new world

case

Reverse. Pin is mint-marked with what looks like 17 or 27.

Please comment on authenticity of this cased KVK 1st cl without swords. Thank you, William

That's one constructive line of thought. Congrats on nice citation for Bravery medal! William

Ed, the bar had Partisan medal. To my understanding partisans are not researchable, as they were part of NKVD system, which is different archive than Podolsk and remains closed at the moment. The fact that you've got your research back - was sure indicator that bar wasn't legit, even before looking at transaltion. William

Why I am saying - you could have been taken for your money. There are guys out there who sell awards, but in reality they just have few photographs they stole from some website or collector. You send them money and they disappear.

As long as no financial losses occured, both parties to this misunderstanding should be fine. In my collecting years I've seen many deals falling apart for different reasons. I used to get very emotional about lost opportunities, but later learned that there are always deals awaiting around the corner, so no reason to beat yourself over something you have little control over. William

Last 3rd class (cased) I saw for sale two weeks ago was offered at $600. William

Back to my original question: I seem to have found perfect solution to my needs. Manufacturer ITOYA has a line of archival quality portfolios, they come in various sizes. Inside each portfolio are 24 plastic (acid-free!) sleeves with black paper inserts (archiving grade). You basically get space to store 48 documents. Plastic sleeves are held together by durable plastic cover. Portfolios look neat and provide safe storage for my documents. Here's the link to ITOYA site so you can see the entire product line. As I said - they offer wide variety of sizes: http://www.artprofolio.com/Art_profolio.htm I bought several 11 x 17 inch portfolios on eBay, they are about $20-25 in this size depending on the seller. William

Hero Of Ukraine To OUN-UPA leader Roman Shukhevych I am shocked - Ukrainian President Yuschenko Awards Hero Of Ukraine Title To Shukhevych: Interfax: Hero of Ukraine title for URA Commander "a state crime" - Symonenko Ukranian News - Yuschenko Awards Hero Of Ukraine Title To Shukhevych Just to remind what kind of a "hero" was Roman Shukhevych: - terrorist, most famous in the 1920s for assassinating several prominent Polish government officials; - graduate of officer school in Hitler's Germany; - SS officer (I would like to see evidence of this though); - activist in anti-partisan raids in Ukraine during WW2; - recipient of several 3rd Reich awards, including 2 Iron Crosses (I would appreciate if anyone has more info on this); - person who directed killings of tens of thousand Ukrainian and Polish civilians during and after the war. What seems to be going on here is the trend to glorify anything related to nationalists and OUN-UPA, while reducing the significance of heroic deeds of the rest of Ukrainians fighting on the other side in the Soviet Army. In all fairness, why don't we see Ukrainian president giving Hero title to Soviet generals who liberated Ukraine and to the partisans who fought during occupation? Why aren't they considered Heroes in modern Ukraine? And how about international laws? At the Nurnberg trial German SS, certain police units and zondercommands were deemed war criminal entities, why then the head of independent nation who wants to be accepted into European community chooses to glorify individuals associated with such organizations? William

Good badge, well made. I own one cased. I think it was definitely not an order, but a badge. William

Nice and rare award! What is it made of? William

I take his double post as a hint

Most likely that would be someone in Russia... William

Sometimes Igor posts pics of the items that have been already sold. It's some creative marketing on his side, after all if we can't afford to buy from his site, at least we keep coming back to drool over some nice groups William

Milan, Many thanks! It looks like interesting book, but unfortunately I don't read French There's large photo of Apis, in which we wears only three medals. Is that all he was awarded? For the person of his power I would expect to see more... William

Most likely scenario - someone bought the document and combined it with un-issued tombac Hero medal. William

Amazing set!!! Igor also listed some other nice groups, which seem to exist in separate reality (pricewise) - unreachable for us mere mortal collectors. Prices used to be affordable (years ago), but all we have left for us is to drool over photographs of stuff we can't touch.

Milan, that is truly a gem!!!! The artwork is amazing. Thanks for posting pictures. William

I am reading Russian historical novel about Russian Imperial officer who was involved in some events which took place on Balkans in the beginning of the 20th century. One of the characters in the book was young Serbian officer Dragutin Dmitrijevic (aka Apis). The book sparked my interest in him and after searching the web it turns out he was real person and the novel had quite accurate account of his deeds. Briefly, he was one of the main drivers of de-throning of Obrenovich dynasty in 1903, ater Apis became a Colonel and a mastermind of Serbian intelligence service. He was also a notable member of Serbian Black Hand organisation, which was behind several assasination attempts on high ranking Austro-Hungarian officials and eventually culminated in assasination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914 in Sarayevo, which essentially started WWI in Europe. I was able to find two really bad pictures of Col Apis in which he wears some awards. Does anyone know which awards were bestowed on him? Judging from his important role in Serbial politics, I would assume his list of awards must have been quite impressive. Also, does anyone have better pics of Colonel Apis? Here's Wiki link about Apis: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragutin_Dimitrijevic Best regards, William

Doc, I would keep them, especially if you paid little for these crosses. It's not about the looks, it's more about the heroic deeds they represent. After all, these were given only for the battle merit for guys in the trenches. William

Two signs to be specific...

It's listed for $3,300, more expensive than Igor's example!

Walter, I guess you are right and these stars are Type 2 made by IKOM. They must be super rare, as very few people ever saw them and there are no images available. Would you please post pics of the screplates for your stars? William

Thanks, the set is very nice. Cards on left are transportation discount coupons, which allowed for some free tickets every year. William