Bob

A forum friend was finetuning his collection whereas my collection was expanding 'back' into new territories (Soviet Awards, mainly civilian, something I had stepped away from 15 years ago to focus on Mongolian/Albanian) and it presented an opportunity to add a cased, issued and researched but unfortunately undocumented Order of Personal Courage to my collection. Something I'd had on my list for a long time but shied away from for financial and 'authenticity' reasons. The order (nr 005771) was awarded in 1989 to Leonid Alexandrovich Lavrishchev (born 1960), instructor of the MINSTROYA, Donetsk region, Donetsk, "for courage and selfless actions shown during the liquidation of the consequences of the earthquake in the Armenian SSR" Lavrischev was (is?) an instructor-rescuer of the club of climbers "Donbass" of the regional council of the voluntary sports society of trade unions (in Donetsk). Above would refer to the Spitak earthquake of 1988 1988 Armenian earthquake - Wikipedia Research (incl. pics of documented awards) confirms 5774 and 5775 were also awarded to Ukrainian rescuers helping in the recovery efforts. Presumably more awardings were made for the same reason. Having trouble posting pictures so will have to do so in a followup post. And pics

It appears that way on the picture but the ribbon isn't long enough to put over (any) head. I suspect part of the suspension (pin?) is just missing. In another thread there's a FN medal awarded on the exact same date to a different person. Nice coincidence.

Had trouble attaching the pics earlier, so here it goes

I recently acquired attached Florence Nightingale medal awarded in 1931 to Minna Weiss. Been on the look out for one for many years but the ones I ran into were either in museums (I recall seeing quite a few displayed at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra) or, very few cases, far too expensive for my taste at dealers/auctions. More research to do, but it seems like Minna Weiss was a German nurse who also spent time (with her husband, a physician) in the German colonies in Africa. "Die Bethel Mission, als Evangelische Missionsgesellschaft für Deutsch-Ostafrika 1886 gegründet, hat sich 1970 aufgelöst und ist in der Rheinischen Mission aufgegangen, die sich dann Vereinigte, jetzt Vereinte Evangelische Mission nennt. Der Aktenbestand umfasst und dokumentiert die Arbeit im heutigen Tansania und Ruanda und ebenso für eine kurze Zeit in Java/Indonesien." Heimatarbeit der Bethel-Mission (vemission.org) Which makes reference to her husband (Reinhard Grotz) and also to Minna Weiss passing away in 1972. "Reinhard Grotz (1883-1969) - Lebenslauf, 1910 - Ärztliche Zeugnisse für Reinhard Grotz u. Braut Minna Weiß, 1910 - Korrespondenz, 1910-1920 + 1948-1969 - Todesanzeige für Reinhard Grotz u. Nachruf, 1969 - Todesanzeige für Minna Grotz, 1972" There's also some brief references available online (Red Cross site) around the awarding to Minna Weiss: Allemagne (icrc.org) "Presentation of the Florence Nightingale medal. The Nightingale Medal awarded to Sister Minna Weiss was presented to her in a ceremony organized for the circumstance at the Hospital of the city of Plauen, that sister Minna leads as senior sister. The President, Dr Streit and Madam Superior von den Brincken had come from Dresden; from Plauen, the the city's senior medical adviser, Dr Schubart, the Chief Medical Officer, Professor Dr Breitung and two members of the Albertverein branch committee had joined the sisters serving in the city to celebrate the recipient. President, Dr Streit, delivered a speech: after honoring the memory of Florence Nightingale, he stressed the importance of the distinction to which we united his name; the speaker recalled the eminent services that Sister Minna Weiss has, under the sign of the Red Cross, returned to Germany and abroad; finally he resumed Sister Minna the Nightingale Medal. The president of the German Red Cross and Mrs. the Commissioner of the Sisters of the Red Cross had sent " wishes, to which those present joined their congratulations."

