Chuck In Oregon

OK, I'll bite. No pun intended. What the heck IS going on here? Four elements: The water truck, the guy (call him a cook based on his hat, I guess) who seems to be goofing for the camera, the oversized ladle and the pot wth handles on a stand. The locale is somewhere in "the field". There are no obvious security concerns (he IS goofing after all) or weapons and his uniiform is clean. The ladle is too big for individual servings of whatever the liquid of the day is, so I guess it's for making smaller group portions out of a larger pot. So, is he bringing soup (or water, I suppose) via that pot from a central mess to a small unit? If water, I don't think they would use a ladle but there is that water truck to consider. I'm thinking soup. There would have been room for the pot on the truck behind the water tank. Really, am I the only one who doesn't know what's going on here? Wouldn't be the first time. Chuck

* * * * * Rant. Are you sure? Try to get a Red Star out of Sheremetyevo and see if the customs bulls agree. <<At present in Russia are wanted as 25.000 awards stolen more and medals having number. Criminals at abduction of awards even kill veterans. But it certainly does not stop collectors.>> That's one heck of a non sequitor. Some murders are the fault of ordinary collectors? Should the Russians ban coin collecting on the same grounds? I imagine that murdering elderly veterans might be frowned upon as well. BTW, how are they doing at solving those crimes? Which part of all this should "stop collectors"? Stop the free exchange between consenting adults because the state defines it as some kind of crime? Well, count me among the libertarians on this one, and you already know my thoughts on "stolen valor". Stolen freedom, more accurately. Willing buyer, willing seller, agreed price -- offer, acceptance, consideration -- who else's business is it? The state's? Are you kidding? The same state that defaulted on every major promise it made to the same veterans? (This year we're going to catch up on pensions. No, really, trust us this time.) The state should concentrate on the national interest. They have enough medals for display purposes from now to doomsday. They don't need to steal any more at the airport or from auction houses. They probably haven't catalogued the ones they repatriated in 1938. Too many, I suppose. "The profiteers are to be shot at the place of the crime." -- Lenin; "Unless the state IS the profiteer." -- Chuck In Oregon Hmmm ... Outlaw coin collecting and confiscate coins over 50 years old. Just a minute here. Sounds like free money to me. The state issued the coins, it didn't promise anyone they could keep them ... AND NOW WE WANT THEM BACK, YOU SUBVERSIVE CRIMINALS. And tell 'em it's for the kids ... and pensions ... and roads ... Wait. Didn't FDR try something like that? "When coin collecting is outlawed, only outlaws will have coins." Boys, I think this one may have legs. /Rant. Chuck

And the third document. Translation help gratefully accepted. Enjoy. Chuck

And the second of the two documents, a spravka of some sort. I believe it awards the Stakhanovite badge.

The first of three one-page documents typed on the flimsiest of paper, back in the day. Like the other two I don't really know what it is, maybe some kind of RKKA ID or pass?

And further inside ...

And inside ...

And his Trade Union of Film and Photo Workers membership book ...

And inside ...

And his MOPR membership book ...

And further inside ...

And inside ...

Now I have Mr. Kotov?s documents so I thought I?d share them. I love having documents to flesh out bare metal. The first is his 1933 ?Red Passport?. I would welcome a translation of the more interesting parts, as I would of the rest of the documents. I guess I?ll never be able to read Russian cursive.

OK, I joined (and that's something I never thought I'd do) but your link doesn't seem to work for me. Not that surprising, given my level of computer skills. Can I still participate in the dominating? Chuck

Wikipedia has a useful explanation of BGTO/GTO here .

I sold my Soviet BGTO/GTO collection last year, all except the few that I couldn't find at the time, so I no longer have any early examples to share. However, not only were the early examples numbered, many were silver. It is an interesting theme to collect and now -- of course -- I wish I hadn't sold them. Chuck

* * * * * Hi Chris No, not at all and I'm sorry if I implied that. In fact, I'd say that they don't. It's just the way it came. Based on seeing a handful of period presentation pieces not entirely unlike this one, I would guess that it may have come on a wooden platter-like piece -- something that would look good as a desk piece -- with plaque attached to the platter. But that's purely a guess. Chuck

And the outside of the case. Enjoy.

And the plaque:

And two more:

And two more views. Note the offset sights. They line up perfectly.

This is one of my most favorite recent finds. It is a solid silver model of a Maxim machine gun on a tripod. I found a WW I photo on the internet that is the spittin' image of this gun. The plaque reads: 153rd Baku Regiment to Staff Captain B. F. Winkler for the Capture of Fort Dolangez January 30 1916. The case is almost certainly recently made or at least recently restored. Looks like figured walnut to me. The gun itself weighs 96.38 grams. It is 127.93 mm long and 104.86 mm high, base to top of sights. It is said to have been made by his troops to honor him. I can find nothing in English on the internet about this battle. However, I did make copies of a few pages in a 1936 Russian book about WW I on the Turkish Front. Fort Dolangez was a key position in the Battle of Erzurum. I am informed, but cannot otherwise prove, that Captain Winkler led his machine gun company in a pivotal role in the capture of the fort. Coincidentally, I once owned some documents of a Soviet general that included his report on the Battle of Erzurum and mentioned Captain Winkler. Unfortunately I sold them several years ago, never thinking that they might support a find like this. Chuck

Hmmm ... maybe "For Distiguished Navigation" is a better translation of the reverse. Maybe.

And cased, and the case itself:

And the reverse: