Lapa

Slava, There are quite a few other Soviet orders that fit that bill, yet we don't keep throwing figures around when one (or several) of them are on offer Marc

What is the point of constantly monitoring price changes, then?

If looking brainlessly at these figures, it means that someone having invested in single OG1s would have had a better return Marc

Yep, sometimes, one thinks too hard to figure things out. Thanks Eddie! Marc

Snoopy, Posts 1-2: badge Excellent Service PRIBVO (?) Posts 3-6: medal 100yrs of Marshal Zhukov's birth Posts 7-10: medal of Veteran of Labor Marc

Rick, I believe that it is Zhovanik, Vasily Gavrilovich. Marc

Nice try, Wild Card, but no, that's not him. By the way, I don't think that Beria "never held any position of authority or command" Marc

Rick, That would be Schedrin, Grigory Ivanovich Marc

You should post smaller, even less readable pictures, to be absolutely sure that no one can help Marc

Thanks Dan, I'll happily oblige! So, that one is more trivia than anything else, but shouldn't be that difficult nevertheless. Although never holding any position of authority or command, I was instantly recognized all; it was said that Hitler feared me so much and considered me his personal enemy, that he placed a substantial reward on my head. Who am I? Why did Hitler fear me? Marc

Brian, The Battle of Dunkirk took place from 26 May to 4 June 1940. Evacuation began on 27 May and lasted until 4th June. This battle resulted in: German soldiers: 10,252 dead, 42,000 wounded, 8,467 MIAAllied soldiers (Dutch, Belgian, French, British): 1,212,000 taken prisoner, 338,226 men evacuatedThe Germans took from the allies approximately 1,200 field guns, 1,250 anti-aircraft guns, 11,000 machine guns and over 25,000 vehicles. Marc

If ... Marc

Dan, Actually, it would Marc

Jim, Be careful, with "forum not politically correct" statements like this you are bound to get in trouble. Commercial worth should not be/is not the crux of the matter, it is all about History Marc

Dan, I find it strange that a prize of this caliber and time period - a State Prize from 1960's or later - would come with a soldered ring. From experience, all various Republican or Union State Prizes I have seen and/or handled were mint made and had struck rings. Marc

Yep, that could help Marc

Jens, It looks good! Marc

Jens, From what I can see, it looks OK. Marc

People, It seems to me that 2 aspects are simply getting agglomerated into one here: historical value and commercial value, although I agree that they may be related to a point. I have never questioned or criticized the historical approach to collecting. Now, I can readily understand that, from a historical point of view, a long-service ORS definitely doesn't have quite the same appeal - heh, "value" (in historical terms, that is) - as, say, the one received by the private that took Von Paulus prisoner. On the other hand, an unresearched ORS with broken enamel is just that: a Red Star, unresearched and broken. I agree that it holds some historical interest - its recipient most likely did something specific in order to receive it. But as it stands, alone and broken, it is all but potential, and as such, IMHO, does not warrant any sort of a premium. Following the logic that has been exposed in the previous few posts, why should any unresearched, broken Red Star be offered for a mere $150? After all, it does hold heaps of human history, albeit more or less interesting. So, what is the value of potential here? $0.77, $200, $500, $7,523 or $1,000,000? Had this star been researched, I agree that it would have been a completely different ballgame; we'd have known for sure that it was a reward for an unbelievable feat of courage, or on the contrary some piece of candy for a long-forgotten bureaucrat for whom the word "action" meant getting to the office every day on time. Value (historical and commercial in this case) would have been markedly different. But that was not the case, and - at the risk of ruffling some feathers by not being "politically correct for this forum" - it remains an ORS with broken enamel that could possibly, some day, be researched, and turn out to have some historical value beyond its mercantile one; or not! Marc

Dan, I never heard or read anything about her being awarded a State medal or order. I know that she received a tea service custom made at LFZ as a gift from Andropov. Marc

Point in case Marc

Ed, Agreed that from a historical perspective, broken enamel does not matter too much. But since we are living in this mercantile world, what is worth "historical value"? Marc

So, that still does not make it an official medal from a stat that did not exist at the time. I believe that this is simply some sort of souvenir medallet. Marc

Given the fact that the enamel is repaired, that would be the high end of the range IMHO. Marc

UsAirForce, Your ORB is genuine. It is a Type 3 (suspension, round) Variation 3 (shallow relief, straight MM). Marc