new world

I remember seing them on for sale, I always assumed they were copies. William

... except Flag Order 3rd class screwbacks. There seems to be endless suplly of them on eBay.

Matt, Congratulations on excellent 2nd class set. I was offered this set a year ago . I am glad it found good home! William

Matt, Well done, I think you did great - low price for a Mondvor piece where repairs are not noticeable at all. I agree about Korean made pieces - the prices actually went down from few years ago. I remember about 5 yrs ago when I developed interest in N Korean awards - even 3rd classes would sell on eBay for decent money - about $20-30. Now there are tons of them in the market for lower price and very few buys. What do you think about Chech made pieces? Their quality seems to be on par with Soviet made awards. William

Matthijs, Great award!!! How much would it cost today? You mentioned the condition wasn't top, by how much are Korean awards discounted in presence of repairs/ damage? William

Friends, let's clarify something here before we get too excited. Yes, it's true that Bulgarian Order of labor Glory was setup in such way that higher classes were given to folks who were previosly awarded lower classes. However, I am not aware of any special Cavalier designation like one in Soviet Union, where the recepients of all three clases of Labor Glory were given Cavalier Booklet. In many years collecting Bulgarian awards I've never seen Bulgarian Cavalier documents. I also never read anythig about existence of such documents. Best regards, William

With Dec 2006 passing of Stolen Valor Act by congress and President - are we US collectors essentially prohibited from collecting US militaria and could face criminal prosecution? Here's the link to OMSA web site explaning some aspects of new law: http://www.omsa.org/forums/showthread.php?t=1332 William

I've dealt with Goran as well, he's good guy. W

case for 1st class and tube to store award document, awarded to Austrian diplomat.

and here's Yugoslavia Order of Yugoslav Flag 1st class Issued during 1941 - 1990. Order of the Yugoslav Flag 1st class in original case, with wearing ribbon bars, later emission. Given to Yugoslav and foreign citizen in rank of minister and high representatives of states. Also awarded for exceptional civil merit. Manufactured from silver, gilt and enamel, with few mintmarks on the back side of the star. Only about 1400 were ever awarded. William

Here's 2nd class set from my collection. About 1300 awarded. Award was given to American engineer.

Yes, that's the one.

Enamel is definitely of much better quality and construction has that special "old" feel to it. But the award is made in Yugoslavia by IKOM. William

Christian, The awards I posted are 1st class and 2nd class (not 2nd & 3rd). The gradation for Order of Yugoslavian Star goes like this: 1. Grand Star - breast star is huge, it contains 10 diamonds and 45 rubies. There's also a badge worn on the shoulder sach. 2. 1st class - on shoulder sach. Breast star is smaller, no diamonds and only has rubies on the small red star, shoulder sach is similar to the Grand. 3. 2nd class - on neck ribbon. Breast star is the same as 1st class. Neck badge is worn on a ribbon around the neck. 4. 3rd class - same as 2nd, but no breast star. 1st class I decided not to keep, as there's a mismatch between small red stars on the sach and on the breast star - one is made of enamels, another of rubies. I think they should be the same, so for the price I'd like to have 100% legitimate matching set. William PS - here's Grand Star (not mine :-) ) from Yuri Yashnev's site.

Christian, diameters of the 2nd and 1st classes are the same, more rays create impression that 1st class is slightly larger. William

1st class of YNA Order

Second class YNA Order

Note screwbacks on 1st type and various marks.

We are missing 1st class, so I decided to show few from my collection. Here we have early type with unusual attachment device (2 screws) and last type. William

These have been offered on eBay in the past... Someone please upload pics from eBay before they disappear. W

It's the same award indeed. I bought this rare beauty...cost me a small fortune though. William

Details - rubies on the star William

Grand Star worn on the neck with Breast Badge Founded in 1952 with 320 awarded From my collection

Grand Star worn over the shoulder Founded in 1952 with 159 awarded William

I've noticed some of these serial numbers in my collection! Collecting community is such a small field, this stuff just keeps changing hands... William