Eric Gaumann

Wow! That's a strange find. Assuming they are both real that's quite a find. Lost like you say and then found, or maybe stolen years ago and then sold later? Thanks for sharing.

Hi Rick, He may have worn the whole medal like a HSU, I've seen some do that. He may have not even gotten it through some snafu, or he may not have liked it. As for its couple of buck's worth; if some guy in a ribbon factory had a pipeline out of Soviet Russia a few hundred of these would've been worth a few month's wages. Never underestimate the resourcefulness of a pissed off proletariate! Other than the missing B-day medal it's a correct bar and there's nothing that screams 'total fake' so display it with pride, or mount it on a legit, 70s era uniform to jazz it up. Or heck, wear it to work one day. I did that once with a pin-on labor bar. Not one comment. :cheers:

I'm surprised the Lenin Jubilee ribbon's not there considering the last two on this bar were awarded after the Lenin medal. And, the first two awards are more than likely just for long service. All in all a nice but common and un-sexy 70s bar although I do like to see the AF vets bar as it makes this, if real, a career military man. IMHO. :whistle:

My guess is ORB and CSM as long service, along with the RS that's worn elsewhere as is the missing Lenin Cent. medal. Nice bar for a career mil man, probably. Can be easily recreated (with a decent fake ORB).

Nice price!! I'd guess 50s or maybe even 60s. I've not seen a WW2-era bar with the plastic covering on it. They are usually the thin ribbons with the thin metal back plate.

What a fascinating thread and wonderful bar! When they say "piece of history" what they refer to are bits like this. An Imperial conspiracy theorist might ask something like 'Have we see a sudden upswing in bars that are one or two of a kind, or might belong to a GFM or other luminary? Perhaps not a Rommel or Richtofen-type luminary but something a bit less amazing but totally collectible to those in the know?' The odds of that happening would be pretty high, right? But if so wouldn't one expect some sort of fake provenance as well? Or maybe said purveyor of these astonishing fakables is wickedly evil enough to slip these out without documentation and wait for those fortunate few intelligent enough to recognize them for what they allegedly are to plunk down wads of cold, hard cash? I want to believe the bar is good and I believe only one man could have worn this bar. But did Model wear this bar? I don't know. :speechless:

Wonderful stuff, Rick, like usual. :cheers:

That bar with Odessa, Sevastopol, Caucasus and Leningrad is suspicious, as is the three ORBs bar; I'd think at least one of the other two would be numbered.

I'd guess 70s era judging by the pin.

I think your are correct assuming they are made-up parts bars. Their value is just as individual parts.

Man, nice stuff there Paul. I especially like the para badge and the Merchant fleet badge.

That's what I thought at first as my Hungarian medal's ribbon has faded similarly. But my example's reddish parts are wider, extending almost all the way to the edge.

So a general, political nicknack then? If so it's nice. And cool. And certainly worth 75p. I like it!

Gracias Ricardo! What I like about this is the thin, steel backing bar and the thinner (height-wise) ribbons: that to me says 'early rather than later'.

I don't like the bar above. The missmatched ribbons sizes don't feel good to me although there is a possibility that they are legit. This one came in today from Riga, Latvia. The borders on the first ribbon are almost totally faded but I think I can detect a hint of yellow remaining making it almost certainly a CSM. I can't imagine what else it could be, possibley a BM but I doubt it highly. The second ribbon is almost assuredly a VoG and the third, without doubt is a Berlin medal meaning that this couldn't probably be worn much after the end of 1947. This has got an interesting thick plastic coating (which has lots of wear to it) and it seems to have been melted or heated at least around the corners to fasten it in place. Also, and most important to me is, the tabs of the ribbons on the reverse have no scratches on them which, to me, indicates that it hasn't been messed with at some point after 1947. Therefore, IMHO, this is a rarely seen pre-1948 ribbon bar for a common soldier; Ivan Frontnovik if you will. There were tens if not hundreds of thousands of these bars being worn in 1947. Many have been lost and most have been added to as the soldier or veteran was given more baubles from the Soviet State for his or her valient service. But this, I think, was worn for a very short period of time between 1944 and 1948.

With my limited Latin skills I decipher the obverse to be Francis, Austrian Emperor. And I see the date 1829 on the reverse. Maybe this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperors_of_Austria?

Man, that obverse image looks *so* photoshopped....

We can probably delete this thread now.

Some do. I'd give a 'thumbs-up' to a post-Soviet sub-forum. The one at SMAP is just too long and out of control. I'd suggest at least two sub-sub-forums: Russian Federation and Ummalatova.

I compiled a list recently based mostly on info from the The Red Book and the Mondvor site and I came up with 9mil for the labor version, 2mil for the military version and 5k for the foreigners version.

This site seems to be pretty good at explaining the differences. http://www.jdsworld.net/article/m_theresia_talers.html

Looks like you next to best case scenario. And at least you've got the medals. I once got a photocopy from the seller showing a signed receipt for delivery. Trouble was it wasn't my signature and the medals of course I never received. Filed a complaint with the Post Office and they just totally blew me off. Be very thankfull you got any type of feedback from them, especially positive (aka money).

What about the three lefthand ribbons looking so new and the four on the right having such serious fading????

A27 actually. But I get the picture already. They are no larger than, say, the Polar Star or the Mil Merit/Combat Svc. And it does indeed help, as does the speedy reply. Many thanks Ed!

Guys, what are the dimensions of a T1 Red Banner? Just height and width please. And it doesn't have to be exact. TIA.