new world

Interesting early Polar Star was selling at the auction in Russia. Serial number 1** (not disclosed by seller). Seller asking price - $22,000 Highest offer - $17,000 William

Your award is authentic, I haven't seen any fakes of the 2nd class on suspension. William

I am not going to comment on other members' experience with Dmitry Markov, but will give you some details of me latest encounter with him. I wanted to buy some items from his web site (that was one week prior to the auction). So he reserved items for me and we agreed that he would bring them to the auction preview, so I can pick them up. He did, I paid and the transaction was finalized without any issues or delays. So I am totally satisfied with most recent delaing with him. To Dmitry's credit I also would like to say that items I picked up were priced very fairly and were a bit below market price (I suspect it's been a while since he updated the prices), but he didn't make a big deal out of this and honored what his web side said. William

From reserach point of view, why do many of us look down at long service awards? If I ran research on a long service Red Banner and it turns out to be given for time of service to true hero, I would be quite exceited! Honestly, how many of us would say NO to a RB to a person who earned several combat awards during WWII? William

This is nuts! You can buy them cheaper at Eugene's RussianGlory site. William

Keep in mind that market is very limited for republican awards. If you are buying this order for resale - you may have hard time finding a buyer for it, unless it's heavily discounted. William

And how long is that order been listed? I personally don't take this seller and his price seriosly. Why don't I list a SB for say $8,000 and see if anyone bites ?

SB #1617 with damage to both red and blue enamels just sold in Russia for equivalent of $2200. William

Hi Heiko, I just came across this thread. I know it's been a while, but do we have more good news? Did Police manage to recover any more medal bars of yours? Keep us posted. Best regards, William

There are two editions - regular and limited. Are there any differences besides number and signature? William

Ed, It looks like we found new highest serial number. It's not than much higher than previously known SN 2006, the difference is less than 80. These high numbers were probably non-awarded examples, but we will know sure once research is available. William

face of SN 2082

Sukhe Bator which SN 2082

Two SB orders were offered for sale in Russia last week: Screwback - SN 177 - for $3,800 Pinback - SN 2082 - for $3,500 They did not sell at these prices. I guess after all there's a limit to what colectors are willing to pay. William

These are just from different manufacturers, hence the variations. William

Nice! I've never seen variation with pin-back. Do we know when these were awarded? William

That's common in Soviet awards field - screwbacks are way more expensive than later suspended awards.

It apperas to be given for some sort of cultural (medical related?) achievement. William

What year are these pictures from?

were these taken from damaged tank and plane?

Christian, it does not matter what you or me believe, if there's so much money involved, people get very inventive. Do you honestly think so? Plus, awards I've mentioned are mostly made from platina - platina does not get oxidation. As for the wear traces - if someone shows you genuine non-awarded order - there will be no wear traces.

Your fear is not without a merit. This is totally possible. If one has original dies and uses quality enamel - no one will be able to tell if the award was made 60 years ago or just last month. Creating patina and wear traces is not that difficult at all. I recently heard that going price for Ushakov 1st class is over $700,000 and for Suvorov 1st class is over $250,000. With this type of money involved, what would prevent someone from making few Ushakov orders and selling them as non-awarded? Don't forget that Knight Crosses of Iron Cross were made after the end of WW2 by the folks who got their hands on original dies. It's a well known fact. William

Compared to what some dealers ask for RB with rather low SN - it's not so bad. Still, overall prices are insane! William

Breast start with cross on the right side of his chest is the highest order of Russian Federation - Order of Andrei Pervozvanniy! It was also the highest order of tsarist Russia. William

All-right, may be hearder example wasn't the best one. All I am saying, if judged by opinions in Research section for Soviet awards, majority of collectors value combat-earned citations. Labor and military long service citations do not get as much respect. BTW, do we know if research for labor-related awards will be available? William