TacHel

There are a great many non governmental organizations issuing medals in modern day Russia. Some of the awards are clearly for service within the organization, many others on the other hand mirror genuine governmental awards using the same designation (or very close) and having quite similar designs and prerequisites for award. The number and quality of these medals often outshines the actual governmental awards they are mimicking. As an example, the Medal for 100 Years of the Submarine Forces of Russia, to date I have found 12 different variations, all official looking and of quite nice quality, but a single "official/governmental" medal was produced by the Defense Ministry. The fact of seeing such awards being worn on the uniforms of serving military or paramilitary personnel does not mean they are officially recognized, regulations were quite lax for a time but are now being applied and these awards will most likely (and hopefully) only show up on vets and civilians in the near future. Such non governmental organizations: -Committee for Public Awards -Russian Awards Committee -Union of Afghanistan Veterans -Ex Presidium of the Soviet Union -Etc etc etc... The list is quite extensive! For State Orders and Decorations, you can go to the official web site of the Commission on State Awards to the President of the Russian Federation. If it isn't there, it isn't official/governmental. It is however only available in Russian, your on line "E-Translator" will be quite useful here. Ministries also issue medals on order of the pertinent minister (vice a presidential decree for state awards). Some are quite easy to authenticate such as the ministries for Defense, Interior and Emergency Situations. This also includes some of their sub departments such as the Federal Protective Service, Federal Security Service, Foreign Intelligence Service and the likes. The reason these are easy to authenticate as "official/governmental" awards is due to the fact their ministry is always clearly identified on the reverse. Defense Ministry medals reverse inscription: Министерство Обороны - Российскoй Федерации (Ministry of Defense - Russian Federation) Interior Ministry medals reverse inscription: Министерства внутренних дел - Российскoй Федерации (Ministry of Internal Affairs - Russian Federation) or the short version: МВД России (MVD Russia). Ministry for Emergency Situations medals reverse inscription: МЧС России (MHS Russia) There are a few exceptions, but they are quite rare. The medal below is for "Veteran of the MVD" (25 years of service in the Interior Ministry). It looks quite official even bearing the emblem of the Ministry and "МВД" on its obverse. But it is in fact a non governmental award bestowed by a civilian organization. Notice the lack of the ministry on the reverse, a dead giveaway.

Salut Bison! You're correct... (C'est ce qui arrive quand je fais deux choses ? la fois... )

Awesome picture! Where is your grand-father in the picture though?

--LOGIC ALERT-- --LOGIC ALERT-- --LOGIC ALERT-- --LOGIC ALERT-- --LOGIC ALERT-- JimZ is right... But still, interesting debate.

Instituted on 31 August 2001. Awarded to members of the Federal Courier Service for good service over a period of 15 years.

Medal for "Veteran of the MVD". Awarded for 25 years of service in the Interior Ministry.

This is the award document bearing the emblem of the Russian Federation Navy. Looks as official as it gets! But is it??

This medal commemorating the 70th anniversary of the foundation of the Northern Fleet was instituted and bestowed on order of the commanding admiral of the Russian Federation's Northern Fleet. The fleet commander had medals minted and is presenting them himself... Here's my question to our forum colleagues from Russia: Since this medal is NOT from the Defense Ministry, can it still be "legally" worn on the naval uniform? How can a fleet commander be allowed to do this outside of the normal governmental chain of command? This young naval lieutenant is proudly wearing his... Albeit after is official service medals but still...

The CASABLANCA clasp was awarded to sailors and soldiers who sailed to that city between 5 August 1907 and 15 June 1909. The OUDJDA clasp was awarded for operations there between 29 March 1907 and 1 January 1909. The HAUT-GUIR clasp was awarded for operations in that area between 6 March and 10 June 1908. The MAROC clasp was awarded for operations (mostly service in country) after 20 July 1912. Date at which the "protectorate treaty" was signed. The medal could be awarded to sailors, soldiers, indigenous personnel, civil servants and to personnel of the societies bringing help to the wounded, who took part in pacification operations or in territorial defense.

It's "familiarly" called that... It goes to the next of kin, but so many KIAs were so young, mostly mothers received them. :(

I know... It's enough to make ya weep... :(

Contact Tony on his site Kaiser's Bunker If he doesn't have one, he'll most probably be able to direct you to one. P.S. Enjoy his web site, everything you'll see there is his!