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/bullypulpitgames/night-witches?ref=discovery&term=soviet

Using google search and google translator i managed to get 37 pages of English translated documentation about Magavya Seilovna Ismagambetova - much of it far too detailed to post here but her 'history' really comes to life. A few highlights below A retiree went to a meeting honoring veterans and the 20th anniversary of the move of the Kazakh capital city and mentioned: “In life, my curator is Magavya Seilovna Ismagambetova, the former secretary of the Tselinograd regional party committee for ideology. She has a lot of experience working with people. And on the affairs of the veteran organization, we often met with her, we always felt her care. More than forty years have passed through life together. All my comrades-in-arms are people of Kazakh nationality, good, respected, respected." And an online article on her 80th birthday: Her fate is merged with the fate of the people Magavya Seilovna Ismagambetova has a glorious anniversary - 80 years since her birth 02.05.2012 / history Vladimir Gundarev, "Kazakhstanskaya Pravda", April 28 The great Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu, who lived in the IV-III centuries BC. e., arguing about wisdom, wrote: "A wise person does not expose himself to the light, therefore shines; he does not speak about himself, therefore he exalts himself, therefore he is the eldest among others." I believe that this saying is still relevant today. And he can be fully attributed to Magavya Seilovna Ismagambetova - a bright personality, known not only in the Akmola region, but throughout Kazakhstan. Magavya Seilovna has a glorious anniversary - 80 years since her birth. I had a chance to communicate with this energetic and charming woman for more than four decades. And at the time when she worked as deputy chairman of the Tselinograd regional executive committee, and when she held the post of secretary of the regional party committee, and later, when, after retiring, with her usual capacity for work, together with Ivan Afanasyevich Shendrik, she headed the Akmola regional council of veterans. Everything that Ismagambetova has achieved in life is the result of hard work. She has a deep and sharp mind, rare abilities, true dedication. This is clearly evidenced by her remarkable biography. Magavya Seilovna Ismagambetova was born in the village of Beloe, Kurtamysh district, Kurgan region of Russia. She experienced poverty in full, together with her peers she endured the hardships of the war years, but, persistent by nature, she strove for knowledge. Back in the 30s, the parents returned to Kazakhstan, and Magavya studied at the Demyanovsk secondary school of the Uzunkol district of the Kustanai region. In 1949 she received a certificate of maturity, but by that time there were ten children in the family, Magavya is the oldest, and she had to work, help her parents. She became a pioneer leader in her native school. A year later, an 18-year-old girl was elected second secretary of the Uzunkol regional committee of the Komsomol at a regional Komsomol conference, and after a while she became the first. In the fall of 1954, when the development of virgin lands had already begun in Kazakhstan, M. Ismagambetova was sent to study in Moscow - to the Central Komsomol School at the Central Committee of the Komsomol. After graduating from the course of science, two years later she returned to her former job. The development of virgin lands was gaining momentum. Magavya Ismagambetova, elected in 1959 for her high business qualities as the first secretary of the Kustanai regional committee of the Komsomol, found her place in this "fighting storm, seething". In this position, she was the only woman in Kazakhstan. At one of the plenums of the Central Committee of the Komsomol of the country, the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Komsomol, Sergei Pavlov, citing the work of the Kustanai regional youth organization as an example, said: “The initiator, the initiator of all big things among the young generation is the small and fragile, but extremely energetic Magavya Ismagambetova. Please stand up, Magawya, show yourself, let everyone see such a wonderful leader of youth. " Ismagambetova rose from her seat, and the audience burst into applause. And in March 1961, Magavya Seilovna, who was not yet 30 years old, was transferred to work in Tselinograd as deputy chairman of the Tselinny regional executive committee. The high appointment was a complete surprise to her. It turned out that the choice of her candidacy was made by Vladimir Vladimirovich Matskevich himself (before he was the Minister of Agriculture of the USSR, and then the then leader of the country N. Khrushchev sent him to Kazakhstan as chairman of the Tselinny Regional Executive Committee). Having visited the Kustanai region, Matskevich drew attention to the proactive and purposeful first secretary of the Komsomol regional committee, who bravely and fundamentally defended his positions. Forming the "team" of the regional executive committee, I remembered Ismagambetova: "Wait, in Kustanai I saw a fighting maiden, a Komsomol leader. So we will take her. She has so much energy that she will not give rest to anyone." V. Matskevich's proposal was approved by D. Kunaev. (And all the following decades, Dinmukhamed Akhmedovich constantly provided support to Magavya Seilovna, treated her like a father. The same can be said about B. Ashimov.) Ismagambetova worked as the deputy chairman of the regional executive committee until the liquidation of the Tselinny region in November 1965. She was in