bifter

I think those two look fine! The second one is one of the transitional varieties; I do not think there are many of those about!

Hi!! It is good to see another fan of The 'Nam's militaria!!! I have been in love with it since I saw a picture on a magazine of an N.V.A. trooper wearing a 'soldiers combat order' way back when I was very young. I just loved the medal & wondered whre I could get one. Some of the higher & more recent Orders such as the Ho Chi Minh & the Idependance Orders & the 2007(?) version of the Gold Star seem to fetch quite high amounts of cash.

i got one of those 'voov' combat brother vetrans merit medals for about ?10 from a dealer i know! For ?10 is is is a very good quality award even if it is a tad worthless in other ways. It came with an award document.

That cased examople is absolutely gorgeous!!!!! I have all 3 grades, but none are cased. Truely a super award. I am now starting to love my silver variant,but i am still peeved at getting a badge different to the one described on the website of the seller. I will now have to search for the standard version; with luck i will get one with case, ribbon bar & document. I did think those leaves beneath the coat of arms were laurels, but some monkey argued me down on them being 'ears of corn'!!! Kev, until my sister or my library staff start to be a tad more friendly & helpful, i will not be able to post any pictures. I do not have the equipment nor the know how to do so! I have tried using my phone camera, but it went pear shaped. Whenever i ask, no matter how politely, the library staff refuse to help. I once tried to have sheets of 3rd reich awards printed for my scrap book; the stupid woman on the printing desk saw the pictures on her screen & deleted them all!!! The public library 'refuse to take part in the preservation of the memories of such an evil regime' etc.... Indeed, this website was actually banned from my local library for about 4 months; i managed to convince them that it is a collectors site & not a nazi glorification site & thus they once again 'allowed' me to log in again by removing the block they installed.

Hi! Up until now i beleived that all 2nd class Romanian 'Defence of Public Order' awards were in silver with red stones & gold ears of corn!!!! This was certainly what I was hoping for when I sent off an order for one. When my parcel arrived i was rather annoyed because rather than having a colourful award afront of me, i had one that was ,basically, all silver with a bit of enamel!!! The stones are clear, not red; the ears of corn are silver,not gold!!! I am aware that variation is the spice of life, but i do not like this kind of surprise &, to make it worse, it has obvous signs of wear & the enameling has all broken away on the sun area of the coat of arms!!! Most of you will think i am a funny bugger for being like this, but i was REAL:LY looking forwards to an unissued & colourful award as i read about on the dealers website, not a broken, worn variation!!! In time i will grow to love it, especially if it turns out to be a rare & valuable peice; but all i wanted was the standard issue. Have any of you come across this type of variation? As i have no means of scanning the item i cannot show you a picture, & my library staff are real funny buggers about me using their equipment to 'spread offensive items' about the internet!!!! If there are any other members in the york area, that have computer eqipment, maybe i could meet up & you could scan the item?!

Hi! I managed to get myself a cased 1918-1923 medal & a 1933-1945 medal; both came with documents. They were not expensive; but my dealer is known for offering his items for good prices. He is garanteed to sell things quickly & without any attempts at 'haggling', & he gets a loyal customer group too. The Hans Beimler is one that I am looking for now, but I am not going to hold my breath for too long; it is a real pricey one apparently. One sold recently, without case or document for 400EUROES.

Hi! I am wondering about the prices that i have been paying for my Albanian awards; Are these good or are they bad, or perhaps just average? Skanderbeg 1st - ?75 Skanderbeg 2nd - ?70 Liberty 1st - ?35 Defence of the Homeland 1st, 2nd & 3rd - ?80 Flag Order - ? 70 Red Star 1st, 2nd, 3rd & medal - ?150 I hope that I have not been overcharged on any of these; on a few occasions, when I was a new collector of U.S.S.R. awards I was ripped off a couple of times by being overcharged on genuine awards & othr times by being sold good copies as origionals. With Albanian awards, all have been genuine & most have been in good condition. The Red Star 1st class arrived with a couple of peices of enamel missing from the 2 lower arms, but nothing too bad; also it was seemingly 'double struck'. It appeared to have a slight 'ghost' or 'shadow'!!! This is the only time any of them had any major faults.

