Ed_Haynes

M 17 -- State Department Store

M 16 -- State Department Store

M 28 -- The Outstanding Worker of Radio

I can't imagine a fez, or anything looking so much like a fez as that strange navy hat does, being worn under the republic. Marvelous photo!!!

Thanks, Christophe! Having been in Moscow for the 65th anniversary of the outbreak of the war this summer, it puts things into perspective.

Thanks, but, being as late as it is, I have little hope (after just being hit three brick walls on recent labor groups).

Thanks, Dave. I had totally forgotten it had been here before. All those mental Swiss-cheese-holes, you know.

Inside. So . . . who was Anna???

Finally, in the same booklet: Order of the October Revolution, # 63908, V2, awarded 1973 Order of Lenin, # 454167, T6V2, awarded 1976

Inside.

The following year, 1972, brought her second Order of the Red Banner of Labor, # 723615.

Inside.

Then, in 1971, her Order of the Badge of Honor, # 618531.

Inside.

Her first, Order of the Red Banner of Labor, # 521176, awarded 1966.

A nice new fully documented group, but so late that it is highly likely to defy any research. Still: Anna Seregeevna Mikitenko 1- Order of Lenin, # 454167, T6V2, awarded 1976 2- Order of the October Revolution, # 63908, V2, awarded 1973 3- Order of the Red Banner of Labor, # 521176, awarded 1966 4- Order of the Red Banner of Labor, # 723615, awarded 1972 5- Order of the Badge of Honor, # 618531, awarded 1971 No photos anywhere. Who is/was she?

Wow. Marvelous material! Thanks Dave!! It as important to understand issues of context and procedure as addressed in your essay as to understand the Russian texts in our efforts to make sense of these awards and their arcival sources. Thanks again!!

Implicit in what has been said before is a very simple point: In this, the Age of eBay, there are many accumulators of various "stuff" out there (including medals) who can feed their habit (1) without having any knowledge all, (2) gleefully happy with poor-quality images, (3) thinking they are getting "rare things" (because the seller said so) for "cheap", and (4) quickly and easily. OK many of these fakes would not fool a goat (though others are very good), but what I worry about is what it does to a naive virginal collector who starts out on eBay, gets well and truly eBayed, drops a lot of cash on dreck, and who then gets driven away from the phaleristic "hobby" into collecting . . . oh, I don't know . . . bicycle chains. There are far too many hair-thinning gray heads at any OMSA meeting and so few young collectors. Maybe fakes from eBay drive them away?

Hi Eric, Let me take my best shot at surveying the evolution of our knowdge on these. Most of this evolution, by the way, can be traced in this very thread. 1- Battushig published his excellent book showing separate "gilt", "silver", and "bronze" badges. Not quite "classes" and, while he avoided that word consciously, most read "classes" into this organization. (He now admits he was uncomfortable with these three types even at the time.) 2- As we looked at serial number ranges, there was no distinction between the "gilt" and "silver" and the "bronze" was just a single production run (different manufacturer?) of maybe 300 badges in the middle of a coherent "gilt/silver" series. 3- As we looked most closely at the badges that had come to live with us, we saw clearly that there was a range of manufacturing standards and quality but that there was no real difference between "gilt" and "silver" badges (explaining why it was sometimes almost impossible to place particular specimens as either/or. 4- As we looked at award certificates we noted that no distinction as to the metal was being made. 5- Last summer, as I said above: 6- My notes on current observed serial number ranges have not evolved beyond what is shown a few posts above, though I must admit I have not been seeking new datapoints out aggressively. Battushig's book is an extraordinary first step and is something anyone with even the slightest interest in Mongolia or Mongolian awards must have. But it is only a first step. What has been done collectively on this forum (though it does seem regrettably dead lately and I often despair) has expanded our knowledge beyond Battushig in many areas and there is still much more to learn. Most dealers are uninterested in knowledge of any sort except to derive a name (however fraudulent) to stick on a piece they have for sale. Likewise, most dealers don't read this forum, at all or carefully. Is that good or bad? Hope this helps in some way?

W 12a, W 12c, W 12e -- Wrestling Badges, until 1992 These wrestling badges are complex and require an understanding of Mongolian wrestling, which I don't have. But I have figured out a few things. 1- There are no weight classes. 2- It is all single-elimination. 3- The badges are awarded for competitions at the annual nandaam celebrations. (In Ulanbaatar or everywhere? Maybe the local nandaam give rise to the provincial wrestling badges and these are the national ones.) 4- There are several ranks: -- Supreme Champions ("Everywhere Celebrated Whole Ocean Sacred Giant") -- Hero of Labor material? -- Giants -- victors in several nandaam ("several"?) -- ??? -- nandaam victor (guess) -- Lions -- winners in 8th and 9th rounds -- Elephants -- winners in 6th and 7th rounds -- Falcons -- winners in the 5th round -- Hawk (guess) 5- I think there are several ranks missing from this list? Shown (as in Battushig) are the Giant (W 12a), Elephant (W 12c), and Falcon (W 12e) badges. Missing are the Lion (what seems to have been left open in Battushig as W 12b) and one other unknown badge (W 12c). Post-2004 badges are known in the rank of "Hawk", so where does this rank fit in and what does it signify? It would seem there ought to be something between Giant and Lion? I'll be trying to get a lot of this clarified. See also: http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=6987 And, even though it is Wikipedia, see also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongolian_wrestling

W 48 -- Spartakad of Trade Unions, 1962

W 51 -- 1st Spartakad of the Worker Youth, 1957

W 58 -- Wrestling, 1967

W 57 -- Wrestling, 1965

W 56 -- Chess, 1963