Chuck In Oregon

Rick, I thought this little group might interest you. Chuck

Konstantine Solomonovich Tsikovani. We don't know much about him other than he was from Tbilisi, Georgia, where his family still lives. They wrote his name on the back of this photograph for me. He served in the Tsar's army and he earned this St. George Cross. That's it, all we're ever going to know. And here he sits, obviously uncomfortabe (could it have been his first photo?) in a posed studio portrait, incongruously holding a bunch of flowers. Just him, his cross and his flowers. There's something touching about that. Oh, and that's his braid, too, in the attachment. Chuck

Remember, there weren't exactly a lot of central government-issued Soviet badges back in 1922. This one is certainly locally made, likely in Tbilisi, Georgia. It is solid silver and dated August 8, 1922. The inscription is "Aktiv Zak GPU 19 8/VIII 22". This was a very violent and lawless period in Georgia, the first year since Tbilisi had fallen. The wearer of this badge likely was an enforcer of some sort. Many Georgian war lords, gang leaders and street toughs who thought they could read the writing on the wall allied themselves with the conquering Red Army. This may have been worn by someone like that whose work pleased the new government. Chuck

Among Subaltern Arutyunov's last effects that were returned to his family were two army regulation pamphlets, which I also have, and this miniature Georgian dagger, or khindjal. This was likely to have been presented to him as a good luck or family remembrance memento, most likely by his father. One story out of ten million. Chuck

No good endings in these stories, friends. On September 15, 1917, Subaltern Arutyunov suffered grave wounds while serving with the 1st Division, 39th Artillery Brigade of the Caucasus Army on the Turkish Front. He died of his wounds on September 30. This notification letter from the military hospital in Tbilisi was written to his family on October 4. The backlog must have delayed its writing for four days.

Subaltern Arutyunov immediately shipped out to the Turkish Front. He must have been a very good leader. His men voted him this very late "Soldier's Committee" George Cross (as it was then known). Officers could only earn one by vote of their soldiers, which was not often coming, this late in the war. This must have been a huge source of pride to Giorgi Arutyunov and to his family and friends.

This is the back page, page four, of Subaltern Arutyunov's graduation program. If you count up eight lines from the bottom of the text, you can see where someone has underlined his name as it carried over from the line above. This was a major event and something that the whole family could take pride in. It definitely would have been the occasion for a celebratory supra.

This next image is of the front page of brand-new Subaltern Arutyunov's academy graduation program, dated July 1, 1917.

The first image is of Giorgi Arutyunov as a cadet at Mikhail's Artillery School. If I'm not mistaken, this later became the Tbilisi Artillery Academy, which still exists and serves the same role. Nice looking kid, posing with his new sword in a fine carved chair.

So, the commissar stepped up and took charge of two batteries and led a successful two-day counter-attack. That might earn an ordinary mid-level officer what, a Red Star? Your guy was a commissar and he was noticed by the division CO, which was probably good for both of them. I'm going to guess a Red Banner. Chuck

* * * * * Hi David I, too, enjoy attributed items. If I could only find a few more, I would collect them as a theme. Attributed Imperial items have been hard for me to find, and attributed Imperial groupings even harder. I value the few I own. I'll post them here as time allows. Chuck

The jeton with the little guy and the barrel is a birthday present. It is silver with two colors of gold. On the reverse is the N. Olshevich's name and the toast "Good Health." The happy little guy coming out of the egg on the barrel, holding a loaf of flat Georgian bread and a wine cup, is a Georgian "tamada" (accent on the last syllable). It is a classic Georgian caricature. Georgia is famous for its "supras", or banquets, and equally known for its toasts and toastmasters, or tamadas. The tamada is in total control of the supra, giving opening and closing toasts and dozens of toasts in between. No one else can propose a toast without asking the tamada's permission. There is a progression of toasts, interspersed with toasts to each attendee, to whatever event might have occasioned the supra, to current events in general, and to anything else that might occur to the tamada. You are expected to drain your wine glass after every toast. Supras can and do last for hours. Three hours would be quite ordinary. It is not at all unusual for everyone to drink 3-5 liters of wine each. Did I mention that wine was invented in Georgia? True. Being a skilled tamada is a highly respected art form in Georgia. Two of the most well-known tamadas are brothers, one a doctor and the other a former head of the KGB. I have dined with the former many times and the latter a few times less. They are personable, charming and adept tamadas, and each thinks that his brother is the second-best tamada in Georgia. It seems that every group or clan has its favorite tamada who is called into service at the drop of a supra. I can't know for sure, of course, but this jeton was almost certainly presented to the good doctor at his birthday supra. * * * * * The other is a shooting jeton of a type that I haven't seen before. Quite possibly, he or his family commissioned it for him. It was expensive, even then. The shoulder board is solid gold with high quality translucent red enamel with a simple pattern beneath. The main part of the jeton is silver, with (again) high quality translucent green enamel with a sunburst design beneath. The shooter is solid gold. Both parts are proofed and hallmarked. The inscription on the reverse is "N. Olshevich, For Excellent Shooting, 153rd Regiment" then a slash and an abbreviation that might stand for Infantry, as in 153rd Infantry Regiment. I don't know. Then the name Alexander, which may be part of the name of the regiment, and the year, 1913. OK, I hope you have enjoyed this little group. Now post some of yours. George, you get a pass on that part. Chuck

