TacHel

Thank you all for the info! Merci beaucoup à tous! :beer:

I'll be in Paris with my wife for a few days in a couple of weeks when we return from Strasbourg. I intend on stopping at Maison Platte but was wondering if some of you could recommend a few other shops? I already know about the ones near the Louvres (too expensive!) and the ones in the Royal Palace Gardens. I want to buy an 1861 China Expedition medal, matter of fact, I'm going to Paris for that very reason (but don't let my wife know! She thinks we're going there to please her... HA!) Every time I receive the Platte catalog and they have a few MOMP "Barre" examples for sale, they're gone by the time I phone! It's driving me nuts! This is the ONLY medal I'm missing to finish my French frame and seal the sucker! I'd settle for models from other makers but since my 2nd Empire Italy and Mexican medals are both MOMP, I figured I'd go for the complete set... Any help would be appreciated!

Just make sure you don't confuse "commemorative breast badges" with "commemorative medals". Commemorative BREAST BADGES:(4 corner mounts) -Chief Marshall of Aviation A.A. Novikov -Colonel-General Pikalov -Major-General Boris Alexandrov -300 Years of Naval Infantry -100 Years of the Submarine Force -50 Years of the Space Age -50 Years Moscow Commandant's Honor Guard -Nikolaï Rimsky-Korsakov Commemorative Medals:(5 corner mount) -200 Years Ministry of Defense -300 Years of Baltic Fleet -60 Years Moscow Operational Housing Management -50 Years Special Inspection Service -90 Years Military Intelligence We having fun yet?:whistle:

Commemorative breast badges are all awarded on the 4 corner mount regardless of the present state of the person being decorated. Serving members, veterans and civilians all receive them on the 4 corner mount for wear on the right breast. Why so many prefer to switch them to the 5 corner mount beats me. On the 4 corner mount, a breast badge is considered a decoration while on the 5, it is relegated to the state of a mere medal worn among many others on the left breast. My Russian colleagues tell me that ribbons and mounts are readily available and incredibly cheap to purchase and as previously mentioned, nobody seems to be enforcing the regualtions that are quite explicit. I myself was able to procure quite a few modern Russian replacement ribbons last month and they were so cheap my Russian contact didn't even bother to ask me for any money for them. If you go on my Wikipedia page for the Defense Ministry, you'll notice all commemorative breast badges are on the 4 corner mount, I removed the pictures I had that were mounted on the 5 corner mount following many conversations with Russian collectors and servicemen.

Just to clarify a point about the 4 versus 5 corner medal mounts. Info I picked up in multiple Russian forums is that there is NO regulation allowing any serving member of any service to remount a commemorative breast badge on a 5 corner military mount. They just do it... And nobody enforces the rules.

In post #16, top badge, you are correct. Badge "For Long Range Cruise", Soviet Navy, instituted on 22 May 1961. Awarded to the most distinguished, highly disciplined military and civilian personnel of the Navy who participate in long-range cruises on vessels of the Navy, provided that the missions are successful. For all vessels, transition from one ocean to another; for vessels of under 1000 tons, a 30 day cruise with a distance of at least 500 miles from departure point; for vessels of over 1000 tons, a 45 day cruise depending on home port, Northern Fleet - the limits of the Norwegian Sea, Pacific fleet – 3000 miles from point of origin, Black Sea Fleet and the Novorossiysk Naval district - outside of the Aegean Sea, Baltic fleet - beyond the North Sea. Specifically for submarines, a cruise with no docking amounting to more than half of the full autonomy of the vessel. This particular variant was bestowed up until 1976 when it was replaced by the variant below.

Medal "For Participation in the Military Victory Day Parade" Instituted on 26 February 2010 by ministerial order 130.

That is a good explanation. Merci!

Sweet stuff!

These awards come with an official looking award document bearing a very official looking stamp. The stamp clearly identifies the organization (if you can read Russian) as the Russian Awards Committee - Российский Наградной Комитет. The document will NEVER have a complete ministerial identification on the inside such as "Ministry of Defense Russian Federation", or "Ministry of Internal Affaires Russian Federation". They can however very often have the ministerial accronym as part the award title/name such as "Veteran of the MVD", MVD being short for Ministry of Internal Affairs. They will NEVER have a ministerial or departmental emblem on the cover. Usually a dead givaway.

17- Commemorative Medal "Veteran of Borders Troops" 18- Order "For Service to Russia" (red variant) 19- Order "For Service to Russia" (blue variant) 20- Medal "100 years of Russian submarine fleet" 21- Medal "Veteran of the GRU Spetsnaz" 22- Medal "Veteran of the Air Force" (variant with attack helicopter) 23- Medal for "Defender of the Borders of the Fatherland" 24- Medal "Veteran of the Air Force" (variant with jet fighter) 25- Commemorative Medal "65 years of Defense of Moscow" 26- Commemorative Medal "Participant in the Afghan War" 27- Order of duty and honor (red variant) 28- Order of duty and honor (blue variant) 29- Order "Marshal Zhukov" 30- Commemorative Medal "65 Years of the Fall of Berlin"

1- Jubilee Medal "to mark the centenary of Leonid Brezhnev" 2- Medal "Veteran of State Security" 3- Medal "90 years of Border troops" 4- Medal "90 years of the Russian Militia" 5- Medal « Veteran of the MVD » 6- Medal "Day of Artillery and Rocket troops" 7- Commemorative Medal "65 years of the Battle of Kursk" 8- Commemorative Medal "65 years of the Battle of Stalingrad" 9- Medal "Navy Veteran" 10- Medal "50 years of the submarine Leninskii Komsomol" 11- Medal "The Varyag Cruiser Monument" 12- Commemorative Medal "for Service at Baikonur" 13- Medal "Space exploration" (50 years) 14- Commemorative Medal "Tomsk School of Communication" (80 years) 15- Jubilee Medal "Veteran of Air Defense Forces" 16- Commemorative Medal "50 Years of Strategic Rocket Troops"

In my ongoing efforts to inform my phaleristics colleagues, and by the same token attempt at stirring more interest on the subject, I think it necessary to point out the multitude of non governmental groups, agencies, associations etc that are issuing medals at an incredible rate. I do this so people will not spend good earned money on items that are most of the time mislabeled as military or state awards on the market. Mind you, if these interest you, by all means, go for it. The "RUSSIAN AWARDS COMMITTEE" is a civilian organization that I know little about save the fact it is one of the most prolific groups issuing medals. All of the awards below are from that group/association/organization (circle you fav), all are unofficial yet you will very often find them erroneously or purposely misidentified as state, ministerial or military awards on the market, they are NOT. Note: If anybody can find their web site, please post a link in this thread. My attempts have only resulted in finding bios of people who received these awards or lists of recipients. I would like to know the basis for this organization.

Some of the major groups dishing out unofficial awards are the Party of Peace and Unity (called Umalatova medals), the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and the Russian Awards Committe. You can find them at these links: UMALATOVA medals Communist Party awards Russian Awards Committee awards

That my friend, is the best, plainest, straightest definition I've heard in a long time! Your logic is irreproachable! (Sorry for the Star Trek quote). I've just crossed out the term "semi-official" from my glossary. I must admit though that the term "tolerated" opens such an incredible can of worms... But heh, politics will always remain politics.

This was also my first impression... But it was mentioned in all of the links I found... This led me to hesitantly (perhaps completely erroneously) call it "semi-official".

Hi Veteran. I'm in no position to argue this one, I had only seen it a few times before. Every single reference I found on the Médaille or Étoile Civique confirm the dates and the acquiescence of the Académie Française. But eventhough my first language is French, I must admit at being a bit perplexed and puzzled at the exact meaning of this phrase: "...une Institution couronnée par l'Académie française". "An institution (crowned)?? by the French Academy". Any thoughts? Ideas on the exact meaning? Here's where the info came from, all are in French though... 1st ref 2nd ref 3rd ref 4th ref Got more...

15- Jubilee Medal “90 years of the Union Leninist Communist Youth League” 16- Medal “80 Years of the Border Troops of the USSR” 17- Medal “90 Years of the Great October Revolution”

8- Medal “80 Years of the KGB” 9- Medal “70 Years since the Creation of the Airborne Troops of the USSR” 10- Medal “55 Years of Victory of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War” 11- Medal “80 Years of the Komsomol” 12- Medal “80 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR” 13- Medal “1879-1999 to commemorate the 120th anniversary of the birth of Stalin” 14- Medal “20 Years since the Withdrawal of Soviet Troops from Afghanistan”

1- Medal “Marshal of the Soviet Union Zhukov” 2- Medal “Veteran Internationalist” 3- Order of Stalin 4- Medal “Soviet Fleet Admiral Kuznetsov" 5- Medal “50 Years of Atomic Energy in the USSR” 6- Medal “50 Years of Victory of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War” 7- Medal “80 Years of the Great October Socialist Revolution”

I refer to these medals as "Umalatova". For those not familiar with the term, it refers to Sazhi Umalatova, a Russian politician who pined for past Soviet glory. She was the chairwoman of the Party of Peace and Unity, they issued their own medals in the Soviet style. These medals were basically to remain in the public eye and to raise funds for the party. You might've contributed to a Russian political party without even knowing it! (I did it myself unknowingly 2 years ago ) If you want to see an interview of this lady, CLICK HERE The page also contains a bit of info on the party. The medals below are ALL "UMALATOVAs", beware of buyers advertizing them as Soviet or Russian military medals. They are in fact, as unofficial as they come. NOTE: This thread is apolitical, I make no remarks about the lady or the party she represents, nor am I trying to dissuade you from purchasing and collecting these medals. My only concern is to inform my fellow collectors as to their true nature. Most dealers have no idea whatsoever!

Possible relaxation of Russian laws. I have NO OFFICIAL PROOF of this but... There seems to be a change of attitudes in Russia as far as exporting ODMs goes. More and more merchants and auction sites now accept to ship anywhere in the World. I myself am now dealing with a merchant there and there's no problem and no attempt at smuggling or hiding the truth from the Russian authorities. Everything is on the up and up, parcels are clearly marked with customs declarations detailing the contents and to date, everything has made it. The ONLY article I have found lately on this subject talked about one individual exporting without a customs declaration and he received a minor fine. I will share with you any new developments as I find them.

The "Mérite Civique" medal is a semi-official award. Established in 1930 under the auspices of the French Academy, it was replaced in 1968 by the "Étoile Civique". It was established in 3 classes, yours is the lower. It honors courage and devotion towards others, recognizing acts and behaviours that demonstrate same. The classes distinguish from the most humble to the grandest, those who contribute to the enrichment of the collective heritage, to the betterment of social life, to humanity's progress, principally aimed at those who'se life was mostly labor and self-sacrifice and that would've remained anonymous had it not been for vigilant research.

Gorgeous! Thanks for sharing!

Great stuff! Aren't you running out of wall space?