TacHel

Nice! It's the biggest such badge I've seen to date! :cheers:

Thanks! :cheers:

The modern (current) variant has simetrical palms on both sides but the older (3rd Rep) variants had a palm and a laurel branch... Now, on these older variants, which side was the obverse? Did the palm go left or right of the laurel branch?

I'd call that a very sweet afternoon! :cheers:

Actually, unless I miss my guess, all grades of the LoH take precedence over everything else... Then there's the Order of Liberation, then the Médaille Militaire... Then all grades of the National Order of Merit. After that the various CdGs line up...

A French collector buddy of mine found me one... Definitely not the most attractive one out there...

I didn't even know about this medal... Any plans to squeeze it somewhere within national awards?

Those are bran new ribbons, you can easily tell by the colours' edges on the victory medal and 1914-15 star. Not that it would greatly affect the price but still... A very nice set! But IMHO, still a bit overpriced.

This is a nice WW1 trio with a foreign award, but it's no George Cross. The medals market must be booming in Ukraine and Russia, I assure you it isn't in the west at the moment! You'd never see a starting price that high unless it included a few really high British awards.

$7,000 or rubles? (or pesos) $7k is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay high! :speechless:

Very sweet! :love:

:o :rolleyes:

Again and again I looked at the back inscription... IMO, it can only mean "capitaine"...

Yet another from the commander of the Pacific Fleet for "Veteran of the Pacific Fleet". (I guess being really far from Moscow has some advantages). And award document, not quite as ornate as previous ones, but nonetheless also quite clearly identifying the fleet commander as the bestowing authority.

Here's one from the commander of air base 2011 (air base and Pacific Fleet's naval air defence base), denoting the 70th anniversary of the base 1938-2008. And award document.

Thanks to both Megan and Antonio! :)

Yup, looks fine. According to the bars, he spent 4 years at the front, the cross means he was wounded.

Beautiful! Thank's for sharing the info and great eye candy! Would you be so kind as to share the governmental link?

IMHO, the Order of Lenin should've been as or almost as rare as the Order of St Andrew had it not been relegated to a long service award, to an automatic award with the Gold Stars, or as a military bravery and leadership award during WW2. Its original intent was quite similar to St Andrew. And I still maitain that with the reestablishments of the Orders of St Andrew, of St George and of Alexander Nevsky, that the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" has no true reason for being anymore... It was a catch all award meant to be a modern Russian Order before there was intent to restore former Imperial Orders.

I wasn't comparing HSl to the Order of St Andrew. Like I said, there are groups requesting a modern equivalent to the HSL exactly because all agree that St Andrew isn't the same.

I've looked again and again at the word between "Le" and "Bruneau" in different magnifications, not even sure it's "capitaine"... Would he, could he have had a special title? This is what I (think I) see: P (or partial C), ?, f. ?, t (or b), a, i, r, e

Looking at it again, I think your spot on with "poste d'information". OK, kind of odd they repaired the suspension loop 90 degrees off... Hmmmm... Where do you see "colonel"? Really looks like "capitaine"... No? A reason I mentioned an indigenous manufacture was the ribbon, it looks like it was crocheted...

I completely agree with JapanX here, the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" 3rd and 4th classes are pretty common. Personally, I'd compare them for civilians to the Soviet Order of Labour Glory with the 2 higher classes comparing to the Order of the Badge of Honour and the Order of the Red Banner of Labour. For the military, I'd compare them to the 3 classes of the Order "For Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces of the USSR. Matter of fact Lukazs, the total lack of anything equivalent or close to "Hero of Socialist Labour" has raised requests from labour unions and groups in Russia for the establishment of a similar decoration in the same manner as "Hero of the Russian Federation" was created. As for St Andrew versus Lenin, take away the awards of the Order of Lenin made during the war or for long service (this was dumb!), the number of recipients goes down drastically. I honestly can't think of another Soviet award coming close to the Order of St Andrew. GRANTED, the original intent of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland was to replace a multitude of Soviet awards and its statute was, and still is an amalgam of those past ODMs; but the establishments of both the Order of St Andrew and St George have relegated it to much lower status and prestige. JapanX, what do you think of the following: -The Order of St Andrew replaced the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland 1st class. -The Order "For Merit to the Fatherland 1st class replaced the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland 2nd class. -The Order "For Merit to the Fatherland 3rd and 4th class should've disapeared considering re establishment of the Order of Alexander Nevsky. -The Order of St George replaced the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland 1st class with swords. -The Order "For Merit to the Fatherland 1st class with swords replaced the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland 2nd class with swords. -The Order "For Merit to the Fatherland 3rd and 4th class with swords should've disapeared considering the existence of the Order "For Military Merit".

Er... Bud... Your link must've been in cyrillic because it leads to a page on the ampersand... :whistle: