Damaged, Repair, Clean, Preserve Soviet Awards And Documents.

[matteti]

Hello fellow members,
I have a bunch of banknotes, stamps, gramota and other certificates, ID documents, photos, obligatya, loto tickets, travellers cheques that I would like to organize into binders photo album. I need binders because I need to be able to customize it as I need. I will need to mix pages that have a single large pocket for big document, with pages that have 3 horizontal pockets (for banknotes for example) and with other pages that have 4 pockets for ID paper or booklet, etc..

It is not easy to find a supplier that offer lot of flexibility with the page layout. Also, size format of the page needs to be standard so I can easily find binders for it. I found A4 pages in UK, but here in North America, it's almost impossible to find such binders.

So, I finally found a website (LINDNER) which has 12 different pages layouts.

Those are the "uniplate" stock sheets for 3-ring binders found in this page.
Multi-Purpose Albums

They say "Of course, UNIPLATE stock sheets are made of the highest quality material - Hard-PVC which is 100% free of any chemical softeners."

I am not knowledgeable in term of materials and I learned that PVC is not good. But when doing more research on internet (Wikipedia), I found that PVC was bad because of "phtalates" or plastifiers that were added to it to make it softer. Therefore, unplastified PVC or "hard PVC" like they say here seems to be better.

At the price they sell their sheets, it seems to be of good quality and they must know what they are doing. I mean, I guess their material is safe since it's made for stamps and other fragile documents.

But I would like to get member's opinions here. If you know this topic, I would like to learn more before making a purchase.

I emailed LINDNER and they told me this:

[INDENT]Many people are misinformed about PVC. Most of Lindner and other stamp products are made of PVC. Rigid PVC is inert and will not react with other products. Trajan publishing who produce Canadian Stamp News and Canadian Coin News. Are running an article on PVC to clear the air on this.[/INDENT]

If someone has access to that article from Trajan, please email it to me at [email protected]

I have really no knowledge in plastics and materials, but I find what they say make sense. Does it?

[Art]

I would not put anything into PVC that I wanted to seriously archive. Go to Google and type in "PVC archive". Read some of the results. Mylar-D is the only plastic that I'm aware of that is chemically stable. The rest all give off a gas over time which transfers onto your paper. Mylar-D costs more, but you get what you pay for.

[UQWozza]

Just a quick note to throw in my 10 cents worth.

The local state museum had a conservation "open-day' recently which I attended. I took some of my soviet paper ephemera with me to get ideas on the best way to preserve them.

They generally agreed with what Art said in the second (and also in his latest) post in this thread. They recommended the following:

ProLong Archival Products® (ProLong®)

ProLong® was developed in response to customers requests for a range of archival-quality products produced to the highest-possible
standards but available at realistic and affordable prices.

ProLong only offers the finest in archival-quality products and includes an extensive array of paper and office products, a wide choice of document and photographic storage solutions, as well as a range of striking hand-made photographic and presentation products. Everything manufactured to the highest archival-quality standards.

Many of the products in the ProLongOffice, ProLongPaper and ProLongStorage collections feature the ProLong500year range of paper, folder-board and corrugated-board. These products, produced by ProLong to the stringent specifications of National Archives of Australia, are alkaline and made from the highest-grade lignin-free pulp with the strength to withstand high-speed office processes. These papers are manufactured so that they retain chemical stability and physical strength - properties required for any Government record which is required to be retained over long periods of time.

The ‘Archival Quality’ Trademark scheme is an initiative of the National Archives of Australia. The term ‘Archival Quality’ in this context refers to a product with a level of chemical stability and physical strength such that it will survive for long periods and cope with a high level of handling. The ProLong 500year paper, folders and boxes are proudly endorsed by the National Archives of Australia and tested for 500-year permanency under archival storage conditions (low light, stable temperature and low humidity).

The document enclosures in the range are made from Mylar-D. The local museum staff STRONGLY suggested that PVC enclosures shoul NEVER be used for long-term storage.

I realise that this is generally Australia-centric information but the general principles are same wherever you are.

The other thing the local state museum staff suggested was that anyone wanting to carry out long-term storage at home should contact local people to get storage conditions right. Thus, for example, if you live in a tropical climate like I do then storage conditions are different compared to a temperate climate.

