Bob

Yep - I have one more award letter coming my way for Bazhanov though. Apparently related to a chinese award. Will post once in. Then to find what Chinese award it's actually for...

I asked myself that same question when SB's got over 1.500 USD, 2.000 USD, etc. ... and now I regret that of course with current prices Think we have a bit of an OPEC-like issue here... the tap can be turned on/off at will and dealers (especially at source in UB) are aware that just sitting on their inventory will get them a better return than any other investment will. Take the one screwback currently for sale... it was on eBay for 3.200 not so long ago and probably at that price the dealer would have made a nice margin... now he's saying 5.000 is my price, take it or leave it... because he knows, 2-4-6 months from now that will in fact be the going price and SB's with numbers around 200 are not easy to find. Imagine what'll happen if/when research becomes available... let alone if research would turn out to be more than just a name and a date! It could cause substantial widening of the Mongolia collecting base and supply/demand will have it's effect even more...

RECENTLY SOLD pinback - USD 1.870, nr 1.918, Nota Bene - JANUARY 2007 - USD 1.880, nr 1.785, Nota Bene - JANUARY 2007 (boxed) - USD 1.950, nr 860, www.russianglory.com - MARCH 2007 - EURO 1.600 (roughly 2.100 USD), nr 1.183, www.huesken.com - MARCH 2007 - EURO 1.650 (roughly 2.200 USD), nr 1.514, www.huesken.com - JUNE 2007 - EURO 1.300 (roughly 1.700 USD), nr 1.246, private seller - SEPTEMBER 2007 - EURO 1.600 (roughly 2.200 USD - before fees!), nr 1.514, Andreas Thies October auction - OCTOBER 2007 - USD 1.850, nr 1.947, Nota Bene - NOVEMBER 2007 - USD 2.150, nr 1.837, www.collectrussia.com - NOVEMBER 2007 - USD 1.950, nr 1.437, Nota Bene - JANUARY 2008 - USD 2.000 (excl. 15% auction premium), nr 1,246, Dmitry Markov auction - JANUARY 2008 - USD 1.925, nr 902, eBay - FEBRUARY 2008 - USD 2.200, nr 1.617, somewhere in Russia - MARCH 2008 - USD 2.750, nr 1.635, www.collectrussia.com - MARCH 2008 - USD 2.750, nr 860, Nota Bene - APRIL 2008 - USD 3.200, nr 1.600, www.collectrussia.com - APRIL 2008 screwback - USD 1.680, nr 644, Nota Bene - NOVEMBER 2006 - EUR 1.630 (roughly 2.150 USD), nr 585, Albert GMIC - MAY 2007 - USD 2.650, nr 644 (again!), Nota Bene - OCTOBER 2007 (boxed) - USD 2.900, nr 640, www.collectrussia.com - NOVEMBER 2007 - USD 2.500, nr 777, somewhere in Russia - DECEMBER 2007 - USD 3.250 (excl. 15% auction premium), nr 427, Dmitry Markov auction - JANUARY 2008 CURRENTLY FOR SALE screwback - USD 5.000, nr 227, Coinsell (on eBay)

If they ever complain about not taking care of them good enough, I'll give 'm a loving home

Compared with other (non-eBay) auctions I've seen, the price isn't half bad. Look here: http://www.russian-awards.com/Imperial.htm this was on emedals.ca a few month ago (that's where it came from) for half the price...

Damn, would have loved to bid on this one

Same thought here. If there's a mint in Tirana, I'd love to visit it (if still existing) next time I visit Albania - which should be this summer.

Great Sounds like it'll be an exhaustively detailed book on Albanian awards with lots of new info in it - exactly what all Albania enthusiasts will love!

Any insight into what it was awarded for - arts? science? etc?

Indeed - reminiscent of Soviet (and other) state prize's... but without a number

Yep - but it's not (yet) reached the stage of $100 a barrel oil that Mongolian, Soviet, etc. have reached... I'm fearful of NK collecting though... Yemen / Uganda are much more contained areas of collecting I have the impression

The item's no longer listed on eBay so I thought, what the hell - send him an email and ask what's up. He's now quoting 5K USD as a price and - to quote him - he's in "no hurry to sell". Two things can happen... either we're in an SB bubble and eventually the local dealers will start selling off to get their investment back and prices will crash... or, this is a perpetual bull market for SB's. I suspect the latter, but feel free to offer me any screw back SB's for sale if you disagree

That would be great "zook" - I'm sure many people here on the forum incl. myself would love to get a view on the groups you mentioned.

"one of my nicest" - ehmmm would it be possible to share some pictures / background of "some" of your other ones?

Unfortunately have to second JC on this. I have one (unnumbered / undocumented) and haven't seen one for sale since I got it (over a year ago?) except for this past week when I spotted a documented (incl. photograph / choibalsan autograph) one for sale. Asking price >2.500 USD That's a lot for a small (but important) badge! Now the asking price MAY have been a bit excessive... but who's to say when there's no other on offer? My advice: grab one next time you spot one.

These are beautiful - just the first thought on my mind everytime I see one. The reverse indicates this one had a rough life though. On the other hand, great to see a document for such a late one - puts a line in the sand with regard to officially awarded ones.

750 USD!!! 170212030715

I didn't join the Mongolia collecting community until 2005 or so if I recall correctly and, to be honest, would think that for 1998 those prices are actually expensive!

It's a real pity that Alexei stepped out of the game although I guess also with him supply-demand would take effect and prices go to unreachable levels. Nevertheless, fair dealers are now difficult to find and to be honest it was also just outright fun to click on NB's site at least once a day to see if some new treasure had arrived Fortunately for me Soviet has not been much more than a diversion (difficult to remain disciplined) from my main interests of Mongolian / Albanian but when the pickings get slim and you have some time and the internet on your hand you start to search and find new areas which start to interest you. Perhaps I'll leave Soviet for what it is and look more towards Yemen, Uganda or North Korea (the more obscure the better )

And I suspect this riddle has been "solved" (at least half)

I guess what I hold is at the bottom end of his biography Nice to get a more complete view though on who he was. Thanks, Bob

This is supposedly the Republic Medal of Merit, 1st class Not in my possession but hope to get it in the near future What a beauty!

And now for something truly exceptional which gave me a Eureka feeling which I suspect we all have in those rare moments we finds something very extremely elusive.

http://www.russian-medals.net/marshals.htm Guess a lot more came on the market - good to see he is mentioned in a book somewhere. Win some, lose some Christophe - but who knows what kind of deal opportunities may ever appear.