Odd... I saw MAGNIFICENT parades in Germany in 1999-2000, Bundeswehr parades. Your past, IMHO, has NOTHING to do with the members of the Bundeswehr who served and continue to serve honorably all over the World. I do not mean to offend in any shape or form here, but the feeling I got when living in Deutschland was that these restrictions are self imposed. There seems to be this unhealthy self recriminatory feeling when the military is involved. I find this very sad for the members of the Bundeswehr... NOBODY outside of Germany expects this "mea culpa" (for lack of a better term) to go on and on and on. And if the only thing is these idiotic protestors... Heck, we have them in EVERY single country. They protest, but would never serve a day for their country or go to Bosnia or Afghanistan. We just ignore them, the minorities are always quite vocal, but you'll usually find much more people looking at you with pride and respect. Just my 2 cents worth...

I really don't understand this, it makes no sense. Bundeswehr full size awards are the same size as the full size awards of other nations. We don't wear our medals all the time, but on parade we do, during special events also. I've been on 2 parades with Luftwaffe units and also on a multinational one (NATO) where not a single German wore his medals. They were the ONLY ones not wearing them, they only wore their undress ribbons. On one particular parade where there were only Germans and us Canucks, we even removed our gongs and only wore our undress ribbons out of respect and camaradery for our German brothers at arms. (They really respected that and man, did they pay for the beer after the parade was dismissed!) Court mounting of medals has been mandatory in the Canadian armed forces for years, but the service reimburses us for the cost of mounting them because THE SERVICE obliges us to have them mounted. I find it really hard to believe the full size medals aren't worn simply because of the cost of having them mounted... My apologies to the author of the original thread, I understand this is a bit , but this is a subject I really have at heart. I still have many great friends in the Bundeswehr and simply cannot understand why these servicemen and women are treated like this!

Have you checked Megan's web site? CLICK HERE

You can also find it on this Wiki site which I've been working on for the better part of the last 15 months. As for an actual value... Russian Federation ODMs are still only trickling out of Russian. It is illegal to export such items, unfortunately this has boosted prices on some items way above their actual worth. But as a State Decoration, even if awarded a great many times, it still has a base value. Any such award found on the western market for under $75 is a great bargain. I've seen them go for near $150, but that's a bit much IMHO. I don't know how many have been awarded to date, but I have no doubt that any early piece (low number) will be worth quite a lot down the road like for Soviet awards. ADDENDA To be honest with you, and IMHO, the main reason for such Russian ODMs to sometimes sell for so little is the apparent and almost complete lack of interest from the collecting community via-?-vis modern Russian awards. I don't understand this at all... But am taking advantage of it before interest does go up along with the prices!

Yours? Congratulations! Did you get it for being late too often? :lol:

A very good investment for $10! This is a State Decoration of the Russian Federation. Life Saving Medal (Медаль За спасение погибавших). Instituted on 9 March 1994, it is awarded to citizens of the Russian Federation and foreign citizens for saving lives during natural disasters, floods, while fire-fighting and in other life threatening circumstances.

Nice watch! Is it a military award? Civilian? Governmental? Retirement? Merit? Efficiency? (If Canada gave out a watch like this, we'd probably only bestow it upon people renowned for being late... )

I have a question for our friends from Germany. I was based in Germany and served with the multinational NATO AWACS Force during the Kosovo and Bosnian conflicts. 1/2 of my crew (including my CO) were in the Luftwaffe, great guys, it was a pleasure and an honour to serve with these true professionals! Shortly after we were all "gonged" with the NATO medals, my German colleagues received their Einsatzmedaille. They proudly showed them to us, then lowered their eyes, sighed and said how sad it was that the medals were going in a drawer, for they were not allowed to wear them. It was then I learned that German servicemen and women were not allowed to wear their decorations on their service uniforms, not even on parade!! Only the undress ribbons... WTF?!? I sincerely hope this sad and ludicrous regulation has been abolished by now? Please, somebody tell me it isn't so any more!

The articles are back with the family, I'll ask for better pics or borrow them to properly scan them.

I agree wholeheartedly, to the point of originally hesitating as to whether or not to include the picture... Very poignant indeed.

Any help in appraising (even a ball park figure) this incredible historical treasure would be greatly appreciated!! I want to point out something important: I AM NOT GETTING PAID FOR THIS APPRAISAL just in case you were wondering. Very few collectors around here and my subordinates know my great interest in these matters and didn't know where else to turn. And like I mentioned in the first post... This is way out of my league, too many artifacts accompany the sets. Awaiting your thoughts gents.

The items also included are various hat badges, shoulder titles, spoons, toiletry kits etc. Absolutely astounding! It seems their entire personal effects not only survived but were all brought back to Canada and preserved to this date as a complete ensemble!!

Both brothers' death certificates signed by Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps officers.