Honorary Title "Meritorious Teacher Of The Uzbek SSR".

[Keith]

Honored Teacher of Uzbek SSR

[CtahhR]

Here is the Honorary Title "Meritorious Teacher Of The Uzbek SSR" ("Хизмат Кўрсатган Ўкитувчи" / "Заслуженный Учитель". Although officially established on 16th February 1940, they were not produced and awarded for decades due to the outbreak of war.

This is #0186 with a stamped serial number (Uzbek SSR titles can have either stamped or engraved serial numbers depending on period) made at the Leningrad Mint.

[charlet]

Gents, are you aware of variations about this family of medals? Or do you know a reference book about republican titles?
I've seen a meritorious medal of an unknown kind, and it doesn't seems to be a fake.

[CtahhR]

Show your example(s) and I'm sure you'll get some input.

Almost all of the Uz/Kk items I have posted came directly from Nukus. Not a place known for producing fakes or anything else. I have plenty more examples in the collection but what is the point sharing images of them if no-one else is?

I am still trying to obtain the last title to complete the set.

[charlet]

Here are the pictures!

As you can see, same medal but goldened, and a totally different suspension, looks like an earlier version.
This medal is widely avalaible in Russia, and gold-plating it doesn't seem really profitable. The suspension could have been changed, but it odesn't look too cheap.

So I believe it is a real challenge to authentificate!

[CtahhR]

The suspension is a replacement and I believe the gold plating is an "upgrade". The serial number is as it should be. Naked it would probably sell for about $10-$15 but with a matching Document, even with the "post-issue" additions, considerably more.

[charlet]

What is puzzling is that this is a rather serious dealer, and pkating such a common unissued medal is not profitable.

[CtahhR]

There is always one quirky item on any dealer's record. I do not know a single dealer in militaria that has not at one point (innocently or deliberately) offered a "dodgy" item. Sometimes it is the thin end of the wedge, the dealer abusing their reputation to sell more bad items - sometimes it is a very honest mistake. There are tens of thousands of different awards out there and we have all made mistakes.

The longer we play this game, like chess, the more moves we see.

If I remember correctly, this Title was the most common of all of those awarded by the UzSSR. Awarded for long service or outstanding single merit to the educational system. Certainly not a big ticket item - but I have seen people fake Soviet Medals "Veteran Of Labour" so anything and everything is up for some sort of foolishness.

I'd buy this piece for around $5, but I certainly wouldn't be claiming that it was a rare variant or such, just tampered with.