Chuck In Oregon

I bought this cased medal on a whim, thinking that I have enough references at home that it wouldn't be a problem to ID it. If nowhere else, it's bound to be in E. S. Shchukina's Two Centuries of Russian Medals. As it turns out, that book isn't nearly as comprehensive as I'd thought and it doesn't include this medal. At least, not that I can find. These kinds of medals are not an area of particular interest for me, although I buy them from time to time. This one isn't mint but it isn't bad. It would be close if someone hadn't tried to clean it sometime along the way. But still, not a bad example. I think the reverse is "Excellence in Marine Navigation" or something like that. To my uneducated eye it has strong Greek influences. The helmet, the toga-like uniform (sorry, I just don't have the words), the staff, the wreath and especially the strange little owl. I have a couple of Athenian Owl coins and it reminds me of them. The reverse could have been lifted straight off of an ancient Greek coin. One on-line reference mentions the 1830 Russian "liberation of Orthodox Greece" in passing but I am completely ignorant of that subject or of how it might relate. If you know what this is, and especially if you can point me to a reference, I would appreciate it. Maybe it's in one of my books but if it is I have completely missed it. Chuck

* * * * * Found it. It is Pilot Bedia's badge at post #4, here. Found the badge, too. I knew it was around here somewhere. Does anyone happen to know of a history of this revolt? I wonder if one has never been written. Nice doctoral thesis for some aspiring youngster, if s/he could get access to some archives. Chuck

Aw, shucks. Thank you gentlemen. Almost entirely unknown outside of Georgia -- and inside as well, the history having been completely suppressed until after independence -- there was a major White Army revolt in Georgia in 1924. It was viciously put down and no quarter was given. It was a war with no survivors on the White Army side. Akaki's Great Adventure was likely part of that. Didn't I once share a badge for the valiant aerial bombing of a village during this conflict? I could swear I did but I can't find either the thread or the badge itself right now. I hate it when that happens. Chuck

And finally, the award page from the book. Enjoy.

And the name page from the book:

And the medal reverse:

Of course, you'd need the medal and medal book to wind up this story. Here it is:

Apparently the badge wasn't enough. 42 years later he asked his local military district why he didn't receive a cool valor medal like all those other guys from the war. Actually, the story I heard was that he bugged the district for years before they finally gave in. Anyway, they did finally agree that Akaki deserved one of those cool medals and ... they awarded him one. Here's what they wrote, in the vein of "You're right, Akaki, you really did kill a bunch of Mensheviks in 1924. (sidebar: 42 freakin' years ago!) Way to go guy. Here's your medal."

And here's the back of the larger group photo: Komsomolists who took part in the liquidation of the Shorapani Gang.

Here's the back of the small photo. Looks to me like the same guy wrote this as wrote the mandate.

Here's Mandate #12, hand-written in Kutaisi, awarding him his badge:

And what awards might that be? I knew you'd ask. Their special badges for killing all those pesky gang-member Mensheviks, of course. Here's a picture of his: For the liquidation of political gangs in Shorapani and Chiatura Districts 1924. Although you probably know it already, it bears mentioning anyway. Shorapani and Chiatura are two districts in western Georgia.

This is Akaki Ekvtimovich Tutberidze. That's him in the first picture, sitting alone in 1924. Dressed in the field uniform choka of a young, handsome warrior from Kutaisi, Georgia. Kutaisi, Georgia's second city, the ancient capital of Colchis (thank you, Apollonius of Rhodes). You know, where the entire city government was arrested in 2005. Except for the mayor. How did that happen? But I digress. And that's him with his three comrades in their formal dress chokas, also in 1924. A formal picture because they were getting their awards that day.