charge of education, health care and culture. Then for ten years she was deputy chairman of the Tselinograd regional executive committee, and in December 1975 she became the secretary of the regional party committee for ideology, having worked in this position for over 12 years - until April 1988. Perhaps it is impossible to list what the main ideologist of the region had to do then. The range of concerns and responsibilities was extremely wide. And although Magavya Seilovna modestly remarks: "We must bear in mind that there were many initiative workers next to me," still a lot depended on the secretary of the regional committee. ... And everything that happened in the virgin lands of the Ishim region concerned her. In particular, with a feeling of special satisfaction, she recalls what an enormous and purposeful work was carried out on the labor education of schoolchildren. “Life itself has forced us to seriously engage in the systematic introduction of the younger generation to work. And we have a fairly harmonious system of labor training, education and professional organization of youth in our region. The material and technical base of schools was strengthened, the teaching and educational process was improved. Attention was increased to the organization of the work of children in the fields and farms, in the shops of enterprises. We have improved the work and rest of students in city schools and workers' settlements during the holidays. Created interschool educational and industrial complexes. We expanded the network of vocational schools, strengthened business contacts between them and schools, - says M. Ismagambetova. - Each state farm had a student production brigade, each district had a labor and recreation camp, a powerful production base was created. In addition, for high school students, taking into account their hobbies and interests, summer physics and mathematics, sports and health and other schools were created. Our boys and girls could not only freely study at the institutes of the region and the republic, but also at all the best universities of the Soviet Union "... As for the labor education of young people, this accumulated experience has become the property of not only Kazakhstan, but the entire country. It is no coincidence that it was in Tselinograd in the summer of 1982 that the III All-Union meeting of labor associations of schoolchildren was held, organized by the Central Committee of the Komsomol and the USSR Ministry of Education with the active participation of the Tselinograd Regional Party Committee. As a result of the meeting, M. Ismagambetova was awarded the Order of Friendship of Peoples - in addition to three Orders of the Red Banner of Labor and three Orders of Honor. “I cannot but mention the spiritual and moral atmosphere that determined the nature of relations on the Kazakh land. The deep content of the life of the virgin land workers, distinguished by their multinational composition, were internationalism, brotherhood and friendship of peoples, interethnic harmony,” emphasizes Magavya Seilovna. “This spirit of friendship was imbued with all everyday life. And a high sense of community and unity passed through each heart, it was natural and organic, like breathing. And the Kazakh people showed a good example in this. " Magavya Seilovna speaks warmly, excitedly and passionately, she knows how to touch the innermost strings of the soul and evoke strong reciprocal feelings. And this is not surprising. Ismagambetova always possessed a wonderful oratorical gift, always sincerely and deeply believed in what she was convincing others with a warm heart. The famous Spanish woman of the last century, Dolores Ibarruri, was known to the progressive world as a fiery Passionary. And by analogy with Magavyu Ismagambetov, I call the Kazakh fiery Passionary. During this memorable period, not only bread was considered the main wealth of the Ishim steppes - people were the golden fund of virgin lands: disinterested and devoted to their beloved work, work on the earth. In ideological activity, the propaganda of the achievements of the virgin guard naturally occupied a leading place. "In my work," recalls M. Ismagambetova, "a significant place was occupied, for example, by interaction with the All-Union Scientific Research Institute of Grain Economy, which was headed by Academician, Lenin Prize laureate, luminary of soil conservation agriculture A. Barayev. From constant communication with him, his Companions of E. Gossen, M. Suleimenov, I received a lot.In those now distant years, I had to meet and communicate with N. Nazarbayev. I remember that in 1984 the secretariat of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan heard my report on culture. After I reported, Nursultan Abishevich (he was then the secretary of the Central Committee for Industry) was the first to support me, saying that he had known Ismagambetova for a long time and her work deserved every approval. Of course, it's nice to remember this. Later, having already become the Head of State, when meeting with me, the President always asked: "How are you, Make?" and said to everyone: "This is the main ideologist of the virgin lands, our Make" - although then I was already working in the regional council of veterans. " By the way, in 2005 Ismagambetova was awarded the Order of "Yurmet" for her energetic and fruitful social activities. “For me, the anniversary,” says Magavya Seilovna, “is also a wonderful occasion to remember with a kind word those to whom I owe, who showed exceptional attention to me, helped me in every possible way… I think that I was very lucky in life and work” “Of course, a lot of things happened in the past. We made big mistakes, sometimes we did not what was needed, there were miscalculations and defeats,” Magavya Seilovna does not hide. that complex, contradictory, but at the same time exciting, clear life was not looked at from the outside, not downward, we actively lived and acted. " I am proud and glad that many well-known figures in sovereign Kazakhstan have emerged from our ranks over the long years of work. Having grown up and brought up on the rich traditions of our virgin Priishim region, who have taken place as great organizers, professionals in their field, they have made and are making a great contribution to the development of the socio-economic potential of the regions, the republic as a whole. Sensitive and sympathetic people, they constantly take care of the veteran asset, personally about me. It was they who, on the day of my 80th birthday, gathered people close to me, friends, to celebrate this significant date. Low bow to them! For M. Ismagambetova, who practically had no personal life, the whole region was a real family. And in this huge friendly family, Magavya Seilovna, remaining unchanged in her inner essence, was consistently a gifted daughter, a sympathetic sister, an affectionate mother, and now she is a caring grandmother. Well, everything has its time ... Mentally looking over the past field of life, Magavya Seilovna Ismagambetova can rightfully say about herself as follows: "My fate is merged with the fate of the people. And in general, we lived according to the laws of our time and did everything we could." The main Kazakh order shown above (not part of the group when I acquired it): Kazakh "Order of Honor" (Order "Kurmet") №1058. And unfortunately she passed away not so long after her 80th birthday On June 7, 2013, after a serious illness, at the age of 82, Magavya Seilovna Ismagambetova, a well-known party and Soviet worker of the country, a pensioner for special services to the Republic of Kazakhstan, an honorary citizen of Akmola region, died. Magavya Seilovna Ismagambetova was born on April 15, 1932 in the village. Beloye, Kurtamysh District, Kurgan Region, RSFSR, in a large family. Soon her family returned to their permanent residence in the Kostanay region. Here she graduated from high school and from her youth she joined in social activities. At first she worked as a pioneer leader, and since 1950 she was in responsible Komsomol work - she was the first secretary of the Uzunkol district committee, and then the first secretary of the Kostanay regional committee of the Komsomol of Kazakhstan. Further long-term labor activity of Magavya Seilovna was associated with Tselinny Priishim, where in March 1961 at the age of 28 she was elected deputy chairman of the Tselinny regional executive committee, and after the liquidation of the region - deputy chairman of the Tselinograd regional executive committee, then the secretary of the regional committee of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan. She was one of the few women in the republic who in those years, at a fairly young age, held such high, responsible leadership positions and honorably coped with the responsibilities assigned to them. For about 30 years, permanently leading such complex areas of the social sphere as education, health care, science and culture, Magavya Seilovna not only headed these extremely important branches of life support, she lived their life, did everything possible, and sometimes impossible to strengthen the material base, improve work on service of the population, selection of managerial personnel and specialists. Her name is associated with the opening, formation and development of four higher educational institutions in the city of Tselinograd, schools, secondary specialized educational institutions and vocational schools, many centers of culture, polyclinics and hospital complexes. On her personal initiative and under her leadership, significant work was carried out on the labor education of schoolchildren, student production brigades, interschool, educational and production complexes were created, an integral system of labor training, education and vocational guidance of youth was determined, which was in demand not only in the republic, but also in the former Soviet Union. Magavya Seilovna was distinguished by great organizational skills and high competence, honesty and decency, adherence to principles and exactingness. She knew how to ignite people, convince them of the need to fulfill the planned plans and tasks, and ensure their implementation. After retirement, Magavya Seilovna is actively involved in the veteran movement, is elected deputy chairman, then chairman of the Akmola Regional Council of Veterans, a member of the Central Council of the republican veteran organization, brings a lot of new, positive in the activities of veteran organizations in the region. The services of Magavya Seilovna to the republic are highly appreciated by the state. She was awarded three Orders of the Red Banner of Labor, three Orders of the Badge of Honor, the Order of Friendship of Peoples, the Order of Kurmet and many medals. She was repeatedly elected to the leadership of the Komsomol, party and Soviet bodies. The bright memory of Magavya Seilovna Ismagambetova, a person of high duty, strong moral principles and civic positions, will forever remain in our hearts, those who knew her and worked with her. Akimat of Akmola region, Akmola regional maslikhat, central and regional councils RPO "Organization of Veterans". 