NavyFCO

As with anything else, completeness of the set as well as condition of the orders themselves are critical components in establishing an asking price. My recollection of these sets is that they weren't primo in terms of condition. This was especially true for the set containing the Cavalier Booklet and all three Orders of Glory. Hope this helps.

This is one of the more frustrating aspects of this hobby for me, and honestly it makes me a bit ill.

I've been offering the groups around to a very limited extent, but so far no takers for the pair. This is mostly because of the condition of the group with the three Glories and the Cavalier booklet. That's a fact of life, I'll probably have to split the group up, which is kind of sad to do with consecutive serial numbered awards.

The thing that angers me most though is that most people thus far are interested in one of the groups where the Glory 1st is a PMD "8 out of 10" for condition, but the Glory 3rd is a "2 out of 10" for condition. What's sickening about it all is that I know some of the people interested in the group will end up throwing out (or at least selling separately) the 3rd Class Glory because it's not in "primo" condition, yet the Glory 1st is, and they believe that the lesser condition medal brings down the desirablility of the group.

Geeze... I wish I could go back in time 63 years and tell the recipient: "Hey, can you PLEASE not wear your medal in combat? Yeah, thanks... it will be worth a lot more later on if you don't..."

What irritates me over the whole thing is that if these were Glory 1sts awarded in the 1950s and never worn, I could have sold these multiple times over by now. Yet, these were some of the very few awarded during the War, and the worse conditioned set of the pair was actually worn in combat and later in the Victory Parade in Red Square! But no.... were it issued twenty years after the War and sat in a desk drawer, it would be much more "saleable" than one of the very few that actually was in combat.

Now if that's not irony, I'm not sure what is...

Dave

Guys, thanks for the compliments!

What was neat was that I was actually able to add to the guy's family history. Apparently, the family "lore" had it that the grandfather was never wounded just being very "lucky". Well, I found the grandfather listed in one of my White Russian Guards books, and it was mentioned in there that he was wounded. Suddenly, it made sense... how better a way to meet and marry a military nurse, than to be in the hospital yourself! Pretty neat!

I'll post up some scans of the photos this evening for further viewing.

Dave

I just heard from Mr. James this morning about the Glory Cavalier set. Here's his response:

"Sorry this turned out to be incorrect.The 1st Class was a replacement (in gold).The 2nd & 3rd are the original.

It's being relisted at ?995."

As Paul Harvey always says... "Now you know the REST of the story..."

Dave

And finally, here are the naturalization certificates for his grandmother and grandfather (both are listed as "stateless" for their former citizenship) and to close it up, the death certificate for his grandmother.

Hope you enjoyed seeing this group!

Here's a closeup of some of the photos. The peaceful looking photo is of the family in Bulgaria in the 1930s.

Here's the next batch of papers... Both the safe travel documents from the Reds for his grandfather and great uncle; photos of his grandfather's unit on the front, one of which is with Baron Wrangel; a photo of his great grandfather in uniform; his grandmother's passport with stamps up to 1918; some smaller photos, one of his grandmother as a partially clad nurse...

Here's the backside of his grandmother's document, noting that they had come from Sebastopol on 13 November 1920...

And the photo of his great uncle. Obviously, they're both still in their White uniforms...

Here's a closeup of his grandfather's photo...

This is a really neat group that I had the opportunity of picking up starting with the first batch on eBay. I was the high bidder on the auction, and after getting to know the seller better, he eventually sold me everything in the group. Despite the fact that he was the veteran's grandson, he felt that the group could be better appreciated by someone like me, and for as long as I own it, it will be! I'm very touched to be the caretaker of this family's legacy...

He described his grandfather's history like this:

"Apparently my Grandfather was from the St. Petersburg area. He was in the Tsarist cavalry during World War I, eventually becoming a captain of engineers. He won the St. George's Cross 4th Class, which may have resulted in his promotion to the officer corps, a common occurence during WWI. Family lore has it he won the honor by leading a cavalry charge behind German lines to recapture the unit guidon which had been seized by the Germans.

"He was in St. Petersburg when the Bolshevik Revolution occurred, and one of the documents I have is his Bolshevik Letter of Transit which he used to travel to the Crimea to enlist with Baron Wrangel's White Army. That's where he met my Grandmother, who was serving as a White Army nurse. Family lore also has it that they were on the last boat to flee the Crimea as it fell to the Bolsheviks, which took them to Constantinople where they lived until the Turkish Revolution in 1922. My Aunt, who was born in the Crimea, was 3 months old when they fled to Constantinople.

"From Constantinople they moved to Belgrade, where my Grandfather went to work for King Alexander as a royal engineer. I don't know how the relationship with the king came about, but Grandfather was awarded the royal Medal for Zealous Service in 1931, and the Order of St. Sava Vth Class, in 1934, just months before King Alexander was assassinated. My Dad was born in Belgrade in 1922 and lived there until 1939.

"As luck would have it, he had just moved to Prague in September 1939 to attend the University of Prague, and we all know what happened to Prague that month! The family remained in Belgrade until the Nazis invaded in 1941. Then they were stuck in a German refugee camp, mostly in Kemper, for the course of the war. After the camp was liberated, my Dad worked for the U.S. Army as an interpreter and driver. At the end of the war, all being fluent German speakers, they passed themselves off as native Germans to keep from being repatriated to the Soviet Union, and instead steamed over to Canada..."

First off, here are the documents I bought on eBay. These are the "passport" documents given in Turkey for their travel to Bulgaria...

So, you ask... "Why did you buy this group?"

Thanks for asking! Here's your answer- Look at those crazily renumbered awards! Those are the first (and only) ones that I've ever seen renumbered like that.

Pretty unimpressive group, I'd say. Here's the inside of his order book.

His order book front...

This one I bought several years back because it was something "different". Here's the front of the medals....

Here's the document for the above group. Just too bad the 'ol Lenin was missing!

Back in "the day" one could be really picky about groups they bought. I wouldn't touch a group that was missing a Lenin. This group included these five documented Red Banners and a Kutuzov 2nd. Price: $4000. But, the Lenin was missing, so I passed on it...

Here's the cover of the book, entitled "Birth of the Soviet Combine"

Here's a page from a book that was included with it. He's at the top of the list. Most of these men were arrested in the late 1930s... the ones crossed out didn't make it back...

Dolf-

A combine is a machine that can harvest wheat. He was the lead inventor of this giant machine. Probably would have gotten him an HSL if he had done it 15 years later...

The reverse...

The Lenin obverse... Obviously, it is a replacement. He was "purged" the rehabilitated right before WW2 broke out. He was a bit luckier than some of his comrades...

Next page...

This one isn't mine, but it is definately cool. This fellow was known as the "father" of the Soviet combine! Enjoy!

Dave,

Chris James, www.medalsandmilitaria.co.uk, has a cavalier set for set without COA for 2700 GBP

Order of Victory

He's had that one for sale for a while and I've inquired about it before, but have never heard from him. I'm guessing that he's shut down shop? (Or just doesn't like me for some reason?) At $5600, that group is priced $2000 less than the only other out there for sale right now and that one has the original document. Something's wrong somewhere......

Dave

[attachmentid=32184]Darrell,

The Order book for the Lenin.

Alanirvine

I've got to say that that's one of the best Lenin and document combos I've seen for a very long time! Congrats!

Now, time to research it to see what he got it for!

Dave

And here's a closeup... you can definately see where the 2nd class is missing...