Soviet Order of the Red Banner of Labour & Badge of Honour

[Brian Wolfe]

Hello Everyone,

A short while ago as I read though the posts on our forum I got the strangest urge to add some Soviet medals to my collection. I started off with the usual common medals and then, before investing more money, decided to read the past posts on the topic. Man, some of you guys (and gals) are pretty serious! I read until my eyes felt blistered and was getting pretty paranoid about buying Soviet medals and decorations.

This weekend I visited a local gun show. Here in my part of the world there are three classifications of shows where you might find medals. A gun show is just that, a show for hunters and gun collectors with a smattering of other related items thrown in for good measure. A military show where you will find a larger percentage of medals and then there's the medal collector's shows where you can drop $1000 faster than at the track.

As I was looking through the odds and ends I came upon a dealer I have purchased gun related items from for years. To my surprise he had a small case of medals for sale. In the case were several foreign medals as well as Soviet medals and two Orders. The two orders were, The Order of the Red Banner of Labour and The Order of the Badge of Honour. They are numbered and I feel pretty confident they are original. They look like they have been around for a while and if they turn out to be faked I can return them.

I wanted to share them with you, even though I know they are not especially rare, they are quite attractive (in my opinion).

The Order of the Red Banner of Labour is numbered 861377

The Badge of Honour is numbered 1014937

Any comments would be welcomed.

Cheers

Brian

[Brian Wolfe]

Here is the back of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour # 861377.

Brian

[Brian Wolfe]

Here's the Order of the Badge of Honour.

Cheers

Brian

[Brian Wolfe]

Here's the back of the Order of the Badge of Honour # 1014937

This is the concave back variation as you can see.

I like these so much that I can't bring myself to put them away in my medal collection drawers yet. My wife says I'm worse than a kid. What's her point?

Thanks for taking a look, I hope you liked them.

Cheers

Brian

[Guest Rick Research]

Down here in Southern Canada we only have gun shows. Our once a year quote unquote All Militaria show--the only one in a 6 state area-- just has LESS guns.

Both of those are likely from 1976, at the height of Brezhnev's power.

[Lapa]

Here's the back of the Order of the Badge of Honour # 1014937

This is the concave back variation as you can see.

I like these so much that I can't bring myself to put them away in my medal collection drawers yet. My wife says I'm worse than a kid. What's her point?

Thanks for taking a look, I hope you liked them.

Cheers

Brian

Brian,

Both orders are fine, original examples.

Marc

[koopyetz]

Congratulations on you acquisitions.

Give them a good home.

Regards

Rick

[JimZ]

You start with one innocent ruskie medal and nowadays, you find you're driving a lada instead of a porsche just to keep them coming in!

Its a slippery slope at the edge of a very deep abyss!

What else can I say....

"Welcome. Abandon cash all ye who enter here!"

Jim

[hunyadi]

Never owned of Porsche.... but I do own a Lada...one of the best cars I ever had BTW!

Have constantly thought about it, but what was the meaning of putting the central image of a dam in the Order of the Red Banner of Labor? Was there a historical link to the time it was issued?

[Guest Rick Research]

Good question. I don't know if it was modelled on an actual place, or is a generic symbol of Soviet "Vlast"-- power and new technology that would usher in the Brave New World.

It was a much better design than the ugly original "tractor" Order of Lenin anyway.

[Christian Zulus]

Have constantly thought about it, but what was the meaning of putting the central image of a dam in the Order of the Red Banner of Labor? Was there a historical link to the time it was issued?

Dear Charles,

the central image of the RBL shows the Dnieper Hydroelectric Station "DneproGES" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DneproGES one of the most famous constructions of the early Stalin era.

Best regards

Christian

BTW: Many years ago my family owned a Lada "Niva" 4 WD - the best cross-country car of it's age, as many tests in car magzines showed. The "Niva" (or "Taiga" in Germany) is still build and exported at very fair prices.

[Christian Zulus]

It was a much better design than the ugly original "tractor" Order of Lenin anyway.

That's true .

Both types, the early T1 (1928) which shows strong influence of "Russian Constructivism" in design and the later T2 (1936), which is a very fine example of "Socialistic Realism" are outstanding examples of Soviet fine art .

In my opinion, the RBL T2 of 1936 is an extremly "well balanced" and beautiful design .

Best regards

Christian

[Elmar Lang]

Hello,

the presence of a hydroelectrical plant in the Order of the Red Banner of Labour, besides its significance of progress and modernity, is like a "symbolic translation" of a famous sentence of Lenin: "Коммунизм это есть Советская власть плюс электрификация всей страны!", in other words, "Communism means Soviet Power plus the electrification of the whole country!"

Best wishes,

Enzo

[Guest Rick Research]

Thanks, Enzo! I had some dim, distant memory of that Lenin quote rattling around in the back of my head... but all that came out was the "Vlast!"

[Christian Zulus]

the presence of a hydroelectrical plant in the Order of the Red Banner of Labour, besides its significance of progress and modernity, is like a "symbolic translation" of a famous sentence of Lenin: "Коммунизм это есть Советская власть плюс электрификация всей страны!", in other words, "Communism means Soviet Power plus the electrification of the whole country!"

Dear Enzo,

besides of that point, which was in my opinion the main reason for the relief at the order, DneproGES was at that time the most prestigeous and gigantic project in the sphere of labour & economy in the CCCP.

BTW: DneproGES had been built with massive technical aid by US-engineers ...

Best regards

Christian

[Elmar Lang]

...yes, you're right, the DneproGES was the most advanced electrical plant in the USSR, so this is one reason for depicting it in the Red Banner of Labour as a symbol of Soviet Progress.

Technical aid of US engineers... and masses of forced workers (besides what's shown in official documentary films), but that's another story.

Best wishes,

Enzo

[Christian Zulus]

Technical aid of US engineers... and masses of forced workers (besides what's shown in official documentary films), but that's another story.

Dear Enzo,

the period of construction 1927 - 1932 was a bit too early for providing "masses of forced workers". There had been "masses" of American specialists, foremen and engineers under the direction of famous US-Colonel H. Cooper, who took part in the construction. All the building machines and the first electrical equipment were imported from the United States .

Most of the super-ambitious projects of Soviet industralization in the late 1920s to the early 1930s had been more or less pure US-affairs, financed and supported with (rather unskilled) labour force by the Soviet government .

At that era, there had been a very intensive economic collaboration between the USA and the CCCP: Money & jobs for the US-economy + industrialization for the CCCP.

The hughe "masses of forced workers" AND POWs rebuilded DneproGES from 1944 to 1949.

Best regards

Christian