Vatjan

The ones with the red enamel dots are the "People's..." merit titles: e.g. "People's performing artist." This is considered a higher title than the ones without the red enamel, which are the "Merit" titles: e.g. "Merit in Science" or Meritious Miner" Jan

What you have called Type 2 is not a best herders badge. Herfurth got that wrong. It's a distinguished rangers badge. The rangers are the people that gather up the cattle in the countryside and bring it to the cities for slaughter. Jan

60th anniv badge

50th anniv pins

reverse

Don't forget Type 2 of the distinguished KGB employee Pic: courtesy Collectrussia

Do you have a pic of the reverse of n? 25,161? I'd like to update my list, my highest sofar was 20008, but I only update if I have picture proof. Thanks in advance Jan

Ribbon bar, anyone say ribbon bar?? Here's the lot Jan

That's a very nice collection you have there, congratulations. What are the serial numbers? Jan

Could you post pix, front & back please Thanks Jan

No forum-smilie is large enough to represent the large grin me & my mailbox have been wearing since this arrived Jan

This just arrived in my mailbox. A very rare sports/wrestling badge. I've only seen 2 in my 5 years of collecting, one in Dr B's book, and then this one Jan

I would say, this is a early 1950's award, I can't be more precise at the moment. If I find more info I'll let you know Jan

I have no idea, sorry , I would say it is a 3, but I can't be sure Jan This is a Variation 1

This is a Type 1 Variation 2. Very nice medal Variation 1 has "N?" written in front of the serial number Jan

Although, they usually follow a quiet good chronology I must admit Polar Stars are particulary chaotic and now the Honorary Labour medal is going off the straight and narrow as well. Seeing that the problem only occurs with the civil (or mixed) awards, I suppose that a probable explanation might be, that batches of these awards were send to the different provinces and thus some were awarded, locally, before others. Jan

Yes, I know him, we exchange info on a regular basis Jan

And there is more: Serial number new lows and highs Order of the red Combat Banner T1 new high 2789 T1 3rd award new high 157 T1 4th award new low 10 new high 83 Medal for combat Service T1V2 new low 1795 (Screwback - cloth ribbon - hand engraved serial number NOT preceded by "N?") Honorary Labour medal T2V2 low 21874 high 36295 (Pinback - cloth ribbon - Cyrillic inscription - rotating tool serial number) Medal 40th anniv MPR new low 00876 Friendship medal new high 11852 Virginlands medal new low 00031 Distinguished herdsman flatback variant low 4164 high 4431 Distinguished Mongolian KGB employee new high 975 Udarnik badge new high 4757 That's all for today I hope this may be of use to you Jan

Ok, here's the latest info update. For those who want I have nice little XL sheets combining all the info I have, sent me a PM with your email and I'll sent it to you. Order of the Red Labour Banner 2845 awarded 1/12/1960 3809 awarded 28/4/1980 Order of Military Merit 4836 awarded 15/7/1985 to Dar'zabii Tsalaankhuu 6885 awarded 28/8/1995 8068 awarded 9/8/1999 Order of the Polar Star 1162 awarded 17/10/1951 6453 awarded 10/11/1956 14292 awarded 3/6/1971 Order for Mother's Glory 1st class 33062 awarded 17/2/1979 Order for Mother's Glory 2nd class 39895 awarded 4/3/1964 61823 awarded 8/2/1969 145718 awarded 18/??/1985 Honorary Labour Medal 9393 awarded 13/11/1956 11032 awarded 6/11/1956 17040 awarded 7/7/1966 23159 awarded 4/8/1976 Friendship medal 4086 awarded in 1971 to Willy Stoph President DDR

Here's one of the few Italian medals I own. It's a Mussolini medal to commemorate and honor the "Mutilated Legions" Hendrik please correct me if I'm wrong, I seem to have misplaced our previous correspondance about this medal Notice the high relief of the medal Jan

A badge looking that good, does not have to sound good in any language Nice one Hendrik Jan

Thanks, I am indeed fairly proud of it

Hooked, indeed Then this might not be a good time to tell you there are several variations of this badge. Apparantly they were first made of silver, then silvered bronze, then silver again. Serial numbers starting at +-4100 have a flatback instead of a mirror reverse, expect to pay more, because I think only a few hundred of these exist. Also, normally the blue enamel is light blue opaque, but some badges, around the 3500 mark, have this nice translucent darker blue enamel. Yours is a good exemple of these. Congratulations on your nice badge happy hunting for the variations Jan

Outside and inside

Dag Hendrik, Best wensen voor 2006 Unfortunately, I cannot add any useful information to this thread But I do have the box that goes with it