Imperial Russia Post yourImperial russian orders and badges

[Igor Ostapenko]

Soldiers Book of Bellet

[Igor Ostapenko]

Medals group of Russian Soldier

Two St. George crosses 4th & 3rd class and "For Bravery" medal 4th class .

[Igor Ostapenko]

St. George medal "For Bravery" 4th class of

French Soldier Barberet from 21 reg. d'Infanterie .

Receive in 1915 y .

[Igor Ostapenko]

Medals group of Russian Soldier

Two St. George crosses 4th & 3rd class and "For Bravery" medal 4th class .

I bought this bar from daughter of cavaler .

To her wards her father after WWI

took part in Russian Citizen's War, in Soviet-Finnish War

and WW2 .

Great Soldier !!!

[Tim Tezer]

So , what I'm wondering is this: could there have been an earlier generation of Imperial copies made of bronze gilt and with hot enamel that were designed to be sold in gift shops and that those souvenir awards are what we were buying in the early nineties because we assumed that they were late WW I production? (After all, most everyone knows how the WW I combattant nations pulled the plug on the non-essential use of gold and silver during that war - so order insignia made of bronze gilt seemed to make sense...)

Jim

Jim,

I see nobody has responded to your question for some time, which is kind of unfortunate. Personally I don't think that there were truly accurate copies of Russian awards made until about 10 years ago. Now there are some really dangerous fakes out there, not only in bronze gilt but in real gold. Most of the bronze gilt pieces I've seen - and that includes what I believe are originals as well as reproductions - are not maker marked at all, except for St. Stanislaus badges made by Dmitri Ossipov. Do you have any photos of the raised makers marks to post on the forum?

Tim

Edited March 24, 2006 by Tim Tezer

[Mathomhaus]

Tim:

I have a couple of hot enamel, bronze gilt pieces (St. Stans, St. Annes) with what I personally think are suspect "raised" proofmarks. I will photograph a couple of the hallmarks in question and post them before the week is out.

Jim

P.S.: One if them is a second class St. Anne with swords that a now deceased friend of mine bought at Manion's Auction in the mid to late '90's. When it arrived after the sale, he was so disgusted with it that his initial impulse was to clip it to his key chain: while it was bronze gilt and did have hard enamel, the sword segments between the arms of the cross were visibly held in place with some sort of clear glue! Interestingly, the overall construction was identical to a bronze gilt example that I'd bought a year before from an emigre dealer at a show in NJ as a supposedly 89 year old late WW I cross! I'm not ceretaind that I still own both examples, if I do I will photo both...

[Guest Rick Research]

Hard to believe how much this section of the website has grown-- and all to Chuck and George! And for all these scans, thanks to all of you who have posted. We who can only look and appreciate salute you!

I would like to see some scans of the reverses (showing styles of construction and materials used) of Tsarist MEDAL BARS--

am familiar with the SOVIET ones, of course, but know nothing about how Imperial Russian medal groups were held together or attached to clothing.

[Chuck In Oregon]

Hard to believe how much this section of the website has grown-- and all to Chuck and George! And for all these scans, thanks to all of you who have posted. We who can only look and appreciate salute you!

I would like to see some scans of the reverses (showing styles of construction and materials used) of Tsarist MEDAL BARS--

am familiar with the SOVIET ones, of course, but know nothing about how Imperial Russian medal groups were held together or attached to clothing.

* * * * *

Thank you for the kind words. As with most things, I have taken away far more than I've given here. I have really enjoyed seeing George's amazing things and now we have a couple of recent contributors who also have some great Imperial collectibles. That's what's making this forum fun for and, I trust, useful to others.

As for Imperial medal bars, I seem to recall (note here my notoriously bad memory) from another thread that they were a late-era innovation. I have one Imperial jacket (that's probably not the technically correct word, but I'm not a uniform guy) with a medal bar. However, it's not a "bar" at all but five cloth ribbons sewn together edge-to-edge above the left breast pocket. It is very expertly done, the seamstress or tailor must have been quite skilled.

Finally a break in the weather here. It's time to work in the garden.

Chuck