I just received this group on Monday. It is minor, but interesting. To me, it suggests a learned man who loved life and doing things other than his chosen profession. He is Georgian, and that might suggest someone from Georgia's nobility. That class, those who didn't manage to escape to Turkey or Europe, was essentially eliminated after the civil war. His name was Dr. Nikolai Olshevich. That's him on the right. His medical graduate badge is yet another version of the one that George, and later I, posted in the thread "Doctor's Badge". This one is solid silver, proofed and hallmarked. There might be a single trace of gilt in the mouth of the left snake, but I'm not at all sure. The design below the cup (pestle?) is different, as is the ribbon design at the very bottom. It seems to be a three part badge. The base part, which you can see on the reverse as the big U-shape with the ribbon at the bottom, is just something to hang the rest of the badge on. The leaves are individually crafted and hung on that U frame. The imperial eagle frame looks like it came out of stock and could have been used for a variety of themed badges. They knew, even then, that the top crown tended to snap off, so they built in a small support with two legs on the reverse to strenghthen the crown portion. The defining portion is, of course, the solid silver medical insignia. All of this work seems to have been done at a very high skill level. There were many gifted silversmiths and jewelers in Tbilisi back in the day. It looks like the screwback is merely plated bronze. More to follow. Chuck

<<a secret watermark disappearing Stalin!>> I'm not even sure if "embossed" is the right word. The figure is actually raised above the paper, the two heads facing right as you look at the gramota, Stalin in front, behind him comes Lenin. It's a familiar pose. One thing for sure, it disappears when I try to scan it! I think that your badge is for passing certain requirements to reach the Second Step of GTO membership. I have several of those at the first step, but all with the guy running to our right, and some like yours. What I posted was, I think, presented as recognition of some sort of accomplishment, like placing in that big chess tournament. Thus the "Otlichnik" on the bottom bar. I remember that you enjoy good documents. I'll post a few more soon. I am still getting some outstanding things from Georgia. I just sent some money off yesterday to buy some groups and a collection of photos of Soviet (and some Imperial) soldiers in uniform. I'm really looking forward to seeing them. It's liable to be spring before I have them. Meantime, I'll post some of my other photos and documents. Chuck

I was doing something else and I came across this April 1955 Georgian GTO Excellence gramota. It was presented along with a GTO Excellence Badge, like the one you can see on the document. This award was for taking second place in chess at the 1st Youth Festival. I don't have the 1st Step Excellence badge shown on the gramota. So, instead, I have posted two 2nd Step GTO Excellence Badges, an early silver version and a later bronze example. The very early GTO Excellence Badges have mostly eluded me. You'd think that if I could find a two 2nd Steps, then a 1st Step should be easier. It is particularly interesting, to me anyway, that the Stalin-Over-Lenin figure was still embossed at this late date. That's what's in the "empty" big circle at the top. There was nothing I could do that would bring this out in the scan. Too bad. Anyway, I thought that Kruschev was already into de-Stalinization by then. Of course, this was Stalin's birthplace. He never cared much for it ("that little place they call Georgia") but many Georgians worshipped him. A few still do. I was a little reluctant to post this as I haven't seen much in the way of sports awards threads or just documents here. However, I think this is a nice piece, worthy of collecting even though it's not one of my areas of particular interest. If this is well received, I'll post some more documents in the future. Chuck

George, that is an absolutely terrific photo! Do I understand that he is a Cavalier of the Order of St. George? And an aviator, too? Tell us, is this one of your relatives? If he is, please tell us everything that you know about him. If not, do you have his name? He must be in the cavalier books, right? And, may I ask, is he wearing the exact same jeton that you previously posted? I have some pretty interesting early aviation items. You have a museum. Chuck

Seven??? That's very interesting. I don't think I have ever seen more than one jeton worn at a time. Just today I received from Georgia several nice groups. One of them has two interesting jetons, one funny, inscribed, gold and silver jeton that he received for his birthday (undated) and the other a very intriguing 1913 military shooter's award of a type that I have never seen. That one is particularly interesting because this guy was a doctor. I have his photo and his medical badge as well. Do you suppose it was permissable to wear a personal jeton, like this birthday gift, on a military uniform? Or are all seven of those jetons military issue of some sort? The more I see and the more I learn, the more questions I have. Chuck

Well, darned if I didn't find another Fireman's Society badge in one of the drawers. I forgot all about it. This looks like the same badge as the one in the middle of George's big image, "Badge of the Imperial Russian Fire Society". "Fire", according to Avers 3, but suppose it could actually be "Fireman's" Society. Avers lists a silver and a bronze version. George's is obviously the bronze version. However, I think mine is silver-plated bronze. Could the "silver" variant be only silver-plated, like mine, or do we know that there was a solid silver variant? Or, I suppose that all of the silver plating (if there ever was any) on George's could have come off over the years. Mine bears neither proof mark nor hallmark. Obviously, I need to invest in better reference books. Chuck

* * * * * Well, THAT makes sense. I tend to overlook the obvious. Thank you. Chuck

* * * * * Wow. That is some terrific research. Thank you very much. All of the information fits this guy -- the initials, the RBC, the commissar rank, the Transcaucasus region, everything except the Apse v. Anse spelling. On further review, I can accept that it is Apse, even though the letter is inconsistent with the same letter in his title. Maybe that's just the nature of engraving. As before, I get a strange feeling when I'm holding something like this. I'm sure that this guy carried and was proud of this little case and he probably felt relatively secure in his powerful position. Then, two years later, arrested and, for all practical purposes, condemned. What a fall from grace. My hat is off to your research skills and knowledge. In addition, pleased to meet you. Chuck

I have several variations of this badge, with hangers and with pins, but not the one that Danny shows. I think it is pretty hard to find that one. This CCCP - Second Step variant, silver and numbered, is also hard to find and the only example I ever came across "in the wild". Chuck

* * * * * It's definitely enamel. Chuck

* * * * * Yes, 1937 was a bad time for commissars, too.

Good Morning Gentlemen Ulsterman, you got it right. Bill Dienna, nice to see you here! It was Bill who told me whom he thought this was, several years ago. Then, when I learned how to read a little bit of Russian, I found out that not only was he absolutely right but that my letter even said so. Georgia was an ultra-secret republic after the war. Outsiders, particularly Westerners, just weren't allowed to enter, end of story. It was a good place for a secret meeting. In 1963, Vo Nguyen Giap attended a war-planning meeting there with senior Soviet military officials on how to conduct the coming war against America in South Vietnam. They didn't want him seen in Moscow at the time. This is an unpublished official photo of him there. This attachment is a transmittal letter of this photo from the ambassador of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam to the commander of the Trans-Caucasus Military Region. Something that I somehow missed over the years: They actually wrote "ДПР - в СССР". I don't remember ever being told or reading that Vietnam considered itself either a current or pending republic of the USSR. Hmmm. Might that have changed some minds, back in the day? No, probably not. This photo gives me a strange feeling. I flew with the 1st Cav in 1970-71. I keep thinking that this guy was planning how to kill me back when I was still a junior in high school. Oh well. I thought there might be a few of you who would be interested in this photo and letter, especially if you are veterans or students of that war. Chuck

This jeton also came from the Anse family, the guy whose cigarette case I just posted. It is dated 1923, as you can see. RBC - USSR is the Revolutionary Military Committee of the Soviet Union. I think, but I am not positive, that this was the governing body of the early Soviet Union. I do not claim that this jeton came from the central government RBC. Of course it might have, but I suspect something more along the lines of a regional or republic (Georgia) RBC. I do think that this is not a presentation piece, however. I believe that Comrade Anse was a member of whatever RBC this represented and he wore it to proclaim that. Given that he was a corps commissar 14 years later, he must have been a real player and a true believer in the early years. Chuck