cimbineus

Thank you Gordon. I needed some time to re-evaluate my relationship with this Forum after certain very unpleasant events and groundless attacks I received in return for my continuous help and assistance. But, I am here ... Regards, cimbineus

Dear Megan, As far as I can judge from the picture, your photograph shows a type "C" Star. All "D" type Stars were made of gold and appropriately hallmarked as you can see the last piece in my picture. Regards, cimbineus

Gents, I would like to add another picture, with a little arty touch, if I may. Yes, indeed, just four awards were made... Regards, cimbineus

Gents, This is a scarce Medal from that time. Here are the four types of the Hero of the Socialist Labour Medal: "A" – This is the very first one from 1953 – awarded 11 times. "B" – This is the second type of the Medal, but it is actually the star of the '53 version but with a new type of ribbon. "C" – This is the third type, the new ribbon part continued and the star became prismatic. The "B" type was awarded just a few times in 1954 and the "C" type was from 1954. Altogether just 58 awards were made with these two types. "D" – This is the last type of the Medal from 1964. You can see the same ribbon, but the star is made of gold, and 41 awards were made during its existence. Regards, cimbineus

The "KIVÁLÓ BÁNYÁSZ" badge originally was instituted in 1952 by the Council of Ministers (Government) with the Decision № 1029/1953 taken on 30 August 1952, and as such, it was one of the very first "KIVÁLÓ" badges. In the picture you can see the 3rd and the last but one type of this award which was re-instituted in 1977 by the Council of Ministers with its Decision № 1006/1977 taken on 17 February 1977, and existed for a while even after 1989, but already without the red star. cimbineus

Gents, Here is the award and the miniature. Regards, cimbineus

. Since we have already touched upon an earlier period of the history of Hungary, let me put here another favorite piece of fakers, the "Minesweeper" badge. Here is one widely spread counterfeit version of the badge: VORSICHT, FÄLSCHUNG! ОСТОРОЖНО, ПОДДЕЛКА! BE CAREFUL! THIS IS A FAKE! ATTENTION, FAUX! ATTENTI, FALSO!

Hunyadi, many thanks for posting these pictures. Thanks God I have no fake ones of this series, but you are 100% right. The "Budapest faker gang" a decade ago was busy with counterfeiting all the six pieces of this rare than rarity series. Gents, if you meet one of these six badges, please, do not believe your fortune, those will definitely be fake ones. Hunyadi, please, advise me, where shall I put some pictures of real ones? I think not in this topic, because that would cause confusion, I guess. Thanks in advance. Regards, cimbineus (P.S.: I beg for your understanding, but I warn you all in advance, that I will not post the pictures of the backs. This is part of my fight against fakers, because they basically have never held an original piece in their hands. They do their criminal activities using photographs.)

. ... And here is the back: VORSICHT, FÄLSCHUNG! ОСТОРОЖНО, ПОДДЕЛКА! BE CAREFUL! THIS IS A FAKE! ATTENTION, FAUX! ATTENTI, FALSO!

. ... And here is a closer view: VORSICHT, FÄLSCHUNG! ОСТОРОЖНО, ПОДДЕЛКА! BE CAREFUL! THIS IS A FAKE! ATTENTION, FAUX! ATTENTI, FALSO!

. Gents, Perhaps, this is the most often faked HPR award. The basis is the latter version of the Service to the Country Medal, but with the '49 coat of arms. VORSICHT, FÄLSCHUNG! ОСТОРОЖНО, ПОДДЕЛКА! BE CAREFUL! THIS IS A FAKE! ATTENTION, FAUX! ATTENTI, FALSO! Regards, cimbineus

. ... And this is another one from the same seller:

. This artificially composed ribbon bar is from a recent offer on the leading Hungarian auction site:

. And here is another one, but already from a different field: VORSICHT, FÄLSCHUNG! ОСТОРОЖНО, ПОДДЕЛКА! BE CAREFUL! THIS IS A FAKE! ATTENTION, FAUX! ATTENTI, FALSO! Regards, cimbineus

. ...And here is another one from the same category: VORSICHT, FÄLSCHUNG! ОСТОРОЖНО, ПОДДЕЛКА! BE CAREFUL! THIS IS A FAKE! ATTENTION, FAUX! ATTENTI, FALSO! Regards, cimbineus

. Gents, Thanks God, there are not too many known fakes from the HPR period, but still, there are some. There are some "fantasy" awards as well, which are usually created from different existing and real details from other orders or medals. Much more often one can meet artificially compose groups and ribbon bars, which may contain some tempting pieces as well, used as "bait". Let us start with some pieces from the higher "echelon". Here is the first one, which partially uses original details, but the star itself is a cast. VORSICHT, FÄLSCHUNG! ОСТОРОЖНО, ПОДДЕЛКА! BE CAREFUL! THIS IS A FAKE! ATTENTION, FAUX! ATTENTI, FALSO! Regards, cimbineus

. Gents, Let us forget that unfortunate interact and concentrate on our wonderful hobby. Charles, I also ask you to continue your work here. I appreciate your devotion and you can rely on my support too. Regards, cimbineus (P.S.: For fakes and this kind of things I rather start a new thread just to make that topic more "user-friendly".)

. ...And the last, the third type of the "EXEMPLARY FARMER" badge, from 1957:

. This is the second type of the badge from 1953:

. Gents, Let us continue our Hungarian Section with this badge. It was instituted in 1948, and as such, it is one of the first badges of this kind. "EXEMPLARY FARMER". The inscription on the upper part is: "FOR THE EXTRA PRODUCTION". These badges are numbered, and relatively scarce. Regards, cimbineus

Many thanks hunyadi, but that would be too much honour for my modest personality. By the way, let me insert a picayune citation: Personal sensibility is a different question, I think. Regards, cimbineus

Dear Greg, Do not feel bad, please. Those ribbon bars are interesting, and your conclusions are totally correct. Let me tell you something else, but closely related to this question. Unfortunately, the Hungarian merchant are very inventive. Aiming at foreign buyers sometimes they simply create unique pieces. Just one recent example. On one of the Hungarian auction sites rigth now there are seven (!) artificially composed ribbon bars of all three types (painted plastic, plastic and paper, textile) with some odd and seemingly interesting things. And there are bids on some of those. As you said, in some complex cases without the award documents we cannot be sure. I tried to say the same. Regards, cimbineus

Gents, After my previous intervention I received a PM with some questions. Thank you for that. I think it would be interesting for you if I try to explain my position once more here using an example. Let us suppose, there are two awards: award "A" and award "B". The Statutum of award "A" says: … The ribbon of the medal is middle-blue with a 5 mm central part containing the national colours. And, the founding document of award "B" says: … The ribbon of the medal is middle-blue with a 14 mm central part with the national colors. Now, if you see a separate (!) ribbon with 5 mm central part, what would you say? Certainly, you will say: this is the ribbon of award "A". And accordingly, if you separate those three ribbons from that bar, most probably everyone would say: those are for the Service to the Country Medals. But if it is so, and everything is so self evident (seemingly only!), why I am not certain about those three pieces at the end? Because what hunyadi said, namely, the "constellation" of the bars. Because of their places on the bar, the logic behind, the existence or non existence of some other ribbons in that bar, etc. All these important things could lead to different conclusions, I think. Regards, cimbineus

Well, I believe, many philosophical questions could be asked, to whom, why and where are the other awards, if he made a mistake or, if the shop had run out of the correct bars, e.t.c. Those are already different other aspects of that piece, I think. I was only talking about that particular bar, embodied in some pieces of plastic, paint, paper and brass, how it appears and what we can see in its physical reality. Those narrow strips are characteristic for the Service to the Country Medals, either with yellow, or white lines on both sides, or without those lines.