Hi! I have been searching for an example of this for a few years now! If this one is up for sale, let me know what you want for it; I would be over joyed to get one of these finally! I will pay a good price. With all my Faith Bifter

These two have long been 2 of my utter favourites of Poland!!!! I find it VERY hrad to get hold of the Order of Smile though!!! I have just never ever seen one up for sale!!! Bifter!

When I first srarted on Socialist awards I got badly burnt by a corrupt dealer selling fakes of the Chinese cilil war awards. Some genuine ones were produced from copper & paint, & these were the ones I was scammed with. They were good copies of better origionals, produced from the same materials! Since then though, I have learnt a tad about the Genuine awards, &, if you can aquire & afford them, they are lovely to have & hold. The 'Peace' award is a personal favourite & I beleive Collect Russia has one at the moment. A majority of the real civil war awards will never come up for sale outside China unless the red regime should collapse & the world becomes nostalgic as with the soviet bloc. I would love to become rich & collect the real stuff; I would travel to China & pay stupid prices if I had to; I actually prefer the Chinese awards to Russian ones. Whenever I get my genuine Chinese awards out & handle them, I just 'Feel' happy.

Gosh! I don't suppose you would have a 2nd one up for sale would you, of the top medal that is? I adore the awards from these obscure states like Angola. I have a few from Yemen & Ethiopia so far, but none from Angola. Burkina Faso also have some nice ones, but they seem to demand high prices. That top medal is a lovely peice of history. I would love to get one of those.

That 'really bad one' I recognise as a Nicholas Morigi one. To be fair, they are mainly produced for the re-enactors market, & I think the 'mistakes' such as the weird wiggley cover over the drivers viewing slit, & the eagles beak are intended to show that this is a fake. My George cross copy has deliberate 'mistakes' on it in order for it to be seen as a copy. This particular tank badge is die struck from brass & then silver plated, so the overall 'in hand' quality is exceptional. I am sure this one is not intended to deceive, & therefore deserves a bit of respect for that. All in all, any copy is lump of crap; but they make okay space fillers or look good on a re-enactors uniform!

These could be awarded to ANYONE who partook in the celebrations of the particular anniversary events; civil or military. Bulgar items are some of my favourites.

Those that are socialists & members of the socialist movments will accept the Umalatova awards as being genuine to themselves, from a leader of their own kind. Just as Freemasons give out awards to good serving individuals, so do many socialist groups (& nationalist ones). I have been involved with the studies into these groups, which involved going in amongst & living with them. I also served along side them in their daily duties. In this sense, the Umalatova awards are genuine. They are just not awarded by a government. They are given out by the same political party though. When a collector buys a Soviet award, they are buying a Communist Party award, just as much as they are buying a Government award. Now the communist party is not in government, it does not mean that they can longer give out awards; nor does it mean that these awards are any less in meaning. The party has merely continued to give out the awards they always have done, despite having lost all powers of government. A lot of you will not like this, but it is a fact. Socialist, like nationalists, are strong mided; they beleive that the awards thier leaders give out are superior to any that a government not in their favour, gives out.

