rocketscientist

My interpretation of mondvor's sentence translated to english translated to italian is that some of the medals in the range 60k - 106k had a yellow metal suspension. Others (the majority, I understand), within the same range, had the usual white metal suspension. Am I correct?

Does anyone know why one of the most common markers to identify a fake medal is the serifs of the "K" in the word "COBIETCKYIO"? Is it so difficult to be reproduced correctly?

I forgot to mention that some collectors objected that even if the suspension of CS 73k were original, it would be wrong for this medal since in that range of serials the metal should be brass, more on the yellow color than white. I found something like this mentioned on mondvor.narod concerning Combat Service Medals, but the way I understand what's written there is not so black-and-white. I also have to say that the google translator is not perfect on that paragraph... Среди медалей третьего варианта отмечены экземпляры, у которых подвесная колодка выполнена из желтого металла и имеет несколько большую толщину. Подобные медали с желтыми колодками встречаются в номерном интервале от 60 до 106 тыс. Аналогичные экземпляры также отмечены для медали "За отвагу" (см.). Among medals third embodiment noted instances in which the hanging shoes made ​​of a yellow metal and has a somewhat greater thickness. These medals with yellow pads are in the dial between 60 and 106 thousand copies are also marked Similar to the medal "For Courage" (see).

I'm very happy that someone noticed my topic, finally! Thank you, Nick.

Thank you very much paja for these great photos! Feel free to go off-topic like this every time you want.

I don't like to start a new topic, but I was not able to find any place discussing Combat Merit medals where I could append my post. I have two T1 CM's in my collection. I am pretty sure that the medals as such are good, but the suspensions, in both cases, are very questionable. The two medals are a T1.3 sn.73228 and a T1.4 sn.440270. Personally, I think that the 440k suspension is very likely a fake, but I have still a little hope that the other is good (possibly the screwplate is not). Feel free to leave your comments, thank you.

Interesting topic, but does anybody know of a good OCR able to understand cyrillic. I have few award citations and other paper documents I would like to translate (especially now that I learned how to browse podvignaroda.ru) with just too much text for me to type manually into a translator. Thanks in advance

I would like to thank you all for having given your opinion. Such medals like the Liberation of Belgrade, and many others, are scarce enough to encourage fakers in producing copies at all levels of quality, sometime extremely accurate. I have tried to make the most thorough inspection of this medal and comparison with true original I was able to, but my references are only photographic, since I have no possibility to see another Belgrade in real. This is one of the main reasons fakers are so successful. Many of their copies will be the first medal (and often the only one) of a kind that their "customers" will see in their hands. cheers sergio

The had to compromise in order to keep up with the increasing demand of awards

Nick, none of the medals you posted is as ugly as mine. I have more than one medal in my collection with off-centered ring or misaligned faces. My impression is that is just an operator mistake in positioning the die for the struck of the second face. In all the posted cases the suspension ring is aligned with the avers! I have at least one medal, a leningrad if I remember well, with ring not in line with any of the two faces.

Thank you, Nick. I also think that a defective billet is the most possible cause. brass billet:

Grazie Nick. Complimenti per il tuo italiano, ma cosa vuoi dire con ""Billetta" scartato"? Thank you Nick, and compliments for your italian! Could you say more on the factory defects you see on this medal and how could they be generated? Is the raw metal poor or the die-struck went wrong? Cheers Sergio

This is, more or less, what I have tried to do. The dealer is specialized USSR orders e-seller from Sofia that treated me honestly in previous occasions. I think he had some difficulty in placing this medal since the price was very attractive. But he guarantees it's an original one.

I did a comparison exercise with a sure original (I let you guess which one among the three recommended) and I could not notice any difference.

By the way, I was reporting a comment received on this medal, but I would like to point out that signs of filing, as in this case near the top edge, are common in all types of commemorative medals, therefore I assume that not-perfect die-strucks were not necessarily thrown away at the mint, but corrected and given to the awardees. The creases on the obverse are very light and in my opinion were not visible when the gold wash was new, and I think that they would not have been good reasons for rejecting a medal. They are evident only under magnification and because they are bolded by the remaining gilding. This medal can look much more "natural" in standard photographs.

I think that the comment wanted to mean that this medal is original but never assigned because of its defects. Instead of being melted to recover the metal (which would have been its normal destiny), it was somehow disperse and after years is offered on sale as a "pure" original.

I have this Medal for the Liberation of Belgrade that recently has triggered a vivid discussion among collectors about its authenticity. While the avers seems quite convincing, the obverse give to many of them the impression it is a cast copy. There are also two, three lines which might be superficial cracks and signs of thorough filing in the top area towards the suspension ring. Personally I consider this medal an original one, which possibly suffered from a defective struck that required some adjustments afterwards. Somebody suggested that such ugly medals would have normally been rejected by the quality inspector and returned to the melting pot, rather than being awarded to a veteran. I look forward to read your comments based on the attached photos. Thank you

Thank you all. Glad to read that the medals are both ok! That's a relief! cheers sergio

I have seen some pictures posted here with the markings you're referring to, Lambert. I could check only the one on the right (the worst) and found nothing. As far as I can remember, also the other medal has no marks, at least not on the side.

Lambert, I am glad to hear that you do not see anything wrong in the medals. However, I will try to explain my concern. If we take the one on the left as reference, the medal on the right shows a significant porosity all over the surface and a general lack of details which is not due to wear (because of its uniformity). This is normally indication of cast copy, where the medals are obtained by fusion of the metal rather than struck. Maybe I am biased by being a collector of USSR medals which are very ofter faked using this method.

Here are my two Belgian WW1 Interallied medals. They have been purchased separately in time and from different locations in the world. Nevertheless, I always had the suspect they are both cast copies. Please have a look (pictures are 2000pix wide) and leave your comments. Thank you! ciao Sergio

A wonderful set of photographs! Congratulations!

Very interesting to see examples of counterfeited plaques. Thank you very much!

Thank you for your comments, sgmseng. It would be good to see some typical fakes in order to understand the weak points and to learn how to spot them.

I see that railway plaques have been thoroughly discussed already, but I would like to go back to the subject and show mine. I purchased it because it is very similar to the one seen in Baikonur on a train used to pull the rockets to the launch pad since my last visit in 2008. Even if I have got a lot of criticism about this plaque I am convinced it is original. Used to be gray painted, the paint has been carefully removed and only few traces are still visible. I will show the original first... ...and now, the "presumed" original: