Eric Gaumann

"Absconding"? You mean they are running away from/hiding from something? Their past, perhaps? My opinion is that the Communist party in the current Russian Republic is currying favor(votes?) from ex-servicemen and their families by creating/awarding these medals.

I think most that do wear these are (justifiably) proud of the service in the Soviet Armed Forces.

Aww geez....more competition... Ssshhhh.....

>Thought so on the umalatova... they're really nice awards, especially in their use of enamels. I only have a few but hope to add more along with the Russian Federation awards. Yeah, I like them a lot, too (the Umalatovs, that is). You and me are in the minority here. Where abouts in Floriduh did you live Dan?

>display cases needs new glass put in and not quite sure where to get it done. Home Depot and Lowes sell glass and will cut it to size (beware the flunkies who work there though). Try the local mom&pop hardware store or framing store. They can do it, too.

>Nice display! And fine looking awards as well. I'm sure you know but the one second row from the bottom on the right is actually a Veteran Servicemans medal. Phahhhhhh...... Uh, yeah, I did know that. Back to the ol' drawing board >And which one is the bottom on? That's one of the Umalatova awards, right? One of the anniversary >medals I believe? Yep. Anniversary of the October Revolution. I like it and it matches the bog boy in the upper left. >That's a nice looking case too (covet, covet, heavy on the covet! ). Where do you get those? These are damn nice, ain't they? I get 'em at the craft store called Michael's. Usually they're $29.99 but often the hole ailse is on sale for 30% off. Plus, they got the same style in smaller sizes. > I've got a bunch of rikers but never enough. Never been a big fan of Riker's mountings. Just something I don't like about them I guess.

Those are very nice! I have a new appreciation of the labor medals ever since I mounted them together.

Here ya go ----->

The book does say "v2 - gold plated", not 'there's a rumor of a gold plated medal'. So I'd say on that citation alone that P&P have seen said medal. They're not infallible, and naturally things have changed a great deal since the book was published, but based on that alone a gold medal *did* exist and it passed muster. I might add that P&P based their observations on what was in their hands, not images on a website. But then again your evidence to the contrary is very convincing as well. If these were, indeed, General's awards they would have shown up by now and would have been well documented. That's why places like this forum are so great. Here we can lay this issue to rest. Time will tell.

Established in April of 1974. More than 3.6 million awarded. According to Schmitt & McDaniel.

Thanks Alan!

I have this: and a common, 5 sided suspension ORB. I like this one a lot because of the enamel damage to it. It's got that good, honest "been there and blown that up" look to it.

Wow! What a group.... "Stunning" don't even come close.

Since I am SINFULLY proud of owning this one I shall post it here. It's been seen elsewhere and has some serial number fiddling but as I say I just love this thing.

Alan, does the gray of your medal's ribbon have a gold-tone to it or is it just my eyes? And is the suspension the typical aluminum suspension of that era or something different?

Yeah, good point. But then again Paul & Paul have seen a lot of medals between them so.... I was gonna say the fact we haven't seen the market flooded with these gold, general's medal's must prove that they are very rare. But then again, if they *did* exist (and were therefore rare as hen's teeth) our friends the fakers would be all over them like red on the Kremlin (or 'white on Siberia'???). BTW, the link is very benign, and the image posted below is so...un-Soviet general-like that I'm stumped. I doubt I'd buy one for more than twenty, and then only as a lark

Another attempt at mine: Almost impossible to get a solid image of. From what I *can* see of it the squiggles are a Korean mintmark. Or sanskrit.

and the third. BTW, I sent these images to Darrell so he could post them for me. Obviously if he sees them here he can just delete that whole email.

the second image

Ha!! I can post images! Here's the first of three images of my two "nutless" MMs. Unfortunately the images are not good. Basically what stands out is an outer border of dot dot dots with some unintelligable squigles inside.

obrigado Dolf.

The silver one looks kinda like "MM(x)" which should be the Moscow Mint as the Red Book says.

That's pretty much what mine looks like. Kinda. It's so damn small it's hard to say even under magnification. Is it worth trying to set up my zoom lens to get this? And if I do can I post images here? I'm a new member (probationary) and I haven't paid any money to be an associate yet. Do I have priveledges?

Wasn't "toe the line" referring to way back when barefoot sailors placed their toes on one 'line' (seam) in the deck when reporting for divisions/inspection?

Nice! Thanks. I'll post my non-nut solder screwpost bases at SMAP or WAP since I don't know how to do it here yet.