vladtheman03

I thought that at first, but the text on the back is the right way up? So only the front is upside down...

Gents, another variation for you. I can't find another image of this type on the internet. Anyone else seen one with the swords this way round?

Hi, I recently bought this collection of items. I don't usually collect Polish awards, however, I am a sucker for a good documented group. This seemed to be really complete and not a 'put together' set. The group seems to be fully documented, but note the change in name from 1948 to 1965. The original recipient seems to have altered part of his name and then dropped the German part (Gintter) altogether. Is this common? Regarding the medals they are the Order of Polonia Restituita (Member), Gold Cross of Merit, Medal for the War of 1939, Baltic, Oder & Neisse Medal, Freedom Medal and Defence of the Motherland 3rd Class. Top row of badges is a bit trickier, Grunwald Shield, crowned eagle silver badge (a side hat badge or collar badge?) in silver, trade union badge, excellent seller badge, merit medal from the ministry of materials (?) not sure what the BPS one is either. The one below (PZ ERI) should be on a blue enamelled suspender and is a merit medal for the union of pensioners (I think). Finally the medal for the 20th anniversary of the foundation of the republic. Any info on this group would be appreciated!

Last ribbon on the fourth row appears to be the Tunisian Order of Nichan Iftikhar. British field marshals (Montgomery included) also received this award.

Hello all, I bought this group from a Polish dealer about a year ago. I'd like to know whether you think it's a genuine group or a put together? The group consists of: Top row: Order of Polonia Restituita Merit Cross 1st Class Cross of Valour Partisan's Cross Merit Cross 2nd Class 30th Anniversary of PRL Liberation of Warsaw Medal Medal for Victory and Freedom Bottom row: Medal for Victory and Freedom Capture of Berlin Fire Fighting Merit Gold Medal for Defence of the Motherland Silver Medal for Defence of the Motherland Bronze Decoration for Merit in Protection of Public Order Silver Decoration for Merit in Protection of Public Order Bronze Medal in Service of the Nation Silver There are a couple of points which don't quite add up. Firstly the medal for victory and freedom appears twice - did this happen? Also the medals for service in defence of the motherland 2nd and 3rd classes appear after the medal for fire fighting merit 1st class. They are worn on the same ribbon, but, again is this combination possible?

Can you email it to me too please Ferdinand? Thanks, Ian

Mervyn, I thought I'd let you know how I got on with finding a valuation for this. I contacted Christies as you advised. They got back to me within a few days stating that they had very few records of any troopers swords for sale (they mostly sell the higher end officer's types) so a valuation would be very difficult. They asked for my number, which I provided a couple of times, but no further response. I also contacted Wallis and Wallis, no response. I tried several edged weapon dealers - one who informed me it was a fake and he wouldn't go anywhere near it and another who offered me $500 for it. I recently did a search on ebay and found this: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270911695450&ssPageName=ADME:B:WNA:GB:1123 A similar model, similar condition, a little earlier, however, it sold for $1502. So there we have the current value (more or less). My sword will be appearing on ebay imminently with a similar price tag (buy it now or best offer). Best regards,

