-it-was-in-Red-squere-in-November-guarantee.

/Kim

Thanks Richie! I never saw gem jars before. Guess I never had that many gems and a storing problem to know they existed. When I get some extra collection-spending cash I'll get me a couple of those. Too bad the shipping is just as much as the box to Sweden. At least for the sellers I found on Ebay that were willing to ship to Sweden...

/Kim

Now that's collecting!!

What's that thingy you store them in.. gem jars???

/Kim

No problem Christian. Information shared etc etc.

The book is a translation of a Russian original. So that book is probably the real original work.

/Kim

The two part stars are the early ones=good ones.

Doc there are hundreds of different types of stars. These are just the tip of the iceberg. Not to mention that they are just as pretty as awards and in many (most) cases cheaper...

/Kim

There is a book in English about Jewish HSU.

Under Fire: The Stories of Jewish Heroes of the Soviet Union

Summary

This book is a collection of 150 biographies and descriptions of the heroic deeds of Jews who were awarded the distinction of ''Hero of the Soviet Union'' during the war between Germany and the Soviet Union in 1941-1945.

646 pp., hard cover, 16X23 cm.

Printed in 1988. I guess that is why there are some HSU missing. I don't have it myself. Too many books to buy, too thin wallet.

/Kim

Anyone collecting cap stars? I have a small collection myself. Here is a pic of a few bigger ones, for budenovka or higher officers.

/Kim

Great news!! Big thanks for doing this.

Now I don't have to wonder what babelfish/PROMT is abusing the original into...

/Kim

Thank you for your input Jaybo.

I'm not into czarist awards at all, so the diffrent ribbon fact was new to me. I guess a cheap way of awarding two categories of people.

As for the ribbon I do know that it's not regulation. But civilians could get away with a lot. I'm not saying it's 100% OK as I don't know this stuff. Although it would make more sense to me if the ribbon had been just pushed through the loop. I mean since it is sewn anyway. Also the seller sold this as "Military medals?". So I don't think he knew what it was. Before that... who knows.

/Kim

I got this medal together with some other (non-russian) stuff in an auction. The medal looks nice with patina and good detail. What I am more curious about is the ribbon. From what I understand this is a ribbon that is ok for the medal of Zeal. But why is it attached with a hole made in the ribbon? Is this common or...

/Kim