Soviet Medalstand for screwback-orders

[Gerd Becker]

Gentlemen,

i had an idea for a Medalstand this morning and would like to get some comments on the design of this thing. Don?t look at the quality, i quickly cobbled something together, with the materials, i had available at home.

I like wood and glass and i like geometrical shapes, like you can see. Imagine this one with a real glass disk (thicker glass of course to make it more stable) and a well made wood-frame. The disc attached on this one is plexiglass. It may not make sense for a Red Star, but i guess a Bogdan Khmelnitsky or an Order of Lenin would look very nice on this stand.

What do you think? Worth to develop it further?

Thanks for looking

Gerd

Edited November 27, 2006 by Gerd Becker

[Gerd Becker]

two pics more... The final version would have 4 screws, nicely embedded in the glass-disk.

[Paul L Murphy]

Gerd,

Excellent idea. I would stick with perspex rather than glass, less chance of breakage, chipping etc. Also, rather than having parts of it in wood I would have the entire stand in perspex so that all you see is the order.

Alternatively, have the wood stained black and black coating on the perspex so that the entire stand is black and the order stands out in contrast against it.

Paul

[joe campbell]

with some fine-tuning, this is

am item that i would use.

nice idea, Gerd!

joe

[Christian Zulus]

Dear Gerd,

great invention for the presentation of our Crown Juwels .

Maybe the wooden frame should be also painted in matt black .

Best regards

Christian

[Riley1965]

Gerd,

I would by several with the present design. All of my display boxes are close to the same color of wood for the frame. AN EXCELLENT IDEA!!!

Doc

[Ralph A]

Patent pending.

[Gerd Becker]

Gentlemen,

thanks a lot for the suggestions. I will do the final version in black to see, how it looks like. And i will use perspex rather than glass, as i guess, a really safe glass disk could be too thick for shortened screwposts.

Could you imagine a bigger (2-3 place) version with a rectangular plate for groups? Or even bigger? And do you think, the felt should be attached to the disk/plate or should only be available as an option? I haven?t tried it without felt yet, but i guess, the order would leave too many scratches on the disk.

Once again, thanks you all very much for the tips

I will let you know the outcome and show the final version.

regards,

Gerd

[Gerd Becker]

Patent pending.

Ralph, thats a cool idea too . But i think, i would be worried, that they fall But that could be changed with a bigger foot, no problem.

[Riley1965]

Gerd,

I would offer a felt backing to avoid scratching the Plexi-glass.

Doc

[Ralph A]

Suggestion: Rectangular piece of plexiglas, heat and bend (or cut, mitered and screwed back together) to a 50-60 degree angle. If you like the wood, use some strips to frame the plexi.

...rough idea:

[JimZ]

Cool idea Gerd but I think Ralph has just nailed it .... 100% made from clear plexiglass/perspex, wide base with centre of gravity right through the centre of the base. Lightweight transparent structure.....

Brilliant!

Jim

Edited November 27, 2006 by jimzammit

[Riley1965]

Gerd,

I'll place an order for 5 to begin with.

Doc

[Gerd Becker]

Suggestion: Rectangular piece of plexiglas, heat and bend (or cut, mitered and screwed back together) to a 50-60 degree angle. If you like the wood, use some strips to frame the plexi.

...rough idea:

Thats excellent, Ralph! Thanks for the idea. Thats not only nice, but also very stable.

I?ll get some perspex in the next days and try both ideas. I?ll keep you updated.

Great suggestions everyone, thanks a lot

[Chuck In Oregon]

Hi Gerd

That's a darn good idea. I've seen something similar, but you should be able to sell some of these on this and other forums, on The Bay and at any shows that you do. Do you sandwich the item between two pieces of acryllic, maybe with spacers of the same wood, or just mount them to the acryllic? It looks like the latter.

I think I will make some larger versions for a few of my documented groups and see how they turn out, and I'm going to try the 2-piece idea for them, and keep the documents inside sleeves of their own within the display. It will at least keep them a little cleaner and be easier to clean when I need to. I have a particular need in my early aviation and Imperial medical collections, with lesser needs elsewhere.

Personally, I like the wood frames with acryllic pieces. I make small things with exotic woods and nice wood often hides the craftsman's flaws. Plus, if you are contemplating selling these, different exotic (or interesting domestic) woods gives people something else to choose from and will definitely catch people's eye. I mean, everyone has all-acryllic holders, but not everyone has, say, mahoghany-frame acryllic displays.

Be careful here. You may find, as I have, that getting too many orders (believe it or not) takes some of the fun out of making things. Of course, paying for your hobby, even having a few bucks left over, isn't a bad consolation. In fact, I'm going out to my garage/shop right now and fill a nice order for some turned pens.

Displaying groups in an appropriate, interesting and respectful manner has always been a challenge for me. Anyone else have any good ideas about that? What has worked for you?

Chuck

[Gerd Becker]

Hi Chuck,

thanks a lot for your opinion and the suggestions. I am going to do different versions, the one displayed on top of the thread, another 2-place with a rectangular plate and additionally i?ll try to do the version, Ralph suggested. I like the idea with the different woods and i think, a nice dark wood would look very nice too. If i get ahold of the parts, i need, i get some darker wood too.

This version is just mounted on the acrylic, but i really like the idea of an additional layer to protect the piece. That wouldn?t be too difficoult, i guess. This would also add the possibility to display Documents between two layers and probably even combinations are possible, an Order with a Document for example...

I will work on this idea and include the excellent suggestions from this thread.

Doc, i?ll keep your inquiry in mind

Gerd

[order_of_victory]

Gerd,

Very nice idea

If had the space to display my Orders like that I would certanly place order

Order of Victory

[Gerd Becker]

Thank you Keep in mind, thats just a "prototype"

[Stogieman]

Nice Gerd. I'd use actual Russian uniform cloth. Easy enough to get and the prices are reasonable... I like it, you can finish the wood anyway you like. Patent it quick!!!

[Gerd Becker]

Nice Gerd. I'd use actual Russian uniform cloth. Easy enough to get and the prices are reasonable... I like it, you can finish the wood anyway you like. Patent it quick!!!

Thanks, Rick. The use of Uniforum cloth is a good idea and like you said, it should be easy to get ahold of a reproduction-tunic for this.

I have a talent to miss the obvious

Thanks again

Gerd

[usairforce]

Dear Gerd,

Great idea, thank you your photos.

[Bryan]

Guys, aren't you afraid about oxydation by displaying your screwback orders so ???

Me I would't try this on a long term.

[Chuck In Oregon]

Guys, aren't you afraid about oxydation by displaying your screwback orders so ???

Me I would't try this on a long term.

* * * * *

Would/does acryllic emit a corrosive outgas? I suppose that wood does, at least a bit. Normal air circulation is likely to eliminate any hazard to collectibles attributable to those causes. Note that this merely is my opinion, not something that I have researched.

Short of museum-quality display or storage, with inert gases and temperature/humidity controls, I think Gerd's idea is a good one for most of us here. I wouldn't fear inordinate oxidation or other damage from his method of display, or pretty much any other. I do have a very few documents that deserve special attention, but I have yet to give them that. For my sparklies, most anything is better than just sitting in boxes. For me, getting my things out of boxes and into displays far outweighs any potential for corrosion inherent in Gerd's displays.

I would like to see a lot more ideas for displays. Is there such a thing as acryllic pegboard? If there is, where can I buy some?

Sometimes I forget how much I loved show-n-tell.

Gerd, thanks a bunch for this thread.

Chuck