NavyFCO

And the inside. Just be wary when offered a medal without any other documentation that's a really high number. It could be legit (and neat!) BUT... what a great way to pass of say, a questionable Order of Courage when it has a "real" order book... Dave

Here's the inside of the second one. It's actually a PMD Type 6, but still the same "L" number...

Inside... What's odd is that I had several of these blank ones and just sold this latter one. I found one that I kept and thought it was identical... turns out it's a different variation! Let me get some scans of it... Dave

One to watch out for... A number of these walked out of government storage a few years back. Given that these are all blank, it's REAL easy for someone to add a new award to one of these books and make it "legit"... Just buyer beware!

Digging through my stuff, I found a "Yu" number 0017187 dated 8 July 1966. I always wonder what happened to the guy and why it took 21 years for his book to catch up to him! I should probably research the group but I'll probably sell it first and kick myself later. All of the books I've seen so far though have the little asterisk thing behind the number. The two I posted are the only two I've seen so far without the asterisk. Dave

I've never really studied the letter markings on Victory Over Germany documents, but I was just looking at a couple I had and definately had never noticed an "O" marking before. This set belonged to a husband and wife group. Has anyone else seen this before? Also, what other letter markings are out there? Thanks! Dave

Here's a nice 100% real NKVD ID document...

That one's fine. What do you see wrong with it? Ha. Okay, just kidding. Yeah, I think more of these are bad than good. I've got a good one I can post up here when I find the scans of it. Dave

That's a really interesting little group. My bet is that the MM is a delayed award for wounds, though at the same time it's probably a combined 10 year and "hey, he was wounded in the war and didn't get anything else" medal. This one would be interesting to research, I think. Dave

That's why I'm on this forum... I enjoy like-minded people that actually appreciate the research rather than the fact that this is a "previously unseen Type X Variation X and the person it was awarded to doesn't matter." That's the reason I collect Soviet awards... you can actually KNOW how much the person sacrificed to earn the award they did. Dave

Just one thing to add... The price I'd be willing to pay is in no way connected with the price of the award in today's market. Were this two years ago and the Red Banner worth $50 with the document, I'd still give you the same amount. If Red Banners ever become excessively expensive and break the $300-$400 barrier, I would probably raise my "value" on it simply because of the relative value of it to "average" ones. Dave

Rick: I know you'll never sell, so it's nice that you're leaving it to me in your will. The value on this is extremely subjective. I think the market price would be whatever someone would be willing to pay for it. For example, I'm willing to pay up to $1000 each for posthumous OGPW 1sts. Other folks might not pay $500 for them, if that. Those just happen to be what I collect, and I'm willing to pay a lot to get them as I don't plan on ever selling them. Same goes for Soviet awards to Americans... I'll pay stupid amounts to get them to ensure that I do. For this Red Banner, there is probably a majority of collectors that wouldn't give you anything more than market value for it as it is, which is about $150-$175. One major dealer (who is a friend of mine) asked me to actually stop researching groups that I sell to him because his buyers don't like the research and refuse to pay extra for it! With that said, because of the historical aspect of this Red Banner, were it on eBay, I'd bid well over $1000 for it. I'd probably stop bidding somewhere around $1200.... but you never know depending on my finances at the time. There may be others who appreciate it who might be willing to go more depending on the depth of their pockets. My two cents (almost literally....) Dave P.S. He did retire as a Colonel. You should have the research Saturday or Monday.

Seeeee? I toooooldjya that it was good!

Well... A quick search on the internet scored me the bio and a nice photo of my General Colonel! According to his bio, he's still alive.... ! (Probably died in the past year or so!) Now where'd the rest of his group go???? http://www.peoples.ru/military/general/golushko/ Dave

Sometimes some batches of research come back and they just aren't very exciting. Today... it was $1K well spent! Here's the research that came in the envelope today: - Red Banner to Comrade Gordienko - you can see the thread here on the forum - Citations, personnel file and service history to a General Lieutenant whose group I own (well, used to...) - OGPW 1 to a Major of Engineers who built forward airstrips and airfields as an aviation engineer - OGPW 1 to a Lt Colonel who led an artillery regiment during fighting in the swamps of the Sivash (Crimea) - OGPW 1 to a Guards Major the citation of whose is unreadable to me because of handwriting (agh!) - OGPW 1 to a Guards Lt for fighting against the Germans as a tankist inside the city of Brig (Brik) in 1945 - OGPW 1 to a Guards Major of tank repair - OGPW 1 to a Engineer Major who was the chief of material for the 8th Air Army - OGPW 1 to an Ossetian rifles Lt. for fighting on Ritterstrasse in Berlin on 28 April 1945! - Red Star to a Major of mechanized forces for the Defense of Leningrad in August 1942 - OGPW 1 to an Artillery Lt. for taking on 4 "Ferdinand" and two 2 tanks with his artillery piece outside of Kreshendorf. - Homeland 3rd to a General Colonel and State Prize Laureate who was Chief of Staff of the Rear Forces of the Soviet Army for his part in "Osen-88" in 1988 (don't know what that was, but interesting!) - And finally a highly classified citation for a medal "For Military Merit" to a Engineer Captain (later General Major) dated 1970! (Yep, a researched unnumbered one!) Overall, a nice haul! Lots of translations to do!!! Dave

Basically, he led his unit into CZECHOSLOVAKIA in 1968!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Way, way, way toooo cool. This is the first citation my researcher has ever seen for this operation. And to a paratrooper commander at that!!!

AND... Part TWO!!!

Allright guys. Enough of jerking the chain... Here it is! Unfortunately, I'm REALLY slow at translating Russian words I don't know so we're going to have to wait for some better speakers to make a go at translating, but from what I can pick out..... I'M IN LOVE!!!

A rather dashing looking fellow! I really hope Rick doesn't mind me posting his research but I do still technically own it...

You bet! C'mon. It's not too often I get cool stuff. Gotta enjoy it while I can... Now, back to the scanner... cough cough sputter sputter..........

Well... this would be easier if my scanner worked! Darn it! Well, this is about as good as we'll get for this evening. WOW though! Look at his title: Deputy Commander, 108th Guards Parachute Assault Regiment, 7th Guards Airborne Division! WOWWWWWWWWW! Dave

Ed- And now you are one of us. Make room on your shelf! Dave

Yes, those are the nice Wolf-Brown plastic ribbons that came out right at the end of the War and were worn through the 1950s. Dave

Paul: They were awarded for valor as well as notable accomplishments in training and combat support. In June 1944, they were opened up for long service awards. The pre-June 1944 ones don't always fit into the "super exciting" combat valor category though - much of it depended on the awarding discretion of the unit, the surrounding circumstances and the like. Dave

If someone died, their awards were kept by the state indefinately. I heard rumor in the mid-90s that the state let a lot of awards go, but I've never seen anything that's documented to back that up. As far as I'm aware, there are still piles of awards sitting in a vault... somewhere... Dave