Ed_Haynes

People's Democratic Republic

Medal for the Tenth Anniversary of the Saur Revolution

Established 27 April 1988. Awarded to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the April 1978 revolution.

Another very common item on eBay.

People's Democratic Republic

Medal for Seventy Years of Independence

Awarded in 1990 to commemorate the seventieth anniversary of Afghan Independence in 1920.

A very common e$cam medal, though identified as everything you can imagine.

People's Democratic Republic

Madal Dawalati Ghazi Mir Bacha Khan / National Medal of Ghazi Mir Bacha Khan

There is a whole range of medals named after important figures in Afghan History. It isn't clear what any of them were awarded for, though. It is known that Mir Bacha Khan was one of those who opposed British imperialism in the nineteenth century.

Established 17 May 1982. The award presumably became obsolete with the collapse of the PDRA in 1992.

OK, since you asked . . . . . . as I have time will add on here.

People's Democratic Republic

Self-Sacrifice Medal

Sometimnes called "Self-Sufficiency Medal". Believed to be roughly equivalent to the Soviet Order of the Red Banner of Labor.

Established 17 May 1982. The award presumably became obsolete with the collapse of the PDRA in 1992.

Super! Glad someone is using the archives (though I suspect they are pretty hard to use), rather than just state guesses as if they were fact. Good for you!

Interesting how similar these are to the more recent and much nicer Mongolian badges. See http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=10228&st=5 for a few.

Some interesting Soviet Afghan stuff on exhibition in Copenhagen in 2005.

See http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=7393&st=11 and following posts.

Fascinating photo - a jacket I want to pull back! Though he is a RUSSIAN, not SOVIET hero?!

Not like this double:

Absolutely, but for the type collectors the research doesn't matter. (Is that why so many dealers/collectors pitch the research out?)

I am so glad I paid to get my $20 Glory to First Sergeant Alexandra V. Grebenschchikova researched! (See http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=2329 for her award.) The research is the history that brings an inert thing to life.

Ohhhhh. Lovely photo. Thanks!!

So the numbering was done by only one set of hands?

I'm sorry , but this cross - FAKE !

Reasons, please. Such unsupported statements reek of other fora.

Very interesting. When research becomes a possibility, maybe we'll get some answers regarding the existence of this and other such clusters "in captivity".

Still, I think we need to remind ourselves -- and constantly remain aware -- that there is a chronology here. Not all orders and medals were created and available at the same moment in time, different tools lay in the toolbox of honor at different times. Likewise, within the context of an abiding overall ideology (very different from that of capitalist societies), there were momentary needs that had to be served (was agricultural production going well, was the war goiung badly, etc.).

Probably in years of the Showa era? From the coronation of the Emperor Showa (a.k.a. Hirohito) in 1926 C.E.?

An interesting thread and an interesting topic. Maybe larger than we realise?

A stupid (novice) question: How much of out glib division of "military" vs. "civil" awards is, in fact, just fixating on a late GPW pattern? Obviously, things like Lenin, Red Star, and even GPW could, for a while, be awarded, freely and seamlessly, to comrades in uniform and those in labor (reflecting the unity of soldiers and workers and all that). Maybe the division that we (in the West) like (so much, too much?) to make didn't come along until late in (or after?) the GPW? Obviously, the Red Banner was the exception, but it had two divisions to reflect this double nature, military and labor, and it always had, from the beginning of the new Soviet honors system. Only with the creation of the HSL was there an implicit division even within the "hero" stratosphere.

Am I just indulging in a late-Sunday afternoon fantasy or . . . ???

Yes, it is all about the reaserch. But we knew that already, eh?

I was just wondering if someone could give me a good idea of what one without the book is worth on the open market.

Checking the two dealers whose websites are at the head of my favorites list, I see prices for single, undocumented, unresearched Glory 3s ranging from $45 to $115. And $45-$50 sounds about right to me.

I have the book, though it being in Russian it isn't of much use to me. If the book says this, then it is speaking rubbish (too).

Igor says : "Comes on generic ribbon, often used by Afghan medal recipients for all occasions. /See "State Awards of Afghanistan", p.40/".

Wow! Nice photos. Many thanks for posting!

You should get the captions translated.

Blue and white is the correct ribbon for this medal (what I show); Igor's image is WRONG. Medal wholesalers in Kabul do a massive free-wheeling job of mix-and-match of medals and ribbons and dealers sell whatever they get. The Glory you show is on the ribbon of the long service medal (in one of its immensely coinfusing incarnations). See my "Afghan Abyss" for more than you ever wanted to know.

Lt.-Col. Shubin's Order of Glory

Dear Ed,

many thanks for the link .

For me it is obvious, that Lt.-Col. Shubin received the "Order of Glory" from Afghanistan.

Thats the Afghanistan-Glory from Igor's website:

[attachmentid=59786]

Best regards

Christian

That is it, though on the wrong ribbon! (Herewith, an old scan, was going to do a better scan for my "Afghan Abyss" thread when I get the boys on home leave -- http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=12313 ).

Such abominations are common. When the medal is not sparkly enough, it gets "improved". Sometimes by individual personal aesthetics, sometimes the colonel just likes shiny things (colonels being easily amused by shiny moving objects).

In WWI, it was fairly common for Indian soldiers to have their stars and victory medals silver plated or dipped or just painted, as bronze medals were seen as awards for "followers" only.

And, finally (for now), this may look familiar to some: