NavyFCO

I have found that my best investment in collecting over the past twenty years was good lighting for photography. That was even more important than a good camera! For "big" stuff like uniforms and headgear, I bought a portrait setup from Smith-Victor, consisting of two halogen umbrella lights and one hair light (though I rarely use the latter). I also bought a professional backdrop holder, white paper background paper and a nice study table to hold the coat forms. (See photo attached...) For photographing medals, I bought (yet another) Smith-Victor desktop light tent with two halogen lights and a white fabric light tent. The point of the light tent is to diffuse the light coming in at the sides... something I'm still working on. I had a 5.1 MP camera, then moved to an 8.0. I finally sold that one and splurged with a 10.0 MP one. For the money, I think the 8.0 was probably the best of both worlds with the equipment that I have... just goes to show that you don't have to have the "best" camera in order to get really good photos! Dave

The nice thing about cameras is when the photos are scaled down a bit (as for the web) they do look quite nice (I think) and the colors and overall "texture" looks a bit more like the real thing rather than a "flat" scan. Dave

I think there's a place for both... I like the scanner for some things, and the camera for others. Unfortunately, I am operating off what files I could put in my thumb drive, so I may have better ones still at home, but this is about as good as you can get for a closeup with a camera (after editing and compressing to fit within the website limits as well). Still not bad, but I think a scanner is better for this... After all, one tiny jiggle of the camera and that close-up is... for lack of a better word... "shot"... Dave

So long as we're posting test photos... I just got a new camera and tried taking some with it. This was one of my first attempts... Inputs are definately appreciated! Dave

I have one with a hand-engraved serial number that was awarded for actions in Afghanistan. Dave

Welcome to the "club"! There are other Soviet awards books out there, but I don't think that any of them come close to the level of detail or quality of production as the Comprehensive Guide. However, ironically some sell for more though! Unfortunately, no one has yet to convince PMD (and I've tried) to put out a "second, revised edition." I personally think that he'd make a killing off of it, but no luck...yet... Dave

Geeze... I wish that was "reality"... I've got one for sale with good research for $100 less than that and thus far, no takers...

I think Kevin's right... Just pulling out my refs (the last one was off the top of my head) it turns out that Darby had 2DSC-DSM-SS-LM-BSM-3PH... However, my 1950 Cullum register got packed so I can't confirm his foreign awards. Looks like Kevin hit it! (Of course, this wasn't exactly "fair"... technically he never wore these awards...) Dave

I'm at school right now, so with no books or references, I'm going to say....... General Mark Clark. Am I right???? Dave

Another sign it was bad... Were it real, it probably would have brought at least another $1000 on eBay. It's rare to find a "bargain" on a high-end award (or even on any award just about!) on eBay. Dave

Ask, and it shall be given...

Here's a real one (with PMD cert) Note the heavier numbers, and the "flat" line above the reverse N vice the light numbers and the curved line of the fake one. Looking at the two, I'd say that the one in the eBay auction is fake. Dave

Here's a photo of the reverse of the one that I owned...

I can't say for sure, as I'm not the best with fakes, but this one looks very much like one that I was duped with (based on crappy photos, but luckily I got my money back easily!) about a year ago. It was a REAL Lenin... just it was formerly a hanging version that had been converted very nicely to a screwback version. The back was likewise almost mint and very pebbled (like this one) as the original reverse had been carefully eaten away and a new reverse was "carved" from the original. It looked REALLY good, but it was... fake.... Dave

