Eric Gaumann

Examples of award documents for 2nd and 3rd class Orders.

Let's try the side shots again.  I may replace these with better images once the morning sun reaches my work bench.

edit: replaced images

Now to the Order itself.  It's got a massive chip, obviously, in the enamel of the flag on the obverse.  It looks worse in person but I like "salty" so I'll live with it.  My scale is on the fritz again but I've seen 60+ grams for this order.

Serial numbered and hallmarked for content.  I believe this single square hallmark denotes 950 silver content?

I believe the original, T1V1 version of this Order had two screwposts, at 12 o'clock and 6 o'clock, as attachments to the uniform.  This has been modified to a pin-back attachment, I assume by ZIN despite it's almost home-made look.

And finally two, poor quality side images.  My guess is that this is a three part design with the center medallion, of just the two heads, either soldered or riveted to the circular white enameled piece, which is then riveted to the wreath/enameled red flag base.

Having trouble uploading these last two images.  Will try again tomorrow.

So here are some more, detailed images of this beautiful Order.  Starting with the box. It has a vertical slit in it to accommodate the pin-back, not the original double screwpost that I think this order originally was (more on that later.)

1 hour ago, BalkanCollector said:

Nice one Eric! I think it's an unawarded piece. 

I've also acquired a 2nd class recently and I'm having doubts whether it was awarded or not.

Thanks mate!  I was speculating in my mind about awarded vs. unawarded and then I noticed a bump on the reverse 12 o'clock starpoint.  I thought maybe this didn't pass quality control?  As I type this I realize that's just wild speculation.

I like your Star as well, nice low number.  It's a rather simple design but it's very effective in it's typical Soviet style.

I finally got to upgrade my collection with a nice, Soviet made Partisan Star 2c.

Nothing out of the ordinary, just wanted to share.

edit: the 2 white lines on the obverse are just reflections.

I think this is the best thread for an Order of Labor 1st Class.  Even though it's titled 3rd class I see some 2c as well so.  Here's a tease.  Just received this less than 2 hours ago and I have to share.

More details coming soon.

edit: Another thread with some 1st Class images: 

This current thread is much more recent so I think I will continue posting here unless someone objects.

I am not an expert by any means as I own only one GC4.  But I did do my homework before buying it and I have to say this example looks good.  Again, no expert and just my opinion.

Never heard of that badge, although I focus a bit more on military and labor than this type badge.

Here's some interesting images; maybe a die flaw?  Never seen this before.  Look at the 3 o'clock area.

Interesting image of a damaged OMM3.  Obviously the Red Star is gone but there looks like there was some sort of clear covering to the small shield that backed the star.  Not sure what's going on here.

"It was founded in 1896 in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Emperor Nicholas 1. Silver medals were awarded to all officers and class officials who were in the reign of Nicholas I, on active service, bronze lower ranks. More than 30,000 silver and more than 220,000 bronze medals were minted at the St.Petersburg MD. "

From: http://medalirus.ru/pamyatnie-medali/pamyat-nikolay.php  Image of ribbon included.

Not necessarily new, shinny and suspicious.... but I found a nice example of the shiny reverse 'coating' which I consider some sort of preservative lacquer.  Notice how it seems to be brushed on; you can see what seem to be brush marks where it was applied.  And also how reflective it is; in two of the images you can see the reflection of the underside of the pin.

Welcome back Radmilo, we/I missed your presence here.

Thanks for the image, very helpful.  But I have more questions.  I have an image of a Pentagon Rooster with what looks like a "II" and a "2".  See image 1.

And the older marks you shared show a mark with a "I", "II" and "III".  See image 2.  Is there some 'overlap' with that content stampings?  I apologize for being pedantic (and drunk tonight), just curious what you think. 

On 30/10/2017 at 07:31, paja said:

small silver hallmarks looked like this:
Rooster in square - .950
Rooster in pentagon - .900
Rooster in hexagon - .800
They were introduced in 1933 and Serbia still uses very similar pattern today.

I read on another forum about the rooster in the pentagon and the poster alluded to a Roman Numeral next to the rooster indicative to the content.

Here's the image:  We can see a Roman Numeral 'II', basically to the left of the rooster's butt, and what might be a Latin Numeral '2' up top.  And here's the poster's comments: " the Rooster (depending on which roman number, it will denote the grade of silver, in this case II with Pentagon shape is .800 silver , depending on the time period the shape of the pentagon can be a square, and roman numbers can denote different meaning."

5 hours ago, BalkanCollector said:

It's an early IKOM production. Very nice!

Yes, very nice indeed.  It's a "2.1.1" according to Paja's classification and the reason I initially assumed it had no number and hallmark (a "2.2") was because the certificate made no note of the serial number on it.

So, were they ignoring existing serial numbers on awards when issuing documents for said awards by 1962,  or are Gunner's items unrelated?  The later seems less likely since there are two docs issued to the same awardee as well as the box.

Great set of documents!  I'm so tempted to start acquiring these...  The award itself, I assume it's unnumbered and without the Ikom hallmark?

5 hours ago, BalkanCollector said:

The third hallmark is a rooster in hexagon for .800 silver. It puzzles me why there are .900 and .800 hallmarks on the same order although everything is genuine. 

Thanks!  It would be interesting to determine the actual silver content of these 'double marked' pieces.

edit:  I made a collage of 5 images of mint and content marks from this thread as an aid for reference.

What are these mintmarks, and are they correct for this order?

"900" is obvious and one of the other marks is for the maker/mint.  But what is the third?  And can this specific grouping of marks narrow-down a specific era (or group of years) when this order (and maybe others with the same marks) were made?

Ah!  Now I see it.  Thanks (again).

What's written on the bottom of the box?

"BROJ ORDENA: 4106
BROJ. UKAZA (27205.)"

Obviously one is a serial number, but the rest?

This just popped up.  I know it doesn't qualify as "shinny" for this thread but it does have that 'shiny' coating on the reverse that irks me for some reason.

Note it is hallmarked; I used to think these were tombak, and it's a 6 torch version.  When did the torches change from 5 to 6, 1963?

2 hours ago, Drugo said:

What is interesting is that the shaft on this one is much longer, I don't know why.

Great set!  Thanks.  Re: the shaft.  In the Soviet Union these were occasionally shortened by the owners to lessen the poke-in-the-chest factor.  And it's usually fairly obvious when they've been shortened.

This may be the case in Yugoslavia, or it may be differing suppliers(if such a thing existed) delivered different shaft lengths or perhaps even theft of material.

2 hours ago, BalkanCollector said:

That's a good deal and a very nice collection!

I would say that your piece was produced in 1945 or 1946. Note that I'm making a guess because I have a same type screw IKOM 3rd class awarded in April 1946 with a number 93,633.

Thanks for your information and your kind words.  So it was produced in 1945/46 but we really have no idea when it was awarded, or if it was awarded, do we?  Not necessarily this particular piece but since we see so many unissued Yugo awards available it makes me wonder why they made so many awards than they needed.

It took me a few months of searching on ebay but it was worth it.  Big delay with Bosnia post (over a month) so it caused some concern but all's well that ends well.  Less than US$ 30 including P&P.

Any guess on the date of production with the 24k serial number?  Late 1940s?

Oh, and here it is in the new display.