Avers Series

[Nota Bene]

Shane,

You probably have the one, that was published before Avers-1, which I don't have.

Alexei

Originally posted by scook17
Alexei,

Four looks interesting, and is one I don't have. Does this cover soviet awards as well? BTW, my Avers #1 is an A4 sized paperback version, not a hardback as you have. I assume, therefore, there are at least two editions.

Kind Regards,
Shane Cook.

[Dave]

And the graddaddy of them all.... :) I think this is the one Shane is referring to. Now if the prices were ever like that in reality...

--Dave

[scook17]

Yes, Dave, I have this one. Makes for fun reading! If only I started collecting medals in 1993!

Kind Regards,
Shane Cook.

[Dave]

Shane-

I was in Russia collecting medals when I bought this copy of Avers in 1993. Unfortunately, the prices were never like those in the book (at least they weren't where I was!) It would have been nice though!!!!! :)

--Dave

[new world]

Friends,

The new Avers #6 book is out.

This issue looks very different from the previous ones - it went through the complete make-over and the quality - both of content and printing - is supposed to be improved dramatically.

Rumour has it that this issue was done with the ambition enough to become Russian equivalent of McDaniel's work.

As always with Avers books - it's also a price guide. As we all know previous editions suffered from listing unrealistically low prices. Well, this time they seem to have prices that are more or less in sync with the market realities

Author - V. D. Krivtzov

Published - 2003

Size - 430 pages
Printing run - 2100 copies

Price in Moscow - 2135 Rubles

Best regards,
William

As you can notice - quality is so much better that in the prior issues.

[HuliganRS]

The going rate in Russia is 2135 Roubles.
That's roughly $71 US.

This better be some book!!!

Rusty.

[kameli]

And in St. Petersburg the price is 2800 roubles !!! ( = something about 80 euros).


Jussi-pekka

[Kim]

Has anyone got a copy of the new AVERS? Perhaps a review could be possible...

/Kim

[Mark Signa]

ABERC #6
SOVIET ORDERS AND MEDALS

by V.Krivtsov, Moscow, 2003, text in Russian, 431 pages.

will buy and post some pictures.
Mark

[Kim]

Great Mark, post lots of pics! But I think that we are talking about the same book here: AVERS No:6.

I'm waiting for my very own copy. With a bit of luck and help from the russian postal system, and to a small extent the swedish, I hope to have my copy this week.


So I guess that I’m the first member of this forum to get a AVERS 6… Now that I have a copy I can write the review I asked for.

AVERS 6
Author: V.D. Krivtsov (ed.)

The bad things with this book are, as I see it:

• It’s all in Russian. This might come as a surprise to the authors, but Russian is not a language widely spread (like for example Swedish… ;) ).
  
  I miss photos of the documents that came with the order/medal. Now there are some photos, but mostly of the rarer type of “paper” (Ushakov medal, cavalier of the order of Glory etc.) This is not really bad because few collectors will ever see the rare documents live. But there is great variation when it comes to documents not just in medal-hard ware. Perhaps a AVERS 7 will deal with documents only? Or …
  
  Hidden serialnumbers. There are probably reasons to hide the number, protect the seller, owner etc.. But when you write a book I think you have to show information, not hide it. This is only done with high-end stuff, so I will never suffer from this lack of hidden information.
  

Now to the good sides of this book:

•  The photos are very good and plentiful. Quality is much better than “Orders of the Soviet republics” or “Medals of the USSR” (good books, but terrible photo quality).
   Medals and orders are shown with all(?) known variations.
   The Republican orders are all shown.
   Market prices on all variations. This is standard AVERS, but these prices are REALITY, or as close an avers book has ever come. A bit low, but to my knowledge very close to what you will have to pay. Although I would like to see a partisan medal document book for 7-12usd.
   Photos of fakes/copies. Perhaps it could have been more, but you always want more… :)
  

The one main thing I can’t judge is the text, as my Russian is close to non-existent. Perhaps someone of the forums Russian speakers could give a comment?

Now to the reason for writing a review: is it anything to spend money on? I say: Yes. It’s no McDaniel but has lots of images that is missing from the “Comprehensive guide”.

/Kim