Here are a couple citations I just got in for (late-numbered) Glories (horrid plug..some are for sale...) Comrade Zherebtsov served in the Soviet Army since 07/15/1941 with the 100th cavalry regiment of the Leningrad Front. Participated in combat with his regiment as a cavalryman in the vicinity of Okulovka station and Porkhovsk area, Pskov Region. On 08/14/1941 during an offensive operation in the vicinity of the town of Porkhov he was wounded with shell fragments into the right side of the thorax, both legs, the left buttock, and the same day was taken prisoner by Germans. There are no consequences of his wounds. The wounds were proved by the medical committee of the Smolnyi District Military Draft and Registration Office of the city of Leningrad on 16 May 1957. Liberated on 04/05/1945 by US troops in Western Germany and handed over to the Soviet Command in June 1945. *************** Acting as part of the 3rd Battery on 07/22/1944 during the forced crossing of the Western Bug River, Comrade Vlasiuk used his rifle to quell a firing position of the enemy which was denying the advance of our infantry, and killed two enemy gunners, who were hiding at a separate house. As a result, our infantry moved forward without any casualties. On 07/01/1944 during the battle at the town of Grabovets he destroyed a cart and killed two enemy soldiers. On 08/09/1944 while rebuffing an enemy counter-attack on the left bank of the Visla River Comrade Vlasiuk used his rifle to destroy an enemy machine ? gun with the crew. During the hand ? to ? hand combat Comrade Vlasiuk killed two enemy soldiers and an officer from his gun. *************** Subject to the draft, Sergeev A.V. fought the German and Fascists invaders during the Great Patriotic War as part of the active Army, took a direct and active part in the fights, and sustained three wounds while fulfilling his combat missions: 1. Part of the 11th Partisan Detachment, 8th Partisan Brigade, on 01/21/1944 he was lightly wounded into the right leg with a fragment of an enemy mine when blowing up a railway groundwork. 2. On 08/04/1944 during the offensive operation as part of the 1247th Infantry Regiment he was severely wounded into the jaw and the right arm. 3. On 02/20/1945 during the offensive operation in Eastern Prussia as part of the separate gunners? company, 53th Motorized Brigade, he was severely wounded into an eye and the jaw. *************** Private (retired) T.D. Ivanov participated in the Great Patriotic War from 22 June 1941 till 20 August 1944 as part of the 24th Separate Guard?s Combat Engineer Battalion, 5th Army, 3rd Belorussian Front. In the offensive operation in the vicinity of the town of Mariizmpole (town of Kapsukas), Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic, he was severely wounded with shell fragments into the right thigh. His right leg was later amputated. The wound is proved by the unnumbered certificate issued at #5948 evacuation hospital on 04/18/1945. Due to the wound he was treated at #5948 evacuation hospital for ??? months. After the treatment he was separated from the military on 23 February 1945. From 1945 to 1950 he worked as a secretary and the chairman of the village council in Orshan District, Vitebsk Region. *************** Sergeant Chizhukov Aleksandr Alekseevich is an active participant of the Great Patriotic War. During the battles on 22 March 1945 he assumed command over a machine-gun platoon and owning to his personal courage the platoon several times rebuffed the enemy attacks and over 60 German soldiers and officers had been killed. Comrade Chizhikov has received one severe and one light wound as well as a shell-shock. He has been treated at the hospitals several times. The wounds are proved by the certificates from the evacuation hospitals # 5258, 1679, 3465 (certificates # 1527, 16 and without number). Currently he is a disabled veteran of the Great Patriotic War, 3rd category, but he continues to work at the sovkhoz.

In my opinion, buy a Glory 3rd. Why? 1 - It's researchable, guaranteed 2 - It will defiantely be for combat action (unlike OGPWs, Red Stars, Red Banners, Homeland 3rds) 3 - They're cheap (relatively) 4 - They're resellable for a profit once researched (try that with a For Valor medal!) Can't beat that. Dave

I just sold his uniforms, but for even more obscure stuff, I posted up his citations and award cards a while back on this forum. Obscure... obscure...

As I was.... Here it is: http://capral.webzone.ru/indexen.htm Dave

the Russian company Caparal (Corporal?) sells GREAT fakes, some of which are even hard to tell from the real ones in photos. I can't find my link to their website, but they make some great stuff. Unfortunately, I've never been able to buy anything from them, though I have heard of people that have. Dave

He's actually quite a mixture of awards and such... He's wearing a Type IV MOH, and on his shirt is the ribbon for the OGPW2 (oddly) before the MOH ribbon, then the British MM, then his next US ribbons. Quite an odd assortment! Dave

Boy was it a pain trying to track his name down... I literally spent several years on it before a member from another forum was able to pin him down by random chance. What was neat was that I was able to send the photo to the 45th Infantry Division Museum as it was one that they had never seen of Slaton before. This photo will be in my upcoming article. Dave

I agree! He's also one heck of a nice guy too. When I wanted some books that were no longer produced as a Christmas present, he worked with my wife and he actually printed them out on his own printer for me! Be like me... just buy all of his books. You won't regret it! Dave

From Mr. Posthumous: No. I've owned several groups with temporary documents that, for whatever reason, were not turned in when the award book was issued to veterans with jubilee medals, etc... Sincerely, Mr. Posthumous

Which would then make sense that it could have been a 6XXXX range number, given the date as was speculated previously. Aha! (I am, young Jedi, now all the wiser....) Dave

Ouch! Not to knock our dear British friends, but during the 1990s there were a TON of fake groups that were churned out by someone in Britain. I don't know if it was a Russian (it probably was) but at one point, I couldn't find a good Soviet group amongst any major medal dealer - they were THAT pervasive! Unfortunately, all of those have been sold, and re-sold, and re-sold again, so the fact that they were originally from England has all but been lost. Granted though, the folks who bought the groups back then still did pretty well. I remember turning up my nose at a fake group that included both a real Ushakov AND Nakhimov medal (along with other awards) for a "hefty" $750 USD... Now imagine how much that could bring, even though the group itself was bad! Andrew (MONDVOR)... Do you think it would be possible for you to do a thread with photos of the fake books you have??? I have always thought of myself as pretty savvy, but I seriously never knew about the snowflake (asterisk) on the CCCP seal till just now! I look forward to it!!! Dave