Bob

Tang Si, mst useful wuold be to ask him why he beleives it is a genuine copy What are his supporting facts?

Eric, in the first edition you also quoted number of awards struck by the mint or issued In the 2nd you didn't Amounts from 1st were not reliabe?

One "neutral" (and excessively rational I admit) way to develop a potentially alternative hierarchy would be to simply look at the market prices for silver, gold, etc. and then put a $ value behind each award. In fact, would be interesting to see that: - official hierarchy - number issues - $ value as per metal market - typical "collectors" price paid in market Above should provide already a pretty good indication... let the market do the talking (blasphemy when it comes to Soviet awards of course).

To make the thread complete (and allow us to change this site to www.mongolian-awards.com) would be if somebody came in and claims that it is a wearer's copy

And again, for comparison, a confirmed real one. Number 373. You can see for instance darker enamel.

And 2 more pics of same "offer"

And here is an oddity... number 114... in the end I didn't trust it when it was offered to me: - enamel didn't seem right - why each picture with a different background? My suspicion was that the "good" pictures were from a different Soyombo.

For comparison - here's a good one

For general education, let's post any (suspected) fakes in here for discussion. I'll start with the Soyombo which recently popped up and will in fact add some pics of another suspected fake Soyombo a bit later as well. This one I believe is fake because: - incorrect screwplate - incorrect "pattern" of enamel on suspension - poor quality / different color of enamel on main medaillion - overall poor crafstmanship

Actually there is one other good reference source... in fact, you're looking at it right now

Excuse my ignorance... but which bar here is the Tamara one?

What, one for different rooms in the house? Or you want one for during the week, one for weekends... and one for vacations?

Better be quick - only one that I know of is available on the open market at this moment

Keep on resisting - the more there is for me Five years from now people will scratch their heads and say: "why didn't I buy some of those beautiful Mongolian awards when they were still remotely affordable, never mind even AVAIlABlE

That's a LOT of enamel What's with the first one without a number?

Let's add some more "weight" to this discussion: - screwback nr 559 without the screw: a whopping 59.2gr + 14.5gr for the screw - pinback nr 1863: 59.4 - pinback nr 1966: 58.6

Herds are not just known to be seen with respect to the best herder badge but also with Sukhbaatar's! Here's mine. Beware, risk of enamel overdosis which can be harmful to your life savings!

Good, that is step 1. From now on you'll have to stop work or other activities 4 times a day, kneel to the direction of Ulaan Bataar and spend 15 minutes memorizing Dr B's bible. Otherwise one will never know the A.7's and C.32's by heart!

Friendly bit of advice: if you are going to spend money on Mongolian awards, I'd suggest you spend your first $ on buying Dr B's bible!

Just in - nice intermediate version.

Back to the Soyombo... could it be, like the SB, ORB, PS, etc. that there is just a more recent "cheaper" version of it being awarded?

Here's a Prawema first and second class. Note, for identification apart from the Prawema on the screw, the little "nick" at 6 o clock on reverse. From the manufacturing process I guess.

A sports badge and a XV army badge Note the number on reverse

http://www.andreas-thies.de/deutsch.html If I recall correctly this auction house had a documented one for sale. If not, then still a GREAT catalogue to review online. Be aware: you will get greedy from reviewing the catalogue!

I have an original of both types 1 and 2 of Gold Soyombo and this one just looks like a copy: - poor enamel on the award itself - incorrect screw - enamel on ribbon not corresponding with known examples - reverse also not in line (more crude) - etc. - etc. Look here for comparison http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=4229