Ebay jokes

[dannybou]

Oh please, what will they think up next!!

[Tal Inbar]

$ 46.00 was final bid and the lot was sold....

[Chuck In Oregon]

When I got my medal in Georgia in 2003, I spoke to the Deputy Head of the Chancellery for a while. We discussed my collection of Soviet orders, medals and badges. He excused himself for a minute and came back with a small box of 5-6 Labor Veteran badges which he gave to me, saying "I've never known what to do with these until today."

Yeah, too bad they weren't HSLs or something, but the price was right. I'd love to sell them for $10 each, though, just like I'd like to be able to sell Military Construction badges for $20. $10? Don't think it's gonna happen any time soon, though. Takes more guts than I've got to ask those kinds of prices. Maybe I should move to Brazil? Nah, I'm a cool-weather kind of guy.

Chuck In Oregon
Currently, Chuck In Tbilisi

[HuliganRS]

This is it!

[Dolf]

This is it!

Rusty,

A fake?!... :confused:

Dolf

[kabanchik]

Didn't they used to put these in boxes of Cracker Jacks?? :confused:

[HuliganRS]

I believe this to be a fantasy piece so I'll put it here...

Sellers description:

This is exceptionally rare award.

NKVD medal “For excellent shooting” is an experimental issue which was manufactured in a very small number – around two hundred. However this medal was not approved by the relevant Committee and its introduction never happened. The manufactured medals nevertheless were not destroyed and kept in the “Mondvor”.

The medal is 33mm in diameter and 2mm thick.

We set low starting price for this auction but reserve the right to stop the auction is serious offer will be made.

[Chuck In Oregon]

One of the themes I collect (but have been thinking about giving up) is Soviet and Tsarist shooting medals, badges and documents. I claim no particular expertise, but this one certainly raises some questions about authenticity. I wouldn't buy it as an authentic piece but, if it was cheap enough, it would be interesting to have in my collection. If it's silver, it's someting I might pay $20 for. It just looks kind of silly to me.

BTW, which "relevant committee" do you think might have authorized 200 pieces, then passed? My experience with patterns is very limited, but I have never encountered 200 examples of the same unapproved pattern of anything. My experience has been of one or two pieces of variations on a theme, just to compare and contrast versions and designs.

Pattern awards are an interesting field but who knows what lurks out there? I have one Georgian pattern badge, but not for shooting, with an excellent provenance. If can't get some reassuring background, at least, people can call anything a pattern piece.

Chuck In Oregon
Currently, Chuck In Tbilisi

[Nota Bene]

Chuck,

Good point. 200 pattern medals is completely ridiculous!

Alexei

[new world]

Just saw this on eBay. Someone's selling printout of famous Russian Mondvor site (http://www.mondvor.narod.ru) for $50, claiming to have permission of one of the Authors. Why would anyone pay $50 if you can view the site anytime for free, including updates?

Description:

"Orders and Medals of the USSR by Andrew Kuznetsov and Igor Pak (Book)

This book is the printed version of the website “Orders and Medals of the USSR.”

This book contains all known variations of the Orders and Medals of the USSR as well as all variations of their documents. It showcases hundreds of photographs of orders, medals and documents, as well as insightful descriptions which fully illuminate the item’s history in full detail.

Features:

This book contains 655 two-sided color pages.

Book size is 8.5*11 inches.

GBC Bind.

The book is in Russian.

Only 5 examples of this book have been printed.

This book has been printed with the permission of the author Andrew Kuznetsov. "