Christian Zulus

Dear Mattei, Puzik is his real name - and has a special meaning in German language . Best regards Christian

Gentlemen, no other commentaries to Helsiniki ? Best regards Christian

Dear Belaruski, no new question . Best regards Christian

Dear "Usairforce", rv. means in phaleristics "revers", just the back side of a medal or document. Did you translate the writings on the back sides of the photographs? Best regards Christian

Dear Dave, maybe he had only ONE jacket - who knows - and his mother told him, not to make holes It seems, that our young rocket-general hadn't been an expert in Soviet phaleristics . Best regards Christian BTW: There is a new group in the GMIC-communist-section .

Dear "Usairforce", nice photographs . Do you have translations of the rv. inscriptions ? It is interesting, that an airforce private & lance corporal got the "China-Soviet-Friendship"-Medal. Best regards Christian

Dear "Usairforce", this type of face looks always incredible young & boyish . Look at the photograph of Maj.-Gen. Skuba I posted: http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=11895&hl=skuba . There are some famous Soviet Generals, who look like Komsomol-Secretaries . Best regards Christian

Dear Rick, General Puzik had been a rather important rocket-general around 1960 in the CCCP. He uses a highly interesting device - a second sheet of cloth - for wearing his screwbacks. So he avoides the holes in his uniform - clever guy . Comrade Puzik received nice awards during the GPW . Best regards Christian

Dear Carol, many thanks for your congratulations . It had been a difficult job, to find the right answer ... China tries no to make the "big money", with the Chinese-Spey as a supersonic-fighter for a super-budget-price . Best regards Christian BTW: This had been my posting No. 750 .

"Order of Military Merit" 3cl - transitional issue Gentlemen, Bryan posted that scan of a "Military Merit" 3cl (transitional) at the "monster-thread": You can find the ribbon bar of that order (2nd row from top, 2nd ribbon from left) at the photograph of General Pavkovic. Best regards Christian

"Order of Freedom" to Col.-Gen. Nebojsa Pavkovic Gentlemen, Nebojsa Pavkovic, army commander during the NATO-war 1999 (later Chief of General Staff), received from Slobodan Milosevic in the year 1999 the "Order of Freedom" for outstanding military merits during the 78-days-war against USA & Co. Pavkovic, now "guest" in The Hague , got a real and authentic "Freedom", with all the rubys on it. The market value for an "Order of Freedom" (9 orders confered) might be around USD 100.000,-. Maybe General Pavkovic needs money and might sell his orders . Here is a photograph showing Nebojsa Pavkovic with the ribbon bar (top row, first left) of the "Freedom": Best regards Christian

YU-Transitional-Period (1991 - 2000) Dear Rick, it seems, that there is common sense to include the YU-Awards from the (socialistic) Milosevich-Era (1991 - october 2000) into our YU-section: http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?s=&showtop...st&p=158466 . We might call that period "transitional". Why should these - partly rather primitive made - orders & medals be included: 1) The mint used the old dies and only exchanged the coat of arms or made excellent 1:1 copies of high-end YU-Orders, i.e., two "Orders of Freedom" for 2 generals in 1999. 2) At the first sight you can recognize them as YU-Awards, despite the fact, that they are rather crude done and look somehow "unfinished". So, from a pure phaleristic view, they have to be included. 3) Yugoslavia during the transitional period - the Milosevic-years - had been still a country with a somehow "Socialistic-Character". 4) Due to the fact, that the period 1991 - 2000 covers the four (4) Yugoslavian wars, we might get some orders and medals with truly interesting battle citations. It had been Milosevic's habit to focus the confering of orders & medals to the military. So, most of the awards from the transitional period have been given for military deeds and GMIC is a forum for Military . Just my arguments. Best regards Christian

Belaruski is the winner Dear Belaruski, congratulations - all questions answered - you are the winner . Yes, it was the famous Igor Kurchatov: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igor_Kurchatov . He had been one of the (very) rare receipients of 3 HSLs. Now it is your turn . Best regards Christian

Marshal Tito with all his YU-Awards - maybe last photograph Gentlemen, this photograph shows Marshal Tito with all his YU-Awards as minis, but wearing the "Order of Freedom" in full size at his right chest. It was taken at his last birthdayparty in may 1979 - funny cake . Best regards Christian

YU-section is growing rapidly Gentlemen, our new YU-section is growing very, very fast: In number of postings we just passed the Albanian-section! Also many thanks to the GMIC-staff for collecting all the YU-related threads and for closing our "monster-thread" . Best Christian

Difference between 1st & 2nd class Gentlemen, maybe I am an idot, but what's the physical difference of the 1st & 2nd class - look the same - or is the 1st class a bit larger in diamenter ? Best regards Christian

Dear Vic, I assume, that the prices didn't really change the last years. Rusty's list may represent the European market prices for YU-Awards. Yugoslavia is still a very cheap affair . Best regards Christian

Dear Andreas, dear Eric, you might be right, that the crest is also faked: - less detailed Soviet coat of arms - poor quality of the enamel at the red star The rhomb of the body has not the typical Soviet form at all. Maybe it's the very rare badge of the mysterious "Acadamy for Pastry Cooks" at the Supreme Command of Warsaw Pact Forces . Best regards Christian

Best resource for Orders & Medals of Communist Bloc countries ? Dear Rusty, now - 1 1/2 years after your posting - the situation is different, that's my frank opinion. Threads at GMIC go much more into the depth and in terms of research they are matchless. Here at GMIC there is a professional, friendly & gentlemanlike atmosphere. GMIC offers you 150 KB for decent scans, which is really enough. Besides the dramatically grown sections for the Communist Bloc countries, GMIC offers you a wide range of other highly interesting sections for the medal collector. Last, but not least, GMIC offers you Christophe's quiz about the Communist Bloc countries with more than 10.000 views, almost 1.000 replies and 83 questions. Our chairman Nick and his staff have done an excellent job the last years. Best regards Christian

10.000 Views Benchmark Gentlemen, we just hit the benchmark of 10.000 views for one single thread. That seems to be unrivalled at GMIC . Soon we will hit the benchmark of 1.000 replies. Congratulation to Christophe for his brilliant idea Best regards Christian

Dear Ulsterman, I am not an expert, but due to the fact, that there is another YU-Order for general merit, I assume, that the "Order of Labour" had been attached to the sphere of production, education and all sort of arts. That order might have been also used - as in my case - as a long service award. I also like the design very much and you can still get the order for almost an "apple & egg" . Best regards Christian

Dear Bryan, many thanks for your posting . I already posted my 3 "Orders of Labour" here: http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?s=&showtop...st&p=157103 Best regards Christian

Dear Bryan, many thanks for your posting . I have no "Orders of Military Merit" in my collection - the prices in Vienna had been always too high . A lot of foreigners received this order also. Best regards Christian

Gentlemen, where are the good dealers for YU-awards to recommend ? Vienna is "empty" besides of one dealer, who has every now and then YU-Orders, but at far too high prices . Are there any reliable dealers in the ex-Yugoslavian states from Slovenia to Makedonia, who ship and accept creditcards and/or PayPal ? In the USA there are two well known dealers, but their supply thinned out somehow : Alexei: http://pw1.netcom.com/~merezhko/militaria.html Igor: http://www.collectrussia.com/ Please post your experience . Best regards Christian

Dear Filip, we already got the Yugoslavian section from our Chairman Pozdrav Christian