These fakes have clear mistakes on them; they are not marked with 'copy' ,but if you know what you are buying then you will probably not be fooled by these. Most collectors read up the subject before buying. The copies i was stung with had no stupid mistakes. They were as origionals were. These labor glories have CLEAR mistakes on them. They are dangerous to those that do not know much about these particular Orders, but not to those that do. If you have the large amount of cash needed for a Labor Glory 2nd class, then you probably will have read up on the Order's facts first. Anyone that is prepared to pay about ?500 for an item must be a totally daft not to read up on the dimensions, colors etc... Only a fool would pay a lot for an item blindly, from an unkown source, without first seeing or handling it. When i got mine, i handled them & asked questions. I had others that were genuine with me to do comparisons with.. I was very new to the hobby & thus was duped by a villain. The fakes i got were die struck from brass with genuine ribbons & kolodkas etc.. They have taken in a lot of people. I SAID THESE PARTICULAR FAKES ARE NOT DANGEROUS ; I DID NOT SAY ALL FAKES ARE NOT DANGEROUS. I KNOW THAT MANY FAKES ARE VERY DANGEROUS; BUT IF YOU HAVE THE CASH TO AFFORD A LABOR GLORY 2ND CLASS, & YOU ARE LOOKING TO BUY ONE, YOU WILL PROBABLY READ UP ON WHAT TO LOOK FOR & WHAT TO AVOID. THESE PARTICULAR FAKES ARE NOT DANGEROUS TO THOSE THAT KNOW THE SUBJECT. You have DELIBRATELY misquoted me in order to 'have a go', due to your apparent dislike of myself. You also make your sly insult as to my intelligence; YOU DO NOT KNOW ME; YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT MY INTELLIGENCE, though you probably like to imagine me as some kind of imbecile with a low i.q.?! This usually happens when somone is doubtful of their own intelligence, & has some kind of resentment. Keep your personal grudges to yourself & accept that other people have opions that differ to yours. Some collect fakes & some collect origionals; NO ONE has the right to to try & stop the other from doing what they prefer. I accept that people like the things that i hate, & i don't try to change it; NOR DO I MAKE SLY INSULTS AT THEM. YOU HATE FAKES WHICH IS YOUR CHOICE; YOU WILL HAVE TO LEARN TO ACCEPT THAT SOME PEOPLE LIKE THEM, AND YOU WILL HAVE TO REFRAIN FROM AGGRESSING TOWARDS THEIR CHOICE. I dislike fakes that are not marked as such, but i am sure you like to imagine that i love them all? Maybe you like to imagine i even make them? YOU DO NOT KNOW ME: YOU CANNOT EVEN BE BOTHERED TO READ OR QUOTE ME CORRECTLY!!!!

The best lenin fakes are from 'The Regalia Specialist'. He can be reached via Militaria Mart. He does stunning Nazi fakes too. Good prices & VERY good quality; some are frightening though & could fool the unsuspecting.

The one with MOOLYASH on the back (in cyrillic) is a 'legal' copy. This word means 'Represtative Model'. This one will please certain members that are militant about copies being the sperm of the Devil!!!!

When i say aquaintence, i dont neccessarily mean friend!! I just gave him some cheer when the angry massess ganged up on him!!!! Even a criminal needs comfort at times, some of them learn from it & change; some are just stupid & continue. I cannot see these fakes as dangerous at all, not if you know your stuff, the mistakes are clear. As far as copies being marked as such, that is the only way to make 'legal' fakes anyway. Any known British fakes can be seized & destroyed if it is not marked. I am aware that it is the same in many other countries, just in the same way as fake currency. I am all for copies of every thing as long they are marked as such. Some people will never afford the high price of many items, but would like a representation of it. It would be stupid to expect actors to do their battle scenes wearing Kutezovs & Suvorovs worth thousands; especially if they took a mud dive. It would be impossible for air museums to have Bristol Blenheims without them being copied as working replicas, as very few exist if none! Only a billionaire fool could & would send a dozen genuine spitfires into the air to do fake battle with a dozen Me 109s for the sake of an air show or film. If you can afford the rare things, then you are VERY lucky; but you seem to forget that some, including museums, cannot. As long these things are marked, then it really does not matter, as no one is being hurt or robbed.

Fakes, including the Umalatovas, make me feel dirty!! (& robbed!!)

