Vatjan

And last but not least the medal itself. Way to go, Ed

Soyz-39 mission (22-30/3/1981): Vladimir Aleksandrovich Dzhanbekov (left) and Jugderdemidiyn GURRAGCHA

Maidarzhavyn GANZORIG: Graduated from the Kiev Polytechnic University, 1975; Ph.D. from Space Research Institute in Moscow, 1981; was selected as backup for Soyuz 39; from 1984 - 1991, Head of RS laboratory at the Institute of Physics and Technology, Mongolian Academy of Sciences; since then Director of Informatics and Remote Sensing Centre of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences, Ulaanbaatar.

LADIIIIEEES AND GENTLEMEN? WE HAVE A WIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNER. Congratulations, even with some info I did not know. First off: Jugderdemidiyn GURRAGCHA : First Mongolian in space, Research Cosmonaut, Aeronautic engineer; Major General; later Deputy Chief of central board of defence; Chief of the scientific institute in Ulaanbaatar; Mongolian Minister of Defence.

Anyone? Anyone? everybody is

The description of the seller is wrong, these are NOT labor hero medals, but long service medals for the Intelligence Agency, and worth about 15 US-20 US. Good for you Don't forget to post pix when you receive them! Jan

The items you show above are not fake, they are the latest emission of orders since 2004. They are no longer made in silver and are no longer serial numbered. Ugly but not fake. Furthermore, the Mongolian State Reserve has recently been selling his stock of unissued order. Apparantly large amounts of 2nd, 3rd and 4th award Orders of the Red Combat banner have found their way to the market. Most were sold to Russian and Chinese dealers. So, what you are trying to buy are probably orders that came out of this stock, and are thus unissued. Seeing that they are so very rare, this should not be a problem if the price is right. I think I've been offered the same set, and I can say I think the price is right, but it is still a lot of money As far as I know, only the Khalkhin Gol badge has been widely faked. The fakes are easily recognizable though, as they are very crudely made. Just check if you can see the reigns on the horse's neck or not. If they aren't there, it's a fake. Just yesterday I saw a Mongolian Hero medal for sale, sold as a wearer's piece. Rather crudely made compared to a real one. Now these wearer copies are a discussion without end for Soviet HSU's, although if I remember well, the latest consensus among collector's is that they did not exist. Did they exist in Mongolia? I don't know, I've never heard of them, I would say caution is advisable. See pic in attach. Jan

Hey, that was quick, and that was the hard part of the question, because it isn't written in "the" book. Jan

Okay, okay, okay, I got a question. See if you find this one The Mongolian title of honoured cosmonaut was only awarded twice, to whom, and ... for which flight?

Oh NO, I won, I have to find a question now How did I get into this mess

Haha, McDaniel offers the answer, it's Marshal D.F. Ustinov, it's on page 51

Hi Christophe, Good to see you too. I'm almost pleased I got the answer wrong, because I had no idea what question to ask next if I had won Jan

If I remember well, Brezhnev collected orders. Oh, and jokes aswell, he said himself he had gulags full of them. Jan

There is a nice and rather rare variation of the Korea medal. In Belgium, as mentionned above, you have to buy your own medal when you earn one. Now, when the first +-450 Belgian Korea volunteers returned, they arrived together with their Dutch collegues at the Amsterdam (Netherlands) airport. The Dutch government had prepared a batch of medals to be given to their soldiers. When the Belgian government heard this, they proceded very quickly to have their own medal ready, to be able to present it to their soldiers. It would just not look good to have nothing to offer, when the Dutch were pinning medals on the chests of their heroes They succeded in finishing the medals but not the ribbons, so they took an existing (unofficial) ribbon and had two white lines embroidered on them, to match the proposed design. So, only the first 450 odd soldiers to receive the medal, for free I should add, got the (ribbon) variation that is now fairly rare.

And, a last one, just to show what a mess the Polar Star Order awardings cause: If catalogued chronologically this is what we get 88 6/07/1946 822 23/09/1946 1956 8/12/1948 2705 8/12/1948 4958 8/12/1948 2946 8/07/1950 1956 29/11/1955 6133 16/02/1956 4832 6/11/1956 2506 30/12/1956 3917 30/12/1956 3079 16/01/1957 9013 14/12/1957 9138 14/07/1960 11611 00/03/1966 13376 23/10/1969 14236 3/07/1971

Hero of Labour of the MPR 1: 1956 Davaajav, D., Coal Miner 52: 28/11/1962 Suuigiyn Gombo 00/05/1965 Tereshkova, Valentina Vladimirovna (Pilot cosmonaut USSR) Tsedenbal, Yumjaa 250: 1981 Brezhnev, Leonid Ilitsh, Marshal USSR 2000 Nyam-Osoryn Tsultem, Artist 8/07/2005 Lkhagvadorj, N., Controller of the "Ganguur" Company

Red Banner of Labour order 621: 17/11/1951 Suuigiyn Gombo 1039: 16/02/1956 Dolgor, Nasan 5826: 00/00/1987 Batsukhin, Bayasaikhan 6238: 15/04/1993 Bamyn Dojuu

Just to continue the series : Combat Merit Order aka War Merit Order aka Military Merit Order 1049: 1/10/1959 2146: 00/06/1969 2695: 1972 Kuznetsov, Nikolaj Gerasimovitsh, Fleet Admiral USSR 2777: 1971 Petrov, Vasilij Ivanovitsh, Marshal USSR 5685: 27/03/1987 6515: 4/07/1991 Daramzhav, Radnaashjn 8126: 9/08/1999 Nanzivdarn Dendev

Could anyone tell me what the size of these orders is, since I've never had the pleasure of seeing one for real Jan

And last but not least: a "mondvor" variation, which should find its way to my postbox real soon.

Two more

Many variations also in the 2nd type Best Border Guard badge. Here are the first 2

Here some more nice variants. Everybody knows the Choibalsan's shooter badge, but if you look closely you'll see there are 2 variations. Notice the different cap, and on the one badge the shooter aims for the first letter (counting counterclockwise of course ) On the other he aims somwhere between the 2nd and 3rd letter. Jan

Hey Chuck, Sometimes awards for "VIP's" were accompanied with hardcover booklets like the one in attach, 40th anniv Khalkhin Gol to Politbureau member Grishina. This doc is not in my posession so I cannot show the front. These are actually the normal paper award cards glued into a hardcover booklet. I don't know just how important one had to be to receive such a treat, nor do I know if it was done for all different medals Jan

Hi Chuck, These are actually official medals. It's the 40th anniv of the Khalkhin Gol medal and the medal for the 60th anniv of the Armed Forces. Jan