Soviet Paying dues

[Khyber]

The following story is about one of my early "groups" that I acquired in my Soviet medals feeding frenzy in the mid 90's. This assembage was acquired at a show in Ohio from a dealer named Yuri. It was missing the Lenin but otherwise appeared complete. I liked the combination of the Hero star and the early Nevsky. The Hero star #688 has been posted elsewhere on this forum. My first alert that things were not right was when the name in the orders book did not match any name on the Hero register. The dealer later explained that it was because he was a low number and had probably been purged. When the research eventually came back. I found that it was an assembled group with a doctored book. Of course with current values, I have not lost and it was a great lesson that, unfortunately, deterred me from Soviet groups for years.

First the scans of the orders book.

Edited August 29, 2006 by Khyber

[Khyber]

Here is the front of the orders book.

[Khyber]

Here is the information on the Order of the Red Banner #83699

[Khyber]

The Red Banner commendation.

[Khyber]

Here is the Nevsky

[Khyber]

The commendation is for a Suvorov 3rd Class. Somewhere on the way to HQ, it turned into a Nevsky. He ended up with a lot of awards. I would have loved to have his complete group but am happy with what I have.

[Khyber]

More on the Nevsky.

[Khyber]

More on the Nevsky.

[Gerd Becker]

Great citations. Thanks for posting this research

[Guest Rick Research]

"Yury"... who looked like the Gestapo agent in "Raiders of the Lost Ark?"

[Khyber]

Rick, thats the guy. I think the full name he was using was "Yuri Altschuler" and he usually had a good selection of training mines and grenades.

Ron

[Paul R]

You have a great set of awards there... even if they did not belong to the same person. I really enjoy seeing all of the low numbers on the orders and the citations.

I am especially envious of the Nevski!

Paul

[Khyber]

Thanks Paul. This forum has re kindled my interest in researched Soviet awards. I was getting a little burned out by the intense competion in Britsh Victorian Medals and needed a break from them.

Ron

[Bryan]

If the Nevsky set was complete, it would be a fantastic group. Your award is beautiful even alone without the rest of the group and both orders have a nice story behind.

[Guest Rick Research]

Yup, that's him, Ron. My "local" Russian from Hartford. Got lots of really great stuff from him (and some not so great-- I picked, I chose, my wins/loses) Back In The day before supplies dried up completely.

[NavyFCO]

Yup, that's him, Ron. My "local" Russian from Hartford. Got lots of really great stuff from him (and some not so great-- I picked, I chose, my wins/loses) Back In The day before supplies dried up completely.

back in the early 90s I can remember buying from him. I was warned quickly by several other Russians that his groups were bad, but he never overcharged for them. I can remember him pricing out the groups there in a big box of groups that he would normally have under the table... "Let's see... $20 for the Red Banner, $15 for the Patriotic War, $5 for the For Valor medal and $5 for the book... That's $45 for the group" Now THAT was Back In The Day!

Dave

[Khyber]

These comments sure take me back in time. I remember Yuri getting items in plastic bags out from tubs under the table and adding up the value of the "groups" by individual medal. Some of the groups I bought were good and quite hard to find these days. I will post some of them as time permits. As you said, he did not charge a premium for the groups, just added up the value of the singles and a slight kicker for the book. I did not know a lot about the medals (other than I wanted them) but figured a low number was better than a high number and bought accordingly. I got a lot of neat Soviet ordnance from him - those days are gone .

It is a shame that so many Order Books were disfigured in the process.

Ron

[Paul R]

This forum has re kindled my interest in researched Soviet awards.

I know exactly what you mean. I collected Soviet orders and medals from 1992-1994 because the were attractive and very affordable. As time went on, I started moving to the German side of the Hobby- moving the Soviet collection into the closet(Literally). I could not ever bring myself to sell it.

This forum did the same for me.