new world

That's often the case with all numbered awards - here are always some medals which were not awarded. William

Here's what fellow collector told me in reference to my question: "The clear plastic sleeves are standard A3 size file protectors. They come in 2 qualities - the thin ones you should be able to buy in a good stationery store, while the heavy ones are usually from an art supplies shop. I use the artist portfolio (like a leather folder) to carry the docs around and store them safe and dry. You can also get them in A2, A1 and A4 sizes for different size docs." Thank you Ross!

Heinrich, This variation of St Alexander order is rare, very limited numbers were awarded. What year is your award? Can you post some pics? Best regards, William

Ed, which product do you refer to? William

1st class star has twice as many rays as 2nd class. W

I have lots of award documents of large size - up to 450 X 300 mm. What's the best way to store them? I was thinking about some large clear plastic / mylar envelopes in a folder / album... William

I've used them for years and never observed any problems. Check eBay - there are always some folks selling them. William

That's correct!

All three classes

Here's my 1st class. William

Ribbon bar. Can someone name awards to the General?

button

Collar

Shoulder boards

I would be interested to see Mongolian uniforms. I will start with Mongolian General uniform which I own. It's very unusual tunic! 1970-1980's vintage for a Lt. General of the Mongolian Army. According to a well known uniform collector it's very rare, in his many years of collecting he had never had in, or even seen, another Mongolian Generals item before. Comes with ribbons,tie and shirt too. William

Anyone cares to post opinion about this Hero Star? William

Reverse - looks like someone erased serial number.

I am interested in opinions about this beaten up Hero Star. William

I had the same thought, they look out of place.

Christophe, when you receive Gen Giel's group - please post scans of other pages. William

Gerd, Great encouraging story!!! Too bad groups I am trying to save are not Soviet. William

Problem is that not many groups stayed intact through 60-80 years of turbullent history of this particular Balcans nation. We are talking WWI, WWII, revolts, purges, socialism period, post-socialism. I guess I can ignore this particular seller, but believe me - I have not seen such groups very often in many years of collecting...so the natural instinct is to jump on and try to salvage whatever I can... William

I've used nail polish removing solution to get rid of "green stuff" in the past. Soft brush was dipped into the solution and worked on infected areas. Then the medal was rinsen off with warm water. This method worked like magic for me. So far green stuff did not come back (after two months)... William

About the question of groups preservation and keeping them intact. Don't you hate it when seller splits the groups and lists each item individually? I just went through terrible experience when seller put for sale bunch of items from various groups. I placed my bets and here's what happened: - I convinced the seller to keep ONE group intact and sell it outside the auction (luckily this is the most interesting one - to important historical figure, although it cost me heavy premium, about twice of what I would have paid on the auction), - I won ALL items from ONE group, - I won SOME items from FIVE other groups (I was outbid on the rest). I am so pi**ed of at this point : the groups survived through over 60 years of turbullent history and now they are split between multiple winners. I'd like to keep the groups together if possible at this point. How to re-unite the items ready to go aover several countries? What would you do in my situation? William

Here's full set of Partizan stars William