new world

They are available if you are willing to pay the price, which was bout $5,500 last time I was offered one. There were 114 awarded pieces and some un-awarded ones. William

This is grade transcript from a professional school (specialty - Elementary School Teacher). William

That's Molotov, not Trotskiy!

Sorry, as I said - the group is in Russia and the owner did not disclose the name of the recepient. William

Just wanted to give you update on what happened with split groups from my initial post. Month and a half later and some negotiations with the winners, I can proudly say that several groups have been saved. Here are the results for five split groups: 1) Group 1 - contained 4 items, there were 3 winners. Result - re-united with one person (not me). 2) Group 2 - contained 3 items, there were 2 winners. Result - remains split. 3) Group 3 - contained 7 items, there were 5 winners. Result - 3 items re-united with me, other 4 remain split. 4) Group 4 - contained 8 items, there were 4 winners. Result - 4 items re-united with me, other 4 remain split. 5) Group 5 - contained 4 items, there were 3 winners. Result - re-united with me. In addition, I managed to buy 12 more groups from the seller before he split them and put for sale. William

Saw this doc for sale: Sukhebator - SN 695, awarded on Dec 18, 1969

$2500 is rather expensive! The case for medal looks odd. I've never seen a case like that for a National Hero, the case looks like one for a cheap medal, not for one of the highest awards of Yugoslavia. William

It's not even gold version, but gilded one. William

Few more: Polar Star - #4445, Oct 17 1951 Honorious Medal of Labour - #11934, Nov 2 1956 Polar Star - #9623, Dec 15 1960

Sukhe Bator screwback - SN 114, DEc 29, 1955: http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=4230...0&start=120

Document for SB #114. Awarded to a Russian non-military person on Dec 29, 1955.

SB with SN 114, from a collection in Russia.

I don't have the order with me at the moment to make scans, but it looks exactly the same as the one Lukasz posted (on the left, with sach badge and breast star) in post #30. William

I was just referring to the ones I have posted, all 6-torch variants in this case. It's possible that at some point some issues were numbered. William

There are four docs but only three medals. Which medal is missing?

Yes, they are all unnumbered. William

Of course there isn't a single way. But there are mainstream areas and there are some less popular fields (Mongolia is one of them). It's getting better since some literature has been published on the subject, but still is very much niche market. I was just thinking about this from investor's point of view: if you buy something for $12,000, you would hope it would appreciate and you make nice return on your investment. But what's ones exit strategy? If there isn't large enough market - whom are you going to sell to? Again, what do I know? There may be plenty of folks to whom paying $12K and more for an order is in the same magnitude as for me paying for a common Red Banner is.

I guess I meant to say "for a Mongolian badge", not just any badge. Mongolian awards is still very limited area, not that many collectors buy Mongolian awards. Most get lower priced awards, very few venture into something really expensive as $12,000. Now, if this would be German or Russian awards - that's totally different game. William

Yes, they are! 3rd class case is a bit smaller.

It depends if award is cased or not. In general, all Yugoslavian awards went up in price nicely over the last couple of years. Plus, USD declined, currently 1 GBP = 2 USD. Exchenage rate was better for USD two years ago. William

Order of Republic with Bronze Wreath. 3rd Class - 11,088 awarded until 1986 Bronze variations - 5 or 6 torches

Order of Republic with Silver Wreath. 2nd Class - 6,310 awarded until 1986 Type 1 - in silver Type 2 - in tompac variations - 5 or 6 torches

Order of Republic with Gold Wreath. 1st Class - 1,150 awarded until 1986 Rubies - real or synthetic depending on emission. Type 1 - in silver Type 2 - in tompac variations - 5 or 6 torches

All three classes of Yugoslavian Order of Republic William

I guess investors are the only ones capable of shelling out $12,000 or more for a single badge. William