10.06.2013 Last Sunday, June 9, in Astana, in the State Academic Kazakh Music and Drama Theater named after K. Kuanyshbayev, a civil funeral service was held - the famous party and Soviet leader of the country, pensioner for special services to the Republic of Kazakhstan Magavya Ismagambetova was seen off on the last journey. Residents of the capital came to say goodbye to her, representatives of Akmola and Kostanay regions, deputies of the Mazhilis and the Senate of the Parliament, employees of ministries and departments of the country - those who once worked with Magavya Seilovna, studied with her. The funeral ceremony was opened by the chairman of the funeral commission, first deputy akim of Akmola region Rashit Akimov. He noted that not only the capital and our region, but the whole of Kazakhstan suffered a great loss. For about 30 years, permanently leading such complex areas of the social sphere as education, health care, science and culture, Magavya Seilovna not only headed these important industries, she lived their life, did everything possible and impossible to strengthen the material base, improve the work of serving the population, selecting leading personnel and specialists. But even after going on a well-deserved rest, she did not retire. Being the chairman of the regional veteran organization, and then just a member of it, she helped people solve their pressing problems, brought a lot of new, positive things to the activities of the region's veteran organizations. Vice-speaker of the Mazhilis of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan Sergey Dyachenko, deputy chairman of the republican veteran organization Bekbolat Mukushev, deputies of the Senate of the Parliament of the country Kaisar Omarov and Svetlana Dzhalmagambetova, representative of the Kostanay region Zhanbolat Umbetov, a relative of the late Umutkan Galiev also spoke at the funeral. All of them shared their memories of Magavya Seilovna, spoke with pathos about her extraordinary efficiency, rigor, exactingness and at the same time kindness, responsiveness, noted her great contribution to the socio-economic development of our region and the country as a whole. After the funeral service, the funeral procession went to the cemetery, and we asked some of the participants in the event to share their opinions about this woman. Svetlana Dzhalmagambetova, Deputy of the Senate of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan: - I have known Magavya Seilovna for many years. And for teamwork under her supervision, and just as a person. I consider her the best ideologist of our republic. After all, it was thanks to her that 4 higher educational institutions, many technical schools, colleges, schools, theaters, hospitals, houses of culture, hostels for students were opened in the Tselinograd region. She organized rallies and seminars in Tselinograd not only at the republican, but also at the All-Union level. This is a huge job. And how she brought up her subordinates! Nursed. Yes, she was strict, but fair, not only scolded, but herself helped to correct mistakes made by someone. All who went through her school, took place as individuals, achieved a lot in life. For which we are very grateful to her. Chapay Abutalipov, chairman of the regional veteran organization: - I have known Magavya Seilovna since the time when she became the deputy chairman of the Tselinny regional executive committee at the age of 28. At that time I worked in the Komsomol of the Kustanai region, it was also part of the Tselinny region. We met, competed among ourselves, shared our experience. In 1986, I became secretary of the Tselinograd regional committee of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan, in charge of the agro-industrial complex, and she was in charge of ideology. We worked side by side. To carry out agricultural work in the region, many young workers were required, and so Magavya Seilovna helped us with construction teams, student teams created under her direct supervision. A lot of things can be remembered, but the main things in this person were high responsibility, exactingness towards oneself and others, focus on the final result. It is also important that she never asked for anything for herself, but she always helped others both as the secretary of the regional party committee and working on a voluntary basis in a veteran organization. Vladimir Redkokashin, deputy of the Senate of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan: - A unique woman, a talented leader and organizer, has passed away. Just think: at the age of 28, she was already the deputy chairman of the regional executive committee, she was awarded 8 orders for her work. I had to work under her direct supervision in the regional party committee. So I'll say: outwardly strict, even tough, at heart she was very kind and caring. This is how it will remain in my memory. Yegor Kappel, deputy of the Mazhilis of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan: - Signed with Magavya Seilovna since 1980. I became especially close to her when he was deputy chairman of the Vishnevsky district executive committee, and then akim of this district. I consider her my first ideological mentor, she has always been natural: if she scolded, then for the cause, and if she supported, then to the end. I believe that we have few individuals of such a large scale left. Her departure is a bereavement. Vladimir Molozhavy, veteran of party and Soviet work: - I want to say that Magavya Seilovna is a great organizer. And the Komsomol, and the party, and the Soviet. She faithfully served her homeland, her land, her people. She lived a difficult but interesting life; she did everything to make people live better. And she achieved a lot in this regard. Alexander DOLGOV. Astana city.

