Soviet Veteran Of Labor Medals

[Guest Rick Research]

Until reading the comments in the Veteran of the Armed Forces Medal thread, I never gave this type of labor retiree medal a second thought--

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I've seen enough of them on worn ribbons to have always assumed they were simply a manufacturing variant, which was sent out without the dull gray "toned silver" finish applied. This one has been at my house since 1995.

[Guest Rick Research]

The shiny surface is not quite accurately represented in the scans. What tarnish there is now forming is NOT the remnants of the "smoky" applied patina being removed, or the results of some sort of harsh cleaning. These medals NEVER had the "aged" patina surface applied to them.

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The impression these leave being looked at in real life is of a NICE, natural color aluminum medal. They are NOT actually made of aluminum.

For whatever reason, I assume these left the factory without being coated with the oxydized looking surface and... nobody noticed or cared.

No mint initials on the suspension ring.

[Mondvor]

Of course the presence (or absence) of oxidation or ЛМД mintmark on the ring are interesting features of the medal. But they are not of the greatest importance because they vere added to the medal AFTER it was minted (manufactured). If we want to find real variations we should check differences in medals stamp or die (I'm not sure what word fits better). So we have to find the differences that occured BEFORE medal was minted. Here is an example of such difference.

In one case - left picture - there is no line (ray) at the space between the hammer and its handle. The line (ray) just below is solid and unbroken.

In the other case - right picture - there is a short line (ray) at the angle between hammer and its handle. The line (ray) just below has a gap where hammer's tip touches it.

Veteran of Labor medal was manufactured in the amounts much bigger than any other Soviet award. By January 1, 1995 more than 39.197.000 people were awarded with this medal. So many variations exist. I described only one of them

[JimZ]

Would actually be interesting to see if the shiny type veteran of labour medals were actually issued at one particular period or other. Alas, as the medal is not numbered there is the usual problem of matching medal to document. My idea is to see if this was just a 'freak' manufacture on a number of medals or just a different grade of manufacture. Would a different chemically applied patina (or lack of) constitute a variation in the same way as a different ring would? Also interesting to see the small differences in manufacture Mondvor pointed out.

[order_of_victory]

So I take it that the ones without rays are the common ones, I only say this because I have about three left and I sold two of the ones I had

Order of Victory

[Mondvor]

So I take it that the ones without rays are the common ones, I only say this because I have about three left and I sold two of the ones I had

Order of Victory

You are right! Those without rays are more common. The guys with rays probably were manufactured on the different mint (but I'm not sure).