Are there actually Umalatova Orders of Victory? I need to admit, the Umalatovas are better than the outright fakes; they are better made & actually have a Communist attachment to them. The bad fakes are a result of the capilist system to make quick & big cash. I have 2 variant Umalatova Stalin orders; one is the standard 'issue', the other is a prototype, in a strange silver alloy, hot enamel, silver & gold paints & a tester ribbon similar to the zhukov medal. Both are of outstanding quality. I have pictures, but they are not good enough to post. I am still working out how to use my new camera. I would love to see a photo list of all the Umalatovas available, & a place to buy then from!!!!! I know they do all 3 Orders of Glory, again, REAL good quality ones, though not real gold or silver. I guess she is doing what some of those Croat Nazis did by reproducing all the awards of her kinds heritage & issuing them to her comrades. In the early 90's, the U.N. forces aquired some Iron Crosses from the Croat forces, which were, according to news reports, manafactured specially as they had been 50 years earlier!!!!!!!!!! Would a news report lie?

I am NOT putting down Collect Russia!!!! I know he is a better dealer than most!!!! But this guy that ripped me off generally uses this aquaintancship as a sign of his own reputability! One of the first things he asked me was if i was aware of the 'Collect Russia' site; i said that i am very aware of it & the reputation is 100%. I was then told how he (the theiving scally dealer, not C.R.) is aquainted with C.R.!!! I took this as a good sign. The fakes on the Collect Russia site are listed as fakes on the copies section; i am very much aware that they would certainly not put their reputation at risk by putting suspect items under the origional items listings! I brought the 'aquaintance' with C.R. up to point out to them, should they be reading this, that there is a guy out there claiming to be on good terms with them & using them to boost his own reputation. I am sure that they are aware this happens, but i doubt they would be happy to know a guy flogging fakes as genuine whist using them as a referral for 'good standards'. I hope i have not upset them, i did not mean to!

These look like they were made by an Italian aquaintance of mine!? He custom makes awards of all kinds. Usually they are top quality, but are not meant to fool anyone.They always have things which stand out such as that 2nd class with the 'gold' outer edge; or an October Revolution with a gold centre plate etc... I know he did a few Labour Glories a year ago.

I think these are sold to tourists as a kind of novelty!! A bit like in the U.K. we see copies of V.Cs & D.F.C.s for sale in souvenir shops!!! Back when the iron curtain was drawn, those behind it used to visit each others countries just we in the west did to our allies countries. I am sure they too, wanted souvenirs for their families & friends. I think these are just for those purpose really. They look okay for a bit of fun when you have lots of them in a display case; & are fun if a your smaller family members want to play dress up & war! They will have plenty of medals to wear & it matters not they get lost or damaged.

I recently found out that my Odessa, Sevastapol & Border Guards medals are all fakes; though VERY good ones. They fooled a lot of people apparently. My Belgrade medal is a modern 'Umalatova' award; so it is a 'genuine Fake'!!! When i was just starting out on Soviet awards i was fooled; but it took the best fakes to fool me! I feel VERY angry. They were ?95 each, except the Border Guard, which was ?45. ?330 is a lot to lose ,but i have learnt a good lesson; learnt not to trust certain dealers that may be honouable to his friends, but a theiving peice of trash to those that are new & inexperienced & unfamiliar with him. I now know why he vanished into air as soon as the medals were sold!!!! It annoys me how i even met with this filth to discuss that i was unsure about them being genuine; he gives me the dirt on how he is well known & respected amongst many auction houses around the world (which is true) etc..... I know for a fact that he is aquainted with 'Collect Russia'. Collect R has these particular fakes on his site, but i got mine 2 & a half years ago, & they were new fakes back then! I am tempted to name this wretch, but i have the thought that, just perhaps, he too was fooled by them. The way he disappeared after the sale, & the way he NEVER answers my phone calls or responds to my e-mails, texts etc.. suggests otherwise. His story was that he picked them up in Europe by a dealer at a militaria fayre, who had no idea as to what they were for , or what the values were!!! Thus he got them cheap & could pass to me cheap; Oh! He REALLY does look after the new & inexperienced in our times of vulnerability & need!!!! The theiving, scum!!!!!

I cannot help but think of the two medals 'for refractories' & 'for resistance' as brother & sister medals! When side by side, my meaning is obvious; & i am sur they were somtimes awarded together! Unfortunatly i have neither, & would like to know about how available they are & how much i should expect to pay in English pounds! All help appreciated!