Soviet What exactly are makers' marks?

[JimZ]

I always thought that orders are officially minted and that these would be masse produced to some extent or another. Yet we have come across a number of orders with makers marks.

What exactly are makers marks? Which orders carry these marks? Why would an official government award have a personalised maker's mark on it? And who are the makers?

I have never given this much thought before and have just accepted this as the way some orders came! But the question is now bothering me! So I have decided to do this the "lazy" way and ask the forum....

Of course scans of such marks will only help to add colour to the otherwise olive drab forum background

Jim

[Gerd Becker]

Jim,

you are right, orders were officially minted in mass-production from several mints in the former Soviet-Union. There were mints in Leningrad, Moscow and Krasnokamsk, i know of.

Maker marks, a better description may be manufacturer mark are the signs of the actual worker, who assembled or finished the piece. I don?t know the reason for the marks, but i guess, its to be able to backtrace the worker, who made this piece.

I have seen this marks on early Red Banners, OGPW?s, BoH?s, ORBL?s and Khmelnitsky?s, Suvorov?s and Kutuzov?s, mostly 3rd classes.

Here are some examples:

http://collectrussia.com/DISPITEM.HTM?ITEM=16227

ORBL with "ГО" manufacturers mark

http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=10295

ORB with "7" manufacturer mark

Hope, this helps...

best,

Gerd

[JimZ]

Thanks Gerd.

But are they mint specific or worker specific and still..... why were they really needed?

Jim

[Gerd Becker]

Thanks Gerd.

But are they mint specific or worker specific and still..... why were they really needed?

Jim

Jim,

i think, they are worker specific. The reasons as to why mark them at all is beyond me.

Gerd

[JimZ]

Has anyone else anything to contribute on this subject or is it a topic of no importance with not

more to add on the subject than Gerd has.

I still find myself rather curious about these maker marks especially as I have never paid much attention to the subject myeself.....

Regards

Jim

[Riley1965]

Jim,

Maybe they were added to these ODMs for accountability. I wouldn't want to be the one to mess up hundreds of Soviet ODMs. This is just a wild guess

Doc

[JimZ]

Jim,

Maybe they were added to these ODMs for accountability. I wouldn't want to be the one to mess up hundreds of Soviet ODMs. This is just a wild guess

Doc

True... and yet not all of them are marked .... Neither are the marks all consistent ......

[Riley1965]

Jim,

That "Wild guess" was all I have to offer right now. However, This has sparked the curious side of me and I love the research potential surrounding it.

Doc

[order_of_victory]

Could it be some kind of quality control mark

Order of Victory

[JimZ]

As Gerd indicated these do seem restricted to certain particular orders primarily the earlier variations. Perhaps the more labour intensive orders requiring lots more manual input to piece together than later variations.

But still why mark the pieces. Surely there were more effective ways of "quality control" than stamping or engraving a workers initials in a state order! Would make slightly more sense to me if these marks were mint specific rather!

Jim

[JimZ]

Before I lay this thread down to rest..... do makers marks on Soviet orders remain more or less an obscure detail to us all?

Jim

[Christian Zulus]

Before I lay this thread down to rest..... do makers marks on Soviet orders remain more or less an obscure detail to us all?

Jim

Gentlemen,

ALL RBls T 2 have maker marks - so that is quite normal for certain screwback-orders. A RBL T 2 without a maker's mark would be highly suspicous . Nevsky's don't have maker marks, i.e.

Best regards

Christian

[usairforce]

Very interesting question .