What's up with Mongolian awards collecting?

[Pravda]

It seems like the Mongolian collecting scene has cooled down again. I am actually just getting back into collecting this genre right now.

The market has fewer commercial dealers, which might be the result of decreased supply and or demand. A well-known NJ dealer has an excellent and the largest commercial selection right now. We lost a gem when someone downed his site, which had spot on prices. There was a Ukrainian dealer, but his stock seems to have dried up. There are a fair amount of orders and medals on the popular auction sites.

Prices seem to be back down on commercial sites, especially from their highest point a few years back. Top awards are still listed for top prices. There is a Sukhbator for sale on an auction site for the beer $1500, but something looks off about it.

Cheers,
Will

[CtahhR]

There are a few points I'll raise here, they either have or haven't before but at least they'll all be together.

The first "boom" in Mongolian award collecting encompassed many purchasers (and I won't say collectors because they were speculating) who;

#1 thought Mongolia was an SSR of the USSR - it never was, not even nearly, Bulgaria was closer.
#2 thought Mongolia was still a People's Republic and things were "business as usual"
#3 thought post-1992 awards were still made of solid precious metals - they weren't.

It also must be remembered that many of the early dealers (in fact all the dealers) were only in it for the money. When the money went, so did they.

There are also those who have Mongolian items and do not know what they are, so when they try to offload them have no idea what they are offloading.

There are also more physical, real world, dealers in this area (still) and those that are online very frequently misrepresent their items for profit, they call it clickbait these days. I know a dealer (physical location) that will charge between £3 and £8 for a Japan Victory Medal - online dealers will probably want that for postage alone!

Mongolia is not a special case. This has and is happening all over the board. The "internet bubble" has taken far longer to reach militaria, but it did and although it didn't have the same burst, it is deflating.

What is rare will remain rare, what is common will remain common, almost all will continue to slowly fall in price. It will dawn on some quicker than others but that's the long and short of it.

There are some really beautiful pieces, some rather hastily botched together pieces and some pieces that it is difficult to understand the purpose of. All are valid, just not profitable.

[Pravda]

That is great insight. I had no idea that the early boom of Mongolian awards was driven by so much misinformation. I know that until getting the two books on the subject there was very little information on the subject. I feel like the Mongolian market was in some ways similar to the DPRK, which is also niche. That being said the Mongolian market benefits from mostly high-quality Soviet made items, with stunning design and manufacturing.

For history fans the Mongolian market also has WW2 history and great opportunities for crossover sets, Mongolian and Soviet. I am!! Trying to get more of these now. I still am a huge fan of these orders and medals, obviously! :). I hope to add more additions as prices slowly drop. There is a Uigurka Polar Star ona popular auction site right now and it is going to be interesting what price it goes for in a few days.

Please PM me any sellers you know of.

[Pravda]

It seems that prices have not dropped that low for Mongolian orders. There is a Order of the Polar Star, Type 2 “Uigurka” with a 3-digit serial that is on a popular auction site and currently at $450 with a day left. I would be willing to bet it sells closer to $550. Ironically there is an even nicer one on a popular NJ dealer’s site for about the same price.

[Pravda]

More thoughts on Polar Star prices. That “Uigurka” ended up selling for $455. I think this is a fair assessment of a fair market price. Screw backs are still selling in the $150-200 range and pinbacks should be below that. I did buy a documented pinback Polar Star awarded to a Soviet Air Force advisor for $200 last year. I thought the price was fair considering it was in mint condition as was the order and it is harder to find such awards to Soviets.

[Bob]

I believe things have quieted down because

a) there's much less supply coming out of Mongolia... partially because supply has dried up (after the boom 10 years ago or so when many collectors would be looking daily on ebay and Nota Bene)

b) long term (western) collectors with large collections have most of their collection complete... i know for me there's really only a few super high end items missing and those may only come on the market once every 10 years... of course i'll always get excited by a beautiful documented group or a nice screwback SB

c) collectors in Russia have come on as a parallel destination resulting in things quieting down

d) frankly speaking, there's just a lot less to collect (small country, limited nr of awards, low mfg runs, and also limited nr of collectors)

e) another internet forum has done a very thorough job at documenting an immense amount of details about evey major mongolian award... as a result, progress in that area will more than likely be relatively slow going forward

I still love my collection and look forward to expanding it

[charlet]

Hello, is this forum westerner or russian?

[Bob]

To add, I just found a 'new' online dealer with some interesting Mongolian items. PM for info.

[Pravda]

Bob,

This is great news! PM sent!

Cheers,
Will

[Bob]

Originally Posted by Pravda

Bob,

This is great news! PM sent!

Cheers,
Will

Reply sent, also to others

There's one really special item for sale but it's just a document so may not interest all here. Very rare document though.