Ed_Haynes

Interesting. A lot of these pre-Liberation Cuban groups seem to have come to the market all of a sudden. Could they all have been hiding under a rock, or in a collection, somewhere?

Maybe if you said where you got them it would be OK? Not sure.

Would like to see them, though.

In Shiite belief, the black flag also evokes expectations about the afterlife. I would compare this to their "battle flag".

http://www.ctc.usma.edu/imagery_warfare.asp#blackflag

I would be very very careful with such glib statements and such sources. There is such rampant intentional "disinformation" being dispersed about regarding Islam (whether Sunni of Shi'i or any other kind).

I just recall seeing them Way Back When with numbers scratched out (to foil the KGB chaps who came with their magnifying glasses to OMSA conventions the same way the FBI does today) and at OBSCENE prices, worse than the very worst you see today. Their sex appeal and political attraction was outweighed by their pricetag for a university student. I pity those who bought Soviet ODM in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s.

That's one youthful desire I can now fulfill!

OK, the information I have mentions a collar to the Wisam al-Rafidain/Order of the Two Rivers, established by Law No. 1 of 1968, and essentially a presidential chain of office. Somewhere, I have an image of Saddam Hussein wearing something that looked similar, but this is the best image of the mysterious collar I have ever seen. Presumably, President Ahmad Hassan al-Bakr would have worn this chain during his time as president, 1968-79, and it would have been worn by his successor, Saddam Hussein, 1979-2003. If it still survives, it may just pop up on eBay any day now?

Lovely image, Dragomir! Thanks.

Somewhere I can an identification on this. Off to dig in research notes.

Sounds like the sort of bumpy ride we've had to endure with Mongolian awards: From nothing available or even much known, to knowledge literally opening the vaults and a flood of specimens, to the current scarcity as what came out has now been sucked up.

But he never received any Soviet awards did he? (Though his wife did. )

Aren't these ribbon bars heavily faked? I know so many uniform collectors just have them made up just to add as color to a uniform.

How do you tell good from fake? Or can you??

Hi Ed,

I am so hooked. This was my second lot of orders I had researched. I have just sent in a request for an ORB"2"! I can hardly wait to get that one back!

Paul

Yep, except this means that we have to place "Learn Russian" on our "to-do" lists?

Hi Ed

Any information on the manufacturer of these? I have 2...the exact type you have pictured and another (below) that looks less refined but is still fairly well made. Higher relief on the central area and a smooth back...ribbon though...

Curious if there were several manufacturers and who they miht be...or if the one I have attached is Iraqi made. It does not look crude like some of the ones you see in the 1990s and later..Thanks for any info.

Tony

Good question, Tony. But no information. From the "feel", I'd guess Huguenin, but I have never seen one marked. I was scheduled to get a lot of information, but then the invasion came and put and end to that.

See, Paul, isn't research FUN!!

Nice story.

So, you're hooked now??

Look this one.

The current ugly-nasty variety, USAF, apparently unnumbered so likely escapee from stock (type 4.3).

Interesting puzzles. Don't you just LOVE the Polar Star?

渡江胜利纪念

Is ka matlab to kyaa hai? (Sorry, script unavailable.)

What does this mean???

I would assume it is also totally unlike anything you have seen in the Arab world over 35 years.

What makes you so sure it IS Arab?

I am not. Except it was "obtained" in Kuwait after its "liberation" during Gulf War II by a US soldier. Beyond that I do not know. Yet, as people so often intone: provenance.

I agree that the overall design "vocabulary" is wrong for anything Arab (except, maybe, Saudi Arabian, but no one has ever seen any such thing from that side).

I love puzzles.

Frankly, I do see it as ungentlemanly when you post photos and a request for information (as "slava" did) and then say, "OK, I know now", and say no more, share no results. Frankly, one would be quite justified in being disinclined to help such a person.

Interior scans???

Thanks for the pictures! Hsving a face to go with the set always helps.

It is the Sanskrit .But I think the medal is not from India.It looks like from Nepal or Sri Lanka.An unofficial medal,maybe used by a Buddhist temple,or a kind of amulet.

No, it certainly isn't Sanskrit, and it is TOTALLY unlike anything I have seen in South Asia over the past 35 years or so.

Thanks for the guess though.

And, finally, the document interior for his Russian Marshal Zhukov Centenary Medal, dated 2 December 1996.

Document interior for Soviet Victory over Japan Medal, dated 6 April (?) 1946.

Document interior for badge Shockworker of the 6th Five Year Plan (X04), dated 1 November 1908.

Document interior, undated.

Undocumented badge 50 Years of the Great Construction (N19).

Document exterior for 60 Years of the Great Construction (N20).