Ed_Haynes

Have never seen it. Putting a clear image of JUST THE MEDAL (or main page of the document -- your image in post #2 might do) over on the Soviet forum might help.

Is this a quiz? Is there a prize?

Answer: Because someone will buy it.

I've always wondered (too), Jeff. No one seems to know. I hope you get an answer.

I'd have wanted to see those items close up. As you say, Christian, some looked uncertain. Zeige has always had a flexible attituide toward the real/fake threshold, and the more distant you get from their zone of knowledge . . . .

Wow, very interesting! So did it get the thumbs up from Alexei?

Yes, see his comments in Post #2, above.

Inside (unissued).

Document, outside.

Russian Union of Afghan Veterans: Medal of the Russian Union of Afghan Veterans / Медаль Российского Союза Ветеранов Афганистана

See also: http://faculty.winthrop.edu/haynese/medals...han/fourth.html

And inside (unissued).

And document, outside.

Russia (quasi-official?) Medal for 15th Anniversary of the Soviet Withdrawal from Afghanistan

The belt strap over the tie doesn't help either.

Oh . . . but for him . . . straps . . . ties . . . ohhHHHH.

Probably a screwback.

The medal or the man??

Have just received the following summary of a fun life:

Born Darbaz, Armenia 14 December 1904.

Joined Armenian Cheka in 1920.

In North Caucasus Railway OGPU in January 1931.

Allowed free train travel.

Awarded pistol for 12th anniversary of chekist service on Chekist day 20 December 1932.

Working at the Leninakan office of the OGPU in 1933.

An NKVD Major with the 6th Armenian NKVD Border Guards District in July 1941 (likely unit commander).

Deputy of the Armenian Communist Party's Central Committee in December 1941.

Issued NKVD Distinguished Employee badge by NKGB decree on 17 March 1945.

Lieutenant-Colonel of the Armenian NKGB in Leninakan in July 1945.

Served under diplomatic cover in Soviet Embassies in Beirut and Tehran, 1946-1947.

Deputy of the Armenian Supreme Soviet in 1947.

Deputy of the Armenian Communist Party's Central Committee in 1947.

Colonel in the MGB, head of the Leninakan, Armenia MGB, 1950.

Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs (MVD) of Armenia, 1951-1952.

Director of Jail #4, Armenia. 1953. [Who did he anger to get that demotion?]

Retired, with rank of KGB Colonel, after 30 years state security service, 1957. [Plus 7 in MVD.]

Awarded new MVD document for NKVD badge on 23 February 1959.

Indentified (from another forum) as being the 2nd Madras Lancers (now the 16th Light Cavaly).

Great news, Johnsy.

For those of us not intimate with the tale, it seems that there are conspirary theories surrounding the action and the sinking. What? Why?

Nice to have a reference for another book I won't be able either to read or to find. But a have a long list of those to look for!

Oh. With the name spelled right I did find it: Ceskoslovenska Statni Vyznamenani, Statni Cestna Uznani a Ceny.

Nice, Christian. Thanks for the effort to put these up. Nice to see all them in one place!

Thanks, James. The only time I run across this one is with awards to Indians, so the background is helpful.

New, quite interesting, very ugly, previously unreported, and probably ministry awards. Could we see the interior of the award books, please?

Looking over this thread again, I do find the term "Knight Grand Cross" to be rather strange. as that would suggest a GCVO award. There was only one British award of the GCVO for Edward VII's Austria trip, to the British ambassador in Vienna (9 Oct. 1903). Again, honorary awards are another issue. Anyone who got this would have been quite a "someone".

Based on this, you should be able to find these in the online London Gazette. While many (most?) honorary awards, especially later on, were not Gazetted, apparently these early ones were.

Few British awards for this tour seem to have been made, but Teddy was always willing to give away awards to helpful foreigners.

hello, a poor picture coming from "ceeskoslovenska statni vyznamenani, statni cestna uznani a ceny", by Vladivoj Pulec, SNTL-ALFA, Prague 1980

but look at the excellent enamel finishing on the borders...

Nice to have a reference for another book I won't be able either to read or to find. But a have a long list of those to look for!

I don't think anyone was questioning the potential interest in socialist Czech awards. It is just that (1) very little appears on the market and (2) there are no good sources (in English at least). Now, if there is an active ongoing program of faking, . . .

Wherever cosmonauts were sent on public-relations tours, they usually got awards.