new world

Rick, If you ever come accross any non-awarded orders - send them my way. I'll be happy to pay you more than scrap value On the serious note - there's always will be market for un-awarded medals. There are many collectors out there who never ordered a piece of research. Going by your logic - anything exept Soviet serial numbered awards should be selling for slightly more than scrap value. Let's see - value of silver in German Knight Cross is about $40 - how come they do cost close to $10,000 these days? Or Russian Horde EK1, or recent batch of mint Deshler KVK1 - why do they go for a lot more than issued salty pieces? William

Ed, How much were they selling for? Just curious... William

Mongolian Central Bank received approximately $223,000 proceeds from the sale of 1,200 awards. Interesting to note that Combat Red Banner 1939 2nd award was priced less than CRB without numeral ($600 vs $855). William

I know for sure I will never have complete collection. That's the fact I have to live with. The truth is that I already missed out on some heavy items. Five years ago 1st class Kutuzov was expensive at $6,000-7,000, but I could afford it. It was somehow affordable 3 years ago at $15,000. Today, at $60,000-80,000 or whatever the price is if you can find one, - it is totally out of reach for me. Even if I had that kind of money to drop on Kutuzov, I would not do so for simple fact that there are better uses of capital than to buy some badge. I agree with what some posters said here - find what interests you and what you can comfortably afford financially. There are still relatively low priced items out there - you can collect Liberation medals, variations of OPW, or Iron Crosses. As long as you enjoy the process. William

No document for this award. It is numbered though and it looks worn , so I hope it was awarded to someone.

This thread has need quiet for a while Here's my set of Red Banners 1 through 4. William

Here's my Order of Labor. I have to say that's very nice award! William

I understand bars are put together, but did he at least use authentic medals? I see Austrian Mil Merit cross on one bar, which would be very difficult to fake because of fine enamel work. William

That's $140! Expensive for the book which can be downloaded as a file for free.

From practical stand - when the research becomes available - who's going to translate the paperwork? Do we have have ANYONE on this forum who knows Mongolian? William

It looks like no one saw flat-type star. It seems like it's the other way around and flat-type is rarer. William

Case after I cleaned it from dirt:

Hinge detail 2

Hinge detail 1

Reverse:

Hrea are some pics I took upon crosses' arrival. Front of the cross

The cross arrived today. The MM is "4" and the cross looks really sharp. I am not sure what dark area around the hinge base is, my guess is it's original solder as it does not look like there are any repairs to the cross. I was also able to clean the case (it was dirt) and it looks much better that the pic I posted. William

I have one with convex star as well. Does anyone have order with flat star?

I read somewhere that brave veteran was figting with the robber by holding on to his uniform & awards and managed to save Glory 1st class!!!! The thief eventually escaped with veteran's jacket, but 1st Glory was left in Kuznetsov's hand. That's what we call brave soul!!!! William

I am not sure about the MM, as the cross is still in the mail. 17 or 27 is based on what seller told me, i will post more accurate info once the cross arrives. William

Brian, Congratulations! I am looking forward to seeing your cross in this section. William

Fellows, 16 members looked at the cross and no one has an opinion? Is the cross / case legit? William

Anatoly, please post pics of the side view for this star. William

There are still tens of thousands of Russian soldiers' remaining on various battllefields. Believe it or not - Russian government does very little to discover, identify and properly bury these unknown heroes who were protecting the country. There are some private organisations who take care of the uncovered remains, but the pace of such work is slow. It's very touchy that Russian governemnet puts out these publicity footages in carying for German soldiers, but perhaps they owe it to their own soldiers to take care of them first and then look after the invaders? William

Christian, I'm not sure what you refer to and what happened between you and Eugene, but I know him personally for more than 5 years and he's nowhere near the person that you portray. I can assure you he's quite a gentleman and person who keeps his promises. From my dealings with him - he's not that much after making quick buck (as compared to other dealers), but rather after studuing ad preserving history. Most of my Soviet items would not be in my collection if not for Eugene. There are numerous collectors out there who can support my statements and provide their own in Eugene's defense. William