Coming back on the large Magavya Seilovna Ismagambetova labor group posted above. first, the lady herself second, earlier pics of the group several steps before it came into my possession... boxes and several Kazakh awards unfortunately went missing...

Thanks to a fellow collector I was pointed to a lot of information available onlne re the Ismagambetova group. She was pretty much a civil service 'celebrity' in Kazakhstan. She passed away several years ago and that added to already a lot of info on her being available online. "On June 7, 2013, after a serious illness, at the age of 82, Magavya Seilovna Ismagambetova, a well-known party and Soviet worker of the country, a pensioner for special services to the Republic of Kazakhstan, an honorary citizen of Akmola region, died." There was also a detailed description of her funeral in the (online) press. Will review it all (it's a LOT) and post some of the highlights this coming weekend incl. a pic of her as well as pics of the missing awards (the group showed up on an auction site in former USSR late last year and appeared fairly complete and with all major awards cased... half a year later, unfortunately the group has been split up). In any case, at least the core of the Soviet awards are still together and with documents allowing matching with Ismagambetova fascinating life story. More to come.

Thanks Balkancollector - yes, my eyes popped out when I first saw this group. Groups don't necessarily need to be super high end in order to have a lot of appeal. I should do some followup reading though on award rules - i.e. am puzzled why she'd not get 1 (or 2 or 3) Orders of Labor Glory. That award was established in 1974 so that undoubtedly has something to do with it. It sounds like she got her awards more for government service than (more typical for Order of Labor Glory?) for actual work in industry. Would be interesting to find a labor group which covers all three different labor orders.

While my main collecting focus is Mongolian and Albanian and Queen Tamara, I find it hard to resist branching out occasionally. Most recently: Soviet labor awards groups including Order of Friendship of People and/or Order of October revolution. In this case, just in, a documented labor award group to a woman (Ismagamyetova Magavya Seilovna?) - lots of enamel with 7 orders! - Medal Mastering of Virgin Land, awarded in 1957 - Order of the Badge of Honor nr329458, awarded in 1960 - Order of the Red Banner of Labor nr 522840, awarded in 1967 - Medal 100 Years of the Birth of Lenin, awarded in 1970 - Order of the Badge of Honor nr 820054, awarded in 1971 - Order of the Red Banner of Labor nr 874299, awarded in 1973 - Order of the Badge of Honor nr 1085220, awarded in 1976 - Order of the Red Banner of Labor nr 1091706, awarded in 1980 - Labor Veteran Medal, awarded in 1983 - Order of Friendship nr 48854, awarded in 1984 A friendly fellow forum member pointed this group out to me and also provided some additional information. Apparently, the recipient was an Uzbek (or after all Kazakh?) part official. The group is not complete as she had also been awarded a high order of post-communist Uzbekistan and two Uzbek medals. Will put this on my parking list for research.

