Died and gone to heaven

[CtahhR]

Legit and not legit business can be two different worlds......

It's certainly a shame that everything can't be out in the open.... be it Mongolian or any other nation.....

If I had been in town at the time of the state "give aways" there would be serious documentation available on what I purchased.

[Bob]

Originally Posted by CtahhR

The question comes to mind that how did all those items get into the same dealer's hands? Brains, connections or luck?

Don't know which dealer was holding the items on the pic, but apparently museum vaults have also gotten a lot emptier... :thumbsdown

[GabrielMk3]

A lot emptier indeed... The governments museum here, hasn't been displaying proper awards for a very, very long time. But they do just store the awards, they only trade them for other objects from other museums.

[Bob]

Originally Posted by GabrielMk3

A lot emptier indeed... The governments museum here, hasn't been displaying proper awards for a very, very long time. But they do just store the awards, they only trade them for other objects from other museums.

I'd not be surprised - unfortunately - if quite some high end items in (our?) Mongolian collections were originally in museums and "slipped" out. Unfortunately there's also a murky side to collecting awards.

[medals73]

I think we need to be careful to distinguish things that were sold by the State Bank, more or less legitimately, and the "leakage" that has taken place from museums. The latter situation happens the world over, especially when systems of government collapse and greed rises to new levels of social acceptability, whereas the former is a peculiar Mongolian situation. There have also been a large number of items coming direct from families, mainly to fund the education of the next generations. There have also been a few cases of targeted robbery, remarkably similar to the similar common practice in the former USSR.

[Bob]

Originally Posted by medals73

OK, and this may be an individual value judgment, pick the three (3) rarest items here.

Guess: 8-1-2

Although actually my curiosity is also about nr 10 on right hand in back - could have an interesting story behind it:)

Difficult to judge this rarity... especially taking into account that many more were probably awarded than currently circulated (e.g. for the type 1 Polar Star). Regret not acquiring 1-2 more of the pre 1940 awards when I had the chance and they were still reasonably priced, but will treasure the one that I do have.

A dealer in Berlin has had 2 for sale for many many years but at a price level which leaves something to be desired.

[Lapa]

My pick is 8-1-3 (although 7 and 9 would probably be close contenders)

Marc

[medals73]

Agreeing with others who picked up on what was hiding, my choices were 8, 9 1. One partially for purposes of group reunification. (12 was slated to be the freebie, had the follow-up deal had the time to ferment.)