You can get some further information on the following web site:

Conservation Resources

Hope this is of use.

Simon

[Eryk]

Not coming from a collecting background I don't have a lot of experience with such things. But I notice that in coins, for example, condition makes a huge difference in cost. Huge - a coin can go from a few tens of dollars to hundreds or even thousands based on a couple of grades.

I don't think I see the same thing in awards. Partially explained I guess by the history; my collection is largely about the reasons the awards were given rather than the awards themselves. But is that it? I guess my question is why doesn't condition appear to greatly impact price in this hobby? Or does it, and I just haven't noticed?

[Greg Collins]

Though not as experienced as many collectors here, I believe I can offer some insight regarding condition vs value when it comes to ODM's.

For those medals, badges, etc. that do not have serial numbers: the piece that is in the better, original condition will be worth more than the piece of the same type/variant will be. Remember that any change to the original issue of the piece (resoldering, changing the mount or ribbon) will negatively affect the worth of the item.

For those ODM's that do have a serial number, and keeping the above in mind, the lower serial number (and, perhaps, earlier type/variant) of the same award will command the greater worth, even though the earlier piece may exhibit more evident normal wear-and-tear. So, say you have a Type 3, Variant 2 of the Red Banner of Labour with a dirty ribbon and slight crack in the enamel of the star and the same order in a Type 5, Variant 1 that is virtually mint... the Type 3 will be worth more. Now, if the Type 3 were completely trashed and, say, the serial number had been ground off, then the Type 5 would surpass it in value.

Also, and as with coins, the fewer made- the greater the value.

Hope this helps.

[jefflgarrison]

Although, certain numbers of certain awards are considered "valuable" due to what possibly was happening at the time.

Example, ORB's and ORS's during the Hungarian Uprising, Czechoslovakia's Velvet Revolution or Afghanistan War.

Numbers on the high end are considered very valuable as well.

[EricFG]

IMHO condition makes a big difference in price.
Maybe not so much as in high-grade coins, but coin collectors have their own, very specific, grading system.

[Sanzotta]

Very useful topic.

When looking for a source for Mylar D, I came across a few sites that stated Mylar D is no longer being produced and the sites were recommending Mellinex 516. Some stated they held limited stocks but others did not so there appears to be a chance you can still get Mylar D. Just a FYI. See below:

Mylar™ D & Mellinex 516 (Meets USG Spec: L-P-00670B and L-P-375)

Mylar D® and Melinex ® are high clarity archival polyester film which are inert, chemically stable materials with a variety of long archival storage applications. These applications include document encapsulation, textile storage, photo & negative sleeves and other long term storage applications.

Note: Mylar D® is no longer manufactured and has been substituted with Melinex 516®

[matteti]

I have a weird question... why do we see many orders/medals with replaced connecting ring even though often everything else is original?

I've seen several PMD certificates attesting that everyting on an item was original but the connecting ring. Why was it replaced? :confused:

[Kirchgoens]

The most common reason is that these awards, at the source in the former Soviet Union, are very, very often stripped from the suspension. That is often done with a rapid twisting motion that somewhat damages the suspension and immediately breaks the soldered joint on the ring. I've personally seen it happen with stuff that had just been brought from Andijan. I wanted a brass suspension; before I could say a word, the guy just rips the dist. labor medal off a brass suspension, breaking the link before my eyes. Why do they do this routinely? To reduce weight and bulk when moving the stuff around. It helps these guys hide the stuff so they don't get rolled by local cops and picked up by customs.

The other fairly common reason is that the soldered joints simply break over time as they wear, and also the rings themselves wear through. I've got several that are so delicate from wear that they'd break with a simple pull because they've become so thin. Pardon the cliche, but after the ribbon, this is the weak link over time on a medal.

Getting the links replaced is a little tough because you'd need to find a small silver ring and then a jeweler/silversmith who can make the soldered joint without overheating the medal to the point that the enamel is damaged. This process can also sometimes "burn" the patina off if your silversmith is not very careful. Patina for many is a really big deal (although we often forget that veterans liked to polish their medals out of pride, and we like then tarnished because they look "old").