Ed_Haynes

New documented medal: Type 2.2 (B # A 28.1).

The chief change in the 6th edition was the (unfortunate) removal of Gordon's name and substitution of new authors on the title page, the adoption of a large format (the older editions were normal-book sized, the 6th could be used as a coffee table, not just lie on one), and the welcomed (by me at least) removal of the quaint, jovial racism that infested earlier editions. While I have not seen this new edition, I am told that there will be significant improvements. I know, for example, that a number of collectors of medals to Indians (like myself) submitted loads of corrections and expansions for the last edition that were ignored, although it did remove some (but not all) of Gordon's denigration of medals to Indians. I have been assured by one of the authors of this edition that these and newer changes will be integrated this time around; we shall see. Personally, I have great hopes for this new 7th edition, though I do wish they had restored Gordon's name to some place on the title page (and I gather thay have not).

Annnnnnnnd have just had first success identifying a ribbon bar from the White Falcon and Coburg rolls. Hopefully that will be posted tomorrow.

YOWSERS!!!! For ?85 it MUST be improved--

only color photos of all the medals would seem to justify THAT!!!!!!

I'll keep my autographed 4th.

And ?30 for airmail postage to the US. Shall report when in hand.

The new -- and long-delayed -- 7th edition of British Battles and Medals is due out in late November ("for holiday giving"). Some 800 pages and (ouch) ?85. Dixon and other dealers can supply it as can, I assume, Spink (the publisher). A must-have (of course). Hopes are that it will be improved.

Lovely lovely

Many thanks for sharing!

Unit 0166

For the 70th anniversary. Post-1992 coat of arms.

Unit 0164

Border guard transport?? For the 60th anniversary.

Unit 0151

Two very different badhges, both screwback, for uint 0151, whatever it was?! Awarded the Red Banner of Labor Valor somewhere along the way? Post-1992 coat of arms on the second badge.

Unit 032[

Two badges for the unit: A screwback badge and a pinback badge for the 80th anniversary of the unit.

Unit 016

Well, it was formed in 1923 and celebrated its 80th anniversary in 2003 (for which this badge was awarded?). And, somewhere along the way, it was awarded the Red Banner of Labor and the Red Banner of Combat Valor? Beyond that, . . . ????

Unit 014

Feels somehow "State Security"? What does it say??

Battushig shows many badges (for example C46, C49, E15, E21, etc.) that have been awarded to numbered units of either the army or the border guards (perhaps interior as well?).

Someplace, I expect, there is a key to what "Unit 0131" was (is).

Until we get it, can we post our NIB (not in Battushig) numbered unit badges here please?

An oddity. An unfinished (unsilvered and unenameled) brass core for a B # 37.4 (type 2.4).

Gentlemen, gentlemen . . . ,

We are, I hope, all engaged in an ongoing process of learning here. While some of us -- folks both on and off the list -- know things, no one knows everything. To pretend to that status would be the height of pomposity and arrogance. While I might apply that condemnation to some denizens of other lists, that characterization doesn't work in this community, as far as I am concerned.

What we need to do is to find ways to agree or disagree (better: discuss) based on evidence -- not ex cathedra crudely stated opinions -- and weigh that evidence against the constant realization that all of us are engaged in ongoing learning founded on research. Yes, when someone tells me "I know this is so because I say so, now shut up", I do want to reach for my AK-47, but logical and rational discourse is uaually a better approach and requires much less clean-up later on.

We do also need to remember -- and this has come up on other threads -- that not all of us use English (the default language of this forum) as a "mother tongue" and, while I am immensely impressed with the language skills of all our forum members (better than I could manage in most other languages in which I stumble along), one thing that frequently gets lost out of one's maternal tongue of the tone of civility that ought to populate our discussions. Without any criticism directed to anyone, please cut all our forum mates some slack. Nevertheless, I think all should think (and rethink) their words and realize that we are, as the omnipresent heading title says, "gentlemen".

We are engaged in a collective struggle toward knowledge, not in "counting coup" against one another. Please.

Please play nicely, children,

Ed

Well, if Ed's not happy with the medal and doc, I have no problem taking it back and keeping it in my collection. As with everything I sell, it's always backed with a "100% lifetime guarantee of originality." It would be nice to actually have some proof that the photo is wrong rather than a hyphothesis though (e.g. the photo in his personnel file does not match that of the one in the book.)

I still have yet to hear anyone's reasoning as to how someone who got a book without photo would just HAPPEN to guess that it belonged to someone the right age and demenor (and quite possibly physical build) as the actual recipient, when the award could have been awarded to anyone. Luck perhaps?

Incidentally, I still think it's real, which is why I don't have a problem keeping it for myself.

Dave

Hi Dave,

I have exactly 0% problem with it! You are not about to pry it away (except from my cold dead hands), as I see no problem with it, regardless. I see it as a research challenge!

It is so easy, too easy, to throw theories. It is harder to research. It may be even harder to admit we all have things to learn.

And thanks again for passing him on to his new home!!

Cheers,

Ed

Sorry Ed, what group do you mean?

The one we are discussing here. I thought that was obvious.

Andrey,

Glad to see you have taken on such a dedicated interest in this group. You certainly seem to think I have another fake?

Ed

Beautiful, aren't they!

Trust me, for this reason, among others, the request for more complete research has gone out.

People's Democratic Republic

Self-Sacrifice Medal of the Central Committee of the S.D.J.A.

This is a real puzzle. The "S.D.J.A." is probably the Sazman-e Difa'-e Janbazi-ye Afghanistan (Organization for Self-sacrificial Defense of Afghanistan).

People's Democratic Republic

Medal of Ghazi Muhammad Ayub Khan

Whoever he may be.

People's Democratic Republic

Faid Djamanudin Afghania

Your guess is as good as mine. The symbolism seems religious/cultural, though anything Islamic would be odd for the secular PDRA.

People's Democratic Republic

Medal Dawlati Malali Qaharaman M'akrah Miwanad / State Medal of Malali the Heroine of Maiwand [?]

Named after one of the most famous heroines of Afghan history, this may well be some sort of women's award? Malali is said to have rallied Afghan forces on the battlefield at Maiwand on 27 July 1880 (during the Second Afghan War) and contributed thereby to the smashing British defeat that ensued.

The obverse has a "moving" scene of a kneeling male kissing the hand of a standing female (Malali), perhaps a clue to the significance of the medal?

People's Democratic Republic

Daulat Malamshaikh Alam Medal / State Medal of Mullah Meshach the Learned

Whoever he may be? Another one of those "named-after-someone-important" medals. The design would suggest some cultural/educational link?