Fake Guarding the State Border Medals

[Nota Bene]

I can't see any obvious problems with this medal but better (larger and higher res) scans are needed.

Alexei

[Lapa]

KDVR,

I keep liking what I see, but as Alexei mentioned, we need to see more.

Marc

[KDVR]

Better pictures - please send me your opinion. THANK YOU!

The medal was bought in the 90ies.

[deValcourt]

OK guys - I know this is post-Soviet, allegedly early edition (1992?), but could anybody help here? I am totally lost when it comes to these and the Public Order medals - either pre- or post-1991. The seller will give me all the time I need to authenticate it if I buy it (so he says). Anyway, the shots are his, so I can't do much in the way of enhancing them. Just give me your opinions and that is all I ask for now. If I buy it, you will see it again before I decide to keep it. (There are more pics from different angles following these.)
Many thanks in advance,
Phillip

My problem is his left boot. It seems awfully close to the edge if not on it.

[Lapa]

Better pictures - please send me your opinion. THANK YOU!

The medal was bought in the 90ies.

KDVR,

I like your medal :thumbsup

Marc

Phillip,

IMHO, there are a lot of small details that are off both on the front and on the back. My gut feeling is :thumbsdown

Marc

[Nota Bene]

I am not so sure about Phillip's medal. Gut feeling says ask for better pictures :)

Alexei

[deValcourt]

Here's a scary thing - not just for this medal, but for others as well. We all know that there are some really good fakes out there of the Guarding the State Border Medal and the Protecting Public Order Medal. But this is the first time I've seen one this close to the real thing. I had a very ugly space-filler that cost me about $10. Then I was lucky enough to get the real thing (on display here): http://www.soviet-awards.com/forum/sovie...ds-80.html

Since the real one in the display was not in my very large framed general display anymore, and I noticed a "restrike" for $20, I bought it as a better looking space filler. I got it yesterday and it was so clean that I had to break out the authentic one to look for differences. The upshot of all this is that I only noticed a few "watermarks" missing and they could only be seen very up-close or magnified.

What worries me here is that when replicas, restrikes and just plain fakes get this good, someone less scrupulous might try to turn around and sell it as authentic and probably get way more than $20 for it.:mad:

The first one pictured is just the obverse of the first really bad fake. Then the restrike, and finally the real thing.

Phillip

[deValcourt]

Fake reverse, then authentic obverse and reverse. The most obvious thing to me that is missing from the restrike is the "texture" between the stripes on the border marker, but look at how closely the state emblem look to each other in repro and original.

The boot even touches the edge like it should. The face, collar tab and details of the submachinegun, hands and even the suspension ring look very close (though it may be hard to tell from my photos). Not necessarily a good thing, as I said above. Another mistake on the reproduction is that the rim of the real medal is flat, whereas the copy has a rounded edge on the rim. It might fool even an intermediate level collector (whatever "intermediate" means).

I now understand why Alexei said he will not authenticate using only photos. I had to hold them both to see the minor differences.

I know they are a little dark, but I'm still trying not to use a flash...:(

Phillip

[deValcourt]

The seller even did me the kindness of including a Umalatova signed document (with that "loopy" signature I'm always going on about):rolleyes: If somebody with decent Russian script wrote in a name, then we are looking at a potential major scam for the uninitiated.:mad:

Phillip

[Lapa]

Phillip,

I guess you start understanding why we are always requesting hi-res scans or pictures. The Devil is in the micro-details these days...

Marc