Soviet Stuff you don't see everyday

[Dudeman]

I thought I would open this topic up to awards that have been modified outside of the mint. This can include altered suspensions, engraving, scratches to test whether the item is really gold, etc.

This piece has a been punched with some kind of metal stamp. The "puncher" also punched the medal on the edge at about 10 o'clock relative to the medal's revese and is slightly visible. Was this the work of a bored child or does it mean anything? The punch would be either "ZO" or "30" in Cyrillic.

The piece illustrated also has "dings" that I mentioned on another thread as a good indicator of genuine wear and a piece's authenticity. It usually shows up on Bravery Medals and Combat Service Medals, but also on on other predominately silver awards. These dings come from beating up against the "harder" campaign medals.

[Christophe]

Has someone already seen such a stamp ? If not, I would guess for a kind of "home made" metal resistance test for both the stamp and the medal...

Ch.

[Alfred]

Modified awards

If I remember right, they where sold years ago on ebay.

Seems to be a nice work from the owner, to protect the tunic.

regards

Andreas

[Christophe]

This system presents similarities with more recent Mongolian attachment systems. In fact, with other orders, my first guess would have been that these awards have been attributed to a foreigner, who adapted the attachment system to something similar to what he is used to have... But, this does not seem to be the case, here.

Interesting.

Cheers.

Ch.

[Dudeman]

This system presents similarities with more recent Mongolian attachment systems. In fact, with other orders, my first guess would have been that these awards have been attributed to a foreigner, who adapted the attachment system to something similar to what he is used to have... But, this does not seem to be the case, here.

Interesting.

Cheers.

Ch.

This style of attachment is infrequently encountered. I have a set with two Red Stars and an OPW II all done similarly. Screwposts are also often filed down to keep from poking the wearer.

[Christophe]

Would it be to allow the wear of them on a civil suit ?

Ch.

[Dudeman]

Who is to say? I think it was just an individual's taste. Real diehards, would wear this screwback orders even on a civilian suit ALL the time and thus wouldn't care about the holes they made. Others, especially with the dawn of the early 90s would merely wear their ribbon bars to avoid getting mugged for their valuable awards.

[Gerd Becker]

Would it be logic to assume, that every veteran had a special civil "Parade"-suite only to wear on special occasions?

Edited December 26, 2005 by Gerd Becker

[Christophe]

Gerd,

This would be logical... but pictures show they often wear them on their daily clothes (or what seems to be).

Cheers.

Ch.

[Dudeman]

Would it be logic to assume, that every veteran had a special civil "Parade"-suite only to wear on special occasions?

Many Russian pensioners I know only have one suit.

[GeorgeCL]

Hi dudeman,

I agree.

I have a couple of Imperial pieces altered in the same way.

Altered to wear without damage to ones suit..

George

[Gerd Becker]

Thanks everyone

Interesting examples, George.

best,

Gerd

[Stogieman]

I have a question..... by altered, would that include changed serial numbers? I am just curious. Having been advised to steer clear of anything that has been monkeyed with......

[Christophe]

In the examples shown in this thread, it does not imply modifications of the SN, but a different way of wearing them. That's also sometimes the case when the regulations have changed. We can see from times to times Orders of the Red Banner with screwbacks that have been converted lately to be worn with a suspension. It does not diminish their value, far from this...

An alteration of the SN is a different story... generally to stay away from...

Ch.

[Guest Rick Research]

Yakov Pavlovich Grebennik (b. 1916) received this Red Banner for fighting at Lake Khasan in 1938, during his compulsory army service (before going on to a long but lackluster career in State Security as a Technical Senior Lieutenant well into the 1960s)

[attachmentid=20737]

Rather than turn his prized award in for a then-current replacement after 1943, he did what a lot of screwback wearers did-- he hacked off the screwpost and soldered on a sloppy suspension loop:

[attachmentid=20738]

Comrade Grebennik was still alive in 1991, so this was WORN for over 50 years:

[attachmentid=20739]

This went through Stalingrad with him. So yes it is battered and damaged, but it tells the tale of a loooooong life lived in the Soviet Union from the Great Purge to the final collapse.

[Christophe]

Rick,

This is a superb example!!! Great to post it!!

Cheers.

Ch.

[Gerd Becker]

wow, Rick, where did you hide this one?

[Stogieman]

Gee whiz........ he's never even shown this one off to me! Now that speaks of history.....

[Guest Rick Research]

I showed that group another place another time.

Well, I'll repost it for HERE in the Researched Groups subforum.

[HuliganRS]

I remember seeing it on the Wehrmacht forums!

Nice piece!

Rusty.

[Dudeman]

This Stalingrad medal recipient added to the reverse a span of German medal ribbon. Wonder what the story was behind this one...

[NavyFCO]

If I remember right, they where sold years ago on ebay.

Seems to be a nice work from the owner, to protect the tunic.

These actually didn't sell on eBay. My reserve was $700, and no one would buy the group, which included all his jubilee medals and...by the way...he was also KGB!

Mind you, I sold this group two years ago. How ironic it is that it would bring well over 200% what I was asking now!

Dave

[Digger Doug]

These actually didn't sell on eBay. My reserve was $700, and no one would buy the group, which included all his jubilee medals and...by the way...he was also KGB!

Mind you, I sold this group two years ago. How ironic it is that it would bring well over 200% what I was asking now!

Dave

If I remember correctly, the anxious buyer had to wait for the better part of a year to finally buy it because the seller was off on some kind of boat trip!!! To this day, the buyer considers it one of his favorite groups.

[NavyFCO]

If I remember correctly, the anxious buyer had to wait for the better part of a year to finally buy it because the seller was off on some kind of boat trip!!! To this day, the buyer considers it one of his favorite groups.

[SWE Erik]

A very interesting topic with many nice objects! Thanks for sharing them.

Here is my small contribution. An Order of Glory with replaced pin, nothing special really but I like it.

And it looks like the boxes under the letters "C" and "B" would be some kind of error in the manufacturing process?

/Erik