Chuck In Oregon

** * * * Thanks, Doc. It's a good little set, but not really something that fits into any of my specific collecting interests. As for deputy's badges, I have a very large group that includes Supreme Soviet deputy badges and ID folders for eight consecutive terms -- for the same man -- over a 35-year period. I think it is the only one such in the west and one of the very few, ever. Chuck

... And the order books.

I was getting some things ready to post on eBay and I came across this small group. I thought it was interesting enough to be posted here for your enjoyment. The recipient was Markoz Lomtatidze of Georgia. He was an NKVD, later KGB, officer and a deputy to the Supreme Soviet. This group was purchased directly from his family. The order books are falling apart, as if he carried them every day of his life. The deputy's ID folder was lost long ago. Enjoy. Chuck

That's an absolutely terrific find. I've never seen one of those badges in the wild. And with its document? Wow. May one ask how you came across such a treasure? I love the old badges. I turned up my nose at so many narkomat badges when I first started collecting, and now I can't find any at all. I didn't appreciate badges when I started collecting. I guess they weren't sparkly enough. Now I favor them over most other collectibles. Congratualtions. Chuck

* * * * * Doggone it! Missed it by thaaat much. But still declared the winner ... by technical knock-out. Christophe, will I have to have an asterisk by my name in your stats? I deny all rumors of steroid-enhanced productivity. That was a darned good question. When I found the 7 April 1944 London Gazette supplement at http://www.gazettes-online.co.uk/archiveDo...PageDuplicate=n that listed a group of British subjects (is there a better term?) authorized to wear various high-level Soviet awards -- Suvorov-3, Kutusov-3, Nevski, this OPW-1 and other awards -- it never occurred to me that this might be the only OPW-1 issued to an Indian soldier. I thought there must be an "and ..." in there somewhere. But nooooo! (Thank you, John Belushi.) So I didn't get the answer from your website. I wasn't above that, mind you. I just didn't see it. My turn again? How can I live up to what has gone before? I'll try to find a photo or item around here that might stump one or two of you. I have one in mind but my translation of the citation is poor-to-God-awful so I'll try to get a better one before I post it, maybe by the week-end. Meanwhile, if anyone else wants to step in first, be my guest. Please? A triple Dukie, Ed? My God, couldn't you get admitted anywhere else? Meanwhile, my hapless Oregon Ducks (they did somehow beat Arizona in the regular season and Washington in the Pac-10 tournament) watch the tournament on TV. Duke is my pick to win it all unless they come against a big guy who has a monster game. I think an opponent with a talented big guy might be their Achilles heel. How can a mere mortal compete with questions from a triple Dukie? Chuck

In that case, I'm going to SWAG it and say that he was the only winner of both the Soviet OPW-1 and the Indian Order of Merit. How much do I win? Chuck

That's a tough one. I always think of Sing/Singh as a Sikh name and I think that would be consistent with being a Gurkha. I found on Google that he was awarded an OPW-1 in 1944, which seems unusual and may be the genesis of your question. I also found an interesting medal site created by a certain GMIC member. I thought I might steal the info from there, but I was unsuccessful. BTW Ed, tough loss yesterday for the Eagles. I thought they were going to win it. I'll keep trying. Chuck

I congratulate you. That is the kind of group that most of us can only dream about. It has been a pleasure to discover how many people enjoy the old documents as much as I do. I hope you will share your research results with us. Chuck

Hi Chris Is that a silver variant that you have, or is the light just playing a trick. I only saw one silver variant offered for sale in Tbilisi and when I went back to buy it ... yes, it was already gone. I'm happy to see you posting here. We need some more interested collectors to share with us in this forum. I know they're out there. So show us a few more things from your collection! Chuck

Just a quick blurt-guess. Is that G. A. Nasser as a young man? Chuck

* * * * * It sure is, Rick. I congratulate you on that find. I have a modest Osoaviakhim collection of my own, including a few booklets, but like Stogieman I have never even seen one of that type. Chuck

Hi Mike I found that badge in Avers-5, page 97, item 137. According to that is is the badge for "193-й пехотный Свияжный полк". It appears to be a 200-year badge, of course. So, the 193rd ___ Infantry Regiment. I'm stuck on the word "Свияжный". It's the adjective form of "Свияж" which I think is the name of a city in the Volga region, but I'm not sure. If you google it you will get a bunch of hits in Russian. The one thing I'm pretty sure it isn't is "Siberia(n)". That's a pretty nice regimental badge your friend has. Chuck

* * * * * Thanks, Doc. I know there are others out there in this category. I just haven't been able to find them. For instance, if there's a second-level version of the large hanger, I speculate that there must be one of the small hanger. However, I have never come across or even heard of one to date. This was such an important and huge area of defense that there must be a lot of badges. I keep looking because, well, that's what we do. Chuck

Aviation has been a hot topic the last few days. Here are some air defense badges. Chuck

And here are a few later examples.

