Marcel B.

I am curious to see research results being posted here.

I would like to see photos of veterans wearing these minis. I have not yet come across these to be honest and I am rather skeptical about these. As said above, veterans wore their full awards/medals plus the anniversary medals together with specific unit remembrance badges (front, army, regiment, etc etc). Plenty of photos from this. But never have I seen minis in wear.

'Echoes of war' is indeed a very nice book!

I agree, best info is found online. Reznik's book is basically copied from online texts. Mondvor is indeed a great source. For Orders of Red Star I also use: http://www.odysseus1.freeyellow.com/odysseus/rs.htm For Orders of Patriotic War I use: http://www.odysseus1.freeyellow.com/odysseus/pw2.htm Furthermore check forums like this one or https://www.warrelics.eu/forum/ussr-1917-1991/ and good trusted dealers'websites. In particular I want to mention Matt for his excellent photography. There's a lot to learn from his page as well. https://www.sovietorders.com

Did you research the number and know who the awardee is? Perhaps it is a double awarded OG3 that was supposed to be an OG2 and where the awardee him/herself had this alternation done or it was a lost award which the veteran himself replaced. I have seen more OG3's turned into OG2's done by the awardee themselves by adding ugly gold paint. It is ugly for us collectors but for the veterans it feels different. On Matt's website there's a good example of this: https://sovietorders.com/product/group-of-awards-to-a-full-cavalier-of-the-order-of-glory/?swcfpc=1 In case it IS done by the awardee I would leave the gold paint, as ugly as it is. It was done by the veteran and how he wanted it. So do research before removing the ugly paint.

Just ordered the book. Looking forward a lot. Really liked the previous 4 books as well, and I am glad the new book comes in the same design again.

A nice start!

I think it's all wasting time. Best to fly there and hand over personally,...IF the family is really keen on getting the award. Know that lots of families sold awards from granddad/grandmom so there's a chance this comes back on the market again as well after returning the award. It is furthermore "just" a remembrance/anniversary award and not an award earned in combat. Not to sound negative or harsh but I think you are wasting your time.

That is why I said you can not compare these one on one.

The Gold Star for Hero of the Soviet Union (and with that comes the Order of Lenin).

I don't think you can compare these one on one.

An original one indeed.

There's also reprints of the Avers books for cheap prices. I found mine on Ebay in the Ukraine.

I think this is your man: https://pamyat-naroda.ru/heroes/person-hero93571572/?backurl=%2Fheroes%2F%3Fadv_search%3Dy%26last_name%3DЗахарченко%26first_name%3DЮрий%26middle_name%3DГеоргиевич%26date_birth_from%3D%26static_hash%3Dfdf948ee304acc4bf3003dbe0b9586a7b3573f3600cdbc1aa8742bd494516397v6%26group%3Dall%26types%3Dpamyat_commander%3Anagrady_nagrad_doc%3Anagrady_uchet_kartoteka%3Anagrady_ubilein_kartoteka%3Apdv_kart_in%3Apdv_kart_in_inostranec%3Apamyat_voenkomat%3Apotery_vpp%3Apamyat_zsp_parts%3Akld_ran%3Akld_bolezn%3Akld_polit%3Akld_upk%3Akld_vmf%3Akld_partizan%3Apotery_doneseniya_o_poteryah%3Apotery_gospitali%3Apotery_utochenie_poter%3Apotery_spiski_zahoroneniy%3Apotery_voennoplen%3Apotery_iskluchenie_iz_spiskov%3Apotery_kartoteki%3Apotery_rvk_extra%3Apotery_isp_extra%3Asame_doroga%3Asame_rvk%3Asame_guk%3Apotery_knigi_pamyati%26page%3D1%26grouppersons%3D1&

Maybe a clear, sharp picture will help. That is ALWAYS the first step into getting reliable responses. In this time and age we can't suffice with such crappy pics anymore. The technology is there for good, sharp pics. That said, I am afraid by the looks of these bad pics that it is a cast fake. Better pics as said will get more reliable judgements.