You're quite welcome Ed, and thank you for the kind words. I brought back some things that I am very pleased with last week and I'm going to share a few here and in the Imperial Russia forum. The price for Avers-8 is all over the place if you actually try to find one to buy. I spent RU 7,000 ($292.50 that day) plus $20 to wire the money. It's going to travel by bus from Moscow to Tbilisi and my darlin' wife is going to bring it back with her in October. I didn't tell her how heavy it is, so I'm hoping that she doesn't let me down on that. She is going over on behalf of our charity CCRFund . A bunch of vendors in Moscow are asking as much as RU 10.000 for Avers-8. With the limited publication run, I had to fish or cut bait right then, last week. I decided to take a chance, although I admit to heavy misgivings at the time. From time to time I opine that something in my possession is likely "uncatalogued". All that really means is that it isn't in one of my four Avers books or one of my (now 12) Russian badge books or any of my other references and I can't find it anywhere else. I can't prove that something is uncatalogued, I just think it is. I'm hoping that Avers-8 will give me a hgher degree of confidence should I offer that opinion again plus, of course, help me ID a lot more badges than I can ID now. It's different with my early Georgian badges. There's just no place that I know of to research them outside of going to the state museum and local experts in Tbilisi. Speaking of Georgian badges, I'll be posting a couple of pretty interesting examples either this evening or tomorrow. Stay tuned. Chuck

And the reverse:

The third badge is in honor of a Red Partisan.

The next is the badge of a Stakhanovite of the Trade Union of Film and Photo Workers.

All that I know of these badges is that they were awarded to a Mr. Kotov of Tbilisi, Georgia. The first is a very early badge of the Trade Union of Film and Photo Workers. What I call them may be a bit inexact but it's what I think they are and what other collectors have called them. I'll have my Avers-8 in October. I hope it will be helpful with problems like these.

BTW, this thing is too heavy for my electronic scale. On my old-fashioned mechanical postal scale it is four ounces of 84 silver. It is 114.12 mm tall by 78.39 mm wide. That spot that looks like a hole, in the top right corner on the front? That's a small blue stone, like a tiny sapphire. How the heck did I forget to add these details?

And inside:

And here's the reverse:

Portcigar is what my FSU friends call these. It's a cigarette case to me but I defer. I've been lucky to find a few of these over the years. I'm keeping this one because it fits nicely into my Imperial Medical collection. It's in particularly nice condition. The elastics are missing, as they almost always are, elastic being a non-durable item although I have found a few old examples with intact elastics. I especially enjoy things that are dated and attributed. Tiflis on the front. On the back, To Alexander Feodorovich Borisenko on the Day of Angels from the Doctors and Mercy Sisters of Lazarette #17, Chief of Staff Transcausasus Military District September 28 1916. The Day of Angels is his name day, right? His birthday and honors the saint he was named for? Something like that, I think. Don't we have a thread on cigarette cases somewhere? Chuck

This is Dr. Kalamkarov's silver Red Cross medal for participation in the Russo-Japanese War. Privately made, as I think most were, this one probably in Tbilisi. Non-standard 22.93 mm diameter, weighs 6.27 gr. Over the years I have acquired quite a number of military and Red Cross items from the doctor's family, including awards, documents, memorabilia and photos from his participation in the Russo-Japanese War, WW I, WW II and his Tbilisi NKVD hospital service after the war. His daughter was also a Red Army doctor and I have photos of her in post-war Berlin. When I figure out how to display it all, this is going to be one of my best, maybe THE best, of all my groups. The Kalamkarov family has been very generous.

Too bad this was separated from its original weapon but there's nothing to be done about that. It looks like a 1914 presentation piece, a gold plaque affixed to a shashka or kindjhal given to this officer. Likely a young officer, you might guess, or he would already have had such a weapon. On his way to see the elephant. "17th Dragoons, His Majesty's Nishigorodski Regiment Senior Lieutenant Omar Akhmed Khan Piralov 1914" ... or something like that. Good luck, Omar.

* * * * * Hello George Always good to be among old friends. I'll have a few more new things to share soon. The bold type in my first post is the spelling I took from the book Знаки боевого отличия, published in Tbilisi in 1982. I don't make any other claims to know. That's just where I got my information. I'll be quite happy to learn the correct ID if I'm wrong. Chuck