Interesting analysis. I had missed the fact that the order of the ribbons was not 100%. You're right - the frontier service medal and the 800th anniversary of Moscow medals are in the wrong places. Is this a common occurrence? I would guess though that the military merit medal is for 10 years service and that one of the red stars is for 15. The other two red stars are likely to be decorations of some kind during WW2 the 1950s. The Order of the Red Banner of Labour, whilst predominately a civil award was also given to members of the armed forces. I remember seeing a documentary which included an interview with a rocket fuel specialist, a retired officer, who had received two Orders of the Red Banner of Labour. Also military judiciary received labour and insignia of honour awards. I would assume that the Order of Service to the Motherland would have been received towards the end of his career. Note that there is no medal for strengthening combat co-operation which given all the overseas service I would have expected and also no veteran of the soviet armed forces. These awards were instituted in 1976 and 1979 respectively. Therefore it’s probably safe to assume that he was already retired between 1974 and 1976. Certainly the foreign awards indicate he was at the peak of his career in the late 1960s and early 70s. Lack of campaign medals isn't unusual given the fact all soviet campaign medals were given only for actions in cities. The fronts were vast so it was easy to serve in non-urban areas. Also if someone were serving in a non-line capacity (or research/technical) then they are unlikely to be involved with defence/capture and liberation of cities. What confused me was the appearance of two of the Czech medals for strengthening combat co-operation. This may indicate initial occupation service after 1968 followed by more serious recognition in the 70s. Nevertheless I've never seen two of these awards before in a group. Also soviet cloth ribbon bars, particularly from the late 70s and 1980s, often include 'soviet quality' ribbons for foreign awards. The foreign ribbons here are the originals, not soviet re-made ribbons and are from the countries of origin. It's a fascinating resume of one man's career. I just wish I knew more about him.

As requested - non-photobucket photo. Lukasz is on the money as ever! I think the two 'red' (???) ribbons that were not identified are for the 90th anniversary of G. Dimitrov's birth (1882-1972) and for the 30th Anniversary of the Liberation of Czechoslovakia (1944-1974). I have a photo of another large group from the Central Museum of the Armed Forces in Moscow which includes these awards and as these ribbons appear after the Bulgarian and Czech awards that's my guess.

Another possibility is the Egyptian Medal for Bravery. Again it's not a perfect match (similar colours to the Syrian medal above) http://s1106.photobucket.com/albums/h361/vladtheman03/Egyptian%20Medal%20Ribbon/ Taken from the Catalogue of Order Ribbons of Russia and Overseas Nations, Moscow, 2009.

If you need any better photos or edge shots let me know...

If that were the case I'd agree, but the last one is for the 20th Anniversary of the Cuban Armed Forces....

Apologies for not picking this up again. I need to find some photos of that group and post the story. I'll probably create a new thread for that. Strictly speaking it's a standard British group for service between 1915 and 1919, it just happens that the recipient served on one of the first aircraft carriers (HMS Pegasus) in North Russia in 1919. He later went on to serve in Iraq with the RAF in 1920. It would be nice to get some discussion going on the other medals for the interventionist forces, the Japanese struck a special variation of the war medal to cover operations in the far east against Russia, the Czech Republic has specific bars for the revolution cross and also struck medals commemorating the czech legion in 1948. Then of course there are the the wars of national liberation in Poland (a medal was also struck to commemorate the defeat of the Bolshevik forces in 1918 which was also awarded to some French interventionist forces), and the Baltic States and Finland... It's a fascinating period of history.

Hi all, I couldn't resist posting this ribbon bar I picked up about half a year ago. There are 39 awards in total - can you identify them all??? http://s1106.photobu...20Ribbon%20Bar/ We guess the rank is somewhere between Major and Colonel General of Engineers or a Technical Branch of some kind - note no military Orders of the Red Banner and no Lenins either... Good patina to it, so I believe it to be authentic, particularly with the lack of very high orders and the number of foreign awards... It's a distinctive group...perhaps someone can identify the recipient?

Hello all, This has been in my collection for almost 15 years now. I didn't pay much for it and believed it, at the time, to be 'a really good fake'. This was mainly because all the original versions I had seen online were much more worn, with the gold plate to the obverse having almost completely dissapeared. Some years down the line I found a site which had some detail regarding numbers of Orders of Glory. This one has a high number for a 2nd class (44,352), which seems to put its award date sometime in the 1960s. If it's a fake it's very well made, silver, gilt and complete with brazed ring... I've not commissioned any research on this due to doubts about authenticity. Then I thought perhaps the community here would be able to comment? you can take a look here: http://s1106.photobucket.com/albums/h361/vladtheman03/Order%20of%20Glory%202nd%20Class/ Any thoughts?