With the current economic environment there is lot of items appearing as trees get shaken. Here is what just came into my hands - hero star with serial nr 20 assuming it is not an unawarded bank escapee (condition plus the high cost of such item for the mongolian government to reorder probably means it is not), my hunch is it was awarded to either of these two soviet cosmonauts: Nikolaev, Andrian Grigorevitsh, Gen-Major Aviation, 31.5.1965 Beljaev, Pavel Ivanovitsh, Col, 1967 will require patience to confirm

A nice little group of documents (awarded to Zagd Gonchigjav) cutting from communist to democrati times to one recipient who received a labour medal (1981), polar star (1988) and a SB order in 1993 with serial nr 1871. roughly around SB serial nr 1800-1825 did mongolia move from communism to Democracy any idea what the 2000 awarded badge was for?

Type 1 hero of labor nr 306, probably awarded early 1980’s

Already had a beige cased first class, here a dark blue cases blue enamel 3rd class

Here is type 1 polar star nr 492 with mintmark NO

Thanks Artan I referred to it as an "exceptional item" on purpose but perhaps should not have called it Albanian Would be interesting to know the story behind who pitched this to the auction house.

I like watching the American Gun Chick vids for entertainment Glad to see there's more fans of this youtube subgenre!

You’ll have to look on the Andreas Thies auction site incl registering to get a password and access to the mid july auction catalogue

This other thread may also help Sure wish we had a SEPERATE dedicated section for Albanian items... like we use to have years ago! And another one to link

Great post / pic! "From those data, a discount of about 20% should be made, which is given only the diploma not accompanied by the respective medal. " - any idea of why this would happen (eg. posthumous awardings?) Quite an impressive collection your friend has. I have a few Hero's but ever was able to see that many Hero of Labor stars which always surprised me as more of those would have been awarded.

From the Andreas Thies auction coming up in July: ALBANIEN EHRENKETTE VON ALBANIEN 134 Ordensdekoration. Die Ordensdekoration in Form des albanischen Doppeladlers. Weißgold. Die Augen mit eingesetzten Rubinen. Auf dem aus Rotgold gefertigten Brustschild des Adlers ein Brillant. Auf der Rückseite gravierte Bezeichnung: „Skanderbegu“. Auf den rückseitigen Schwanzfedern Goldstempel „18K“. Extrem seltenes Exemplar einheimischer Fertigung. Laut Angaben des Einlieferers stammt dieses Stück aus den ersten Jahren der Volksrepublik Albanien und wurde in Anlehnung an die von König Zogu verliehene Ehrenkette von Albanien (1925 – 1931) die jedoch auch bereits zur Zeit der Republik ab 1922 existierte, für den jugoslawischen Staatschef Tito angefertigt. Dafür spricht die wertvolle Ausführung in Weißgold und der entsprechende Materialwert. Gewicht: 73,8 g Order Decoration. This decoration is in the form of an Albanian double headed eagle in white gold with rubies inset as eyes. The red gold crafted eagle breast plate features a single brilliant. The reverse is engraved with “Skanderbegu” and the tail feathers feature the gold hallmark “18K”. Extremely rare badge of local production. According to the consignor, this piece dates from the first years of the people’s Republic of Albania and was created for Marshal Tito based on the Chain of Honor of Albania (1925-1931). It was instituted by King Zogu but already existed at the time of the Republic in 1922. The high value of the white gold and the superior quality of this example speaks to it as a high-level award. Weight: 73.8 g Zustand/Condition 1 – 2. 8000 Tried to upload pics but not working right now for some reason.

I am browsing through the Thies catalogue - such a shame these awards are not coming with documents. Over time the provenance of these items will be lost.

If that is the movie I think it is then I have seen it and it is a complete piece of #%#$ This on the other hand is an excellent film with the Soviet/Afghanistan conflict as backround : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beast_(1988_film)

Came across this interesting Wikipedia entry by coincidence https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_for_Hill_3234 39 Soviet soldiers in Afghanistan participated in this battle: - 2 awarded Hero of Soviet Union - the other 37 awarded both Order of Red Banner and Order of Red Star 6 out of the 39 were KIA and 28 were wounded in action Most decorated unit in a single battle (in Afghanistan)?

Yes, and without accurate data we'd need to guesstimate The nr of regular Hero's is around 100 My guess is the nr of Hero of Socialist Labour would be 400-600