I say that I collect early Soviet aviation badges but truth is, I don't really have very many. They have been really tough for me to find and darn pricey when I do find a good one. Having said that, here is my modest collection. I also have some Imperial and even a couple of Trans-Caucasus Air Fleet, with a very rare one hopefully en route. Chuck

* * * * * Thank you, Chip. I have no special attachment to this badge and I don't collect any German themes. I think I'll include it in my auctions, which I hope to have time to prepare next week. I'll open the bidding just below the range you suggest. Chuck

Thanks for the information Kev, and for reminding me of the Guests Valuation & Identification Forum. I think I picked this badge up when I was in my "I'll take one of everything" stage of collecting. That had a lot to do with there being next to nothing to do in Tbilisi in my free time. I just came across it again when I was sorting some things out to put in the upcoming auction. Chuck

I have had this badge since early 2002 and I have no idea what it is or whether it has any value. I'm posting it in this thread because it seems related. It may be just a tourist bauble or it may have some historical interest. I simply don't know. It is 1 7/16" tall by 7/8" wide, or 3.3cm x 2.2 cm. It weighs 6.36 grams. It has five colors of enamel -- two reds, white, black and green. On the back are the letters (as best I can read them)" "GFS GESC_" . The last letter, if such it is, looks like a T rotated 90 degrees to the left, but I think it may be a mis-struck H, lacking the right side. Can any of you tell me a) what it is, and b) whether it has any significant value? Thank you. Chuck

Those badges are absolutely stunning. I own a grand total of exactly one of them. It seems like you and I have some similar interests but you are far out in front of me. I congratulate you on your collections. Chuck

Between finding some misplaced records and really not wanting to do my taxes anyway, I have come across some new things to post here. As the title says, this is a 1931 Georgian Narkomat of Justice Jubilee Badge. This particular one was issued to Sergei Aramovich Lekrian. Lekrian was a high-ranking Narkomant official, probably a judge, and he was also awarded an early Badge of Honor. He was arrested in Oct. or Nov. 1939 as a German spy and he was sentenced to ten years in the gulags "without letters", a kind of add-on punishment that meant no communication with the outside during your sentence, or so I'm told. His family received a letter in 1942 that he had died in a Khazakstan work camp. NKVD workers who searched his flat after the arrest did not find everything. This badge survived. FWIW, I think this badge is uncatalogued and unknown in the west. It is silver-plated bronze and has three pieces. The gold is not plate. It has been hammered flat onto what appears to be silver underneath. Lekrian's son, Avram Sergeivich, was repeatedly denied entrance into the army until very late in the war, when he finally was allowed to enlist and he served at the western front. Avram died in 2001. I purchased this badge from Avram's widow. Enjoy. Chuck

* * * * * Rick, you're a very clever guy. I started working on Schedule C for my 2005 1040 and I came across my original notes regarding this purchase. According to my notes, Muradbekov was arrested in 1937 and executed in 1938. So I retract all of my comments about his GPW/post-GPW service and I apologize. I also have a rough translation of his 1904 note from Port Arthur: "To Mlle. Shadinova, Shushanik, from Levan Ivanovich Muradbekov, City of Port Arthur, April 5, 1904, From War Theater" My notes also state he was a "Chief Hydrographical Officer". I had to look it up, but one definition of that is naval chartmaker. Also, I noted that his hat badge was a "Technical Troops - Officer's Cockade 1935-1950". I just wanted to correct the record since the chance presented itself. Chuck

kimj is our WINNER!!! Yes, it's Alla Pugachova (Алла Пугачёва). The last People's Honored Singer of the Soviet Union and by far the biggest recording star in Russian history. She's said to be over 300 million albums and CDs now. The anecdote goes: Two Russian history students were chatting and one asked the other, "In the year 2100, what will people say when someone asks who was Mikhail Gorbachev?" The other answered "A minor Soviet politician in the era of Alla Pugachova." She even mentions that story in her song "Живи спокойно, страна", where part of the chorus also goes "Live peacefully, country, I'm all you've got". Yeah, no ego problem there. Such a big star that the government ignored her caustic lyrics rather than challenge her and create a national scandal that they couldn't win. It's fairly common to denigrate her these days because of her age, her personal life and, shall we say, her diminished visual appeal. However, she still has the voice of an angel and she can still rock with the best of all time. If you like rock at all -- a character flaw of mine, I suppose -- and you haven't heard her sing, do yourself a favor and give her a listen. Yes, I am a big fan and I listen to her all the time. kimj, she did some songs with ABBA back in the 80s. I'm not a bit surprised that a Swede recognized her first. I thought that might happen. You guys didn't think she was a Soviet marshall, did you? Hey, you already know all of them. I thought I'd throw you a curve ball with this question, but kimj hit it out of the park. Gerd, you were on the right track. You probably couldn't imagine that I would put a Russian rocker on this thread. Chuck

Oh, come ON. No one? OK, here she is as a young woman and then somewhat later in life. It would be fair to say that she has not aged as well as she might have. As you may have guessed, this is not militaria ... but she did win that big Soviet award, so she's in here. Also, a popular Russian anecdote has it that an era is named after her. Chuck

A quick scan through a couple of references doesn't show anything like it. If it's really a badge, it almost seems like it's not all there, although there's no sign of damage. With the eagles below the center line, you might think there should be a unit or branch or some other kind of insignia above. I think that most badges had the eagles at or above center. OTOH, the back is distinctive. Could this possibly be a belt buckle, or part of one? Not necessarily a waist belt, but some kind of belt. If that loop attaches at both ends, as it appears, I can't think of how else your example would attach to something else. Just guessing here, as must be painfully evident. Chuck