Ed_Haynes

Some new datapoints from latest document stack:

Polar Star

4370 - 17 October 1951

4612 - 3 August 1956

8853 - 24 December 1959

Honorary Medal of Combat

350 - 6 July 1946 (36)

2738 - 9 July 1949 (39)

7760 - 8 July 1950 (40)

Honorary Medal of Labor

3285 - 2 February 1946 (36)

11584 - 10 December 1958

Not in very good condition (most of the silver has "evaporated", enamel is knocked about, etc.), but rather uncommon.

Badge of the State Prize (1962-70) (A 6.2)

Screwplate almost certain replacement.

There are four docs but only three medals.

Which medal is missing?

Oh, yes, quite right. Sorry to miss that !!

Missing: Medal "40 Years of the Victory at Khalkin Gol" (A 51).

A nice trio, though you can never be sure whether the medals are a group or a set assembled around three matching documents. Still nice.

Need to post some of my recent document groups (which, in the hands of a trickster, can easily become medal groups).

Is it the same design as gallantry medals, Johnsy?

Are you seeking the bar for the medal or the ribbon bar device, Lukasz? I thought the latter?

How common are these? How many real New Zealand awards have had repeat recipients? Not many, I'd think.

Until the 1960s, this sort of "type collecting" was common among British collectors. Groups were routinely broken up and the only desire was to get desirable medal and clasp combinations, with no regard at all for the naming (unless it was named to a non-European and then the medals tended to be denamed as unnamed medals were more highly valued than a medal, say, to an Indian). It was all rather like stamp collecting, filling "holes" in the stamp album.

As Payne was one of the fathers of British medal collecting, he was also a progenitor of this approach. Clasps couuld be swapped about to make a scarce combination (as they still are today). Look at the number of dealers selling loose clasps. Where did those come from? Whose medals got stripped and why??

While the collecting of British medals (defined broadly) has mostly evolved beyond this today, other phaleristic fields retain this view.

Yes, this looks like one of that vast number of merit certificates for various forms of achievement. This one for something to do with herding, but not at the level of achievement to receive the badge.

You can always get The Researcher to do the work, though his life has been busy of late, and research slows. PM sent.

???

Hindi.

You mean not everyone speaks Hindi?

It has some 900 million speakers, while Russian has but 260 million.

From that nice series on heroes (showing his date of death as 1927).

Maaf kijiya, Slava. Is ka maloom hume nahin aate hai.

Eewwwww. I don't much like the sound of this. You have to wonder what this evil concoction will look like and what it will have done to the medal after 15-20 years. We need to be careful about acting too aggressivel;y on the mistaken idea that we "own" these things and can, therefore, do to them whatever we wish.

Investment. Investment? That is something I don't even remotely think about.

I guess I meant to say "for a Mongolian badge", not just any badge.

Mongolian awards is still very limited area, not that many collectors buy Mongolian awards. Most get lower priced awards, very few venture into something really expensive as $12,000.

Now, if this would be German or Russian awards - that's totally different game.

William

Really? I have paid that much for some items (and oh how it hirt), and would not spend anywhere near that in other areas (except my core focus). I find it amazing and scandalous what some people pay for German (especially 3rd Reich) stuff. Maybe it depends on the perspective, and there isn't one common view, William. You seem to assume there is?!

Thanks for this one. It is always interesting to see those bizarre unofficial French clasps.

Interesting theoretical question as to whether SMOM stuff should be treated as "Malta" or "Global". I'd vote for the second.

Yes. So sad.

And, as I recall, there are couple more similar ones lying with the same person that will probably come to market soon.

Russians only put up the pressure BEFORE the event. Once the auction happens they stop all the contacts and act as if it never existed. If the auction yields to their demands they try to air that fact inside the country as loud and as long as possible. They make sure that public in Russia only hears about successful attempts.

The reason for all this BS is simple: 2007 happens to be in election year in Russia, so it all is just politics and PR...

A fascinatimng and important perspective, thanks!

Do I get the sense we are very VERY puizzled here . . . ??

These are "Soviet & Eastern Block" (however defined?)?

Oh . . .

No matter how good the image, nothing can ever prepare you for these, JC!

And a low enough number that research may be interesting when The Day comes.

The originals of these, especially if made "in-country" (as these seem to be) are uncommon and desirable items.

Thanks for these Dave. While far FAR outside my "turf", I always enjoy seeing and learning new things.

I, too, am glad that it has a permanent public home.

And not with Lord Ashcan?

I do find it odd that the IWM bought something for display in NZ. When they can't maintain and expand their own collections!

What are the last four medals on the bar?

- New Zealand War Service Medal

- Coronation Medal 1953

- Jubilee Medal 1977

- New Zealand Commemoration Medal 1990

By request, the botton designs on a GV 2nd variety and a GVI Kaisar-i-Hind. See why I use this device as my quick-reference characteristic?