Jubilee Medal "40 Years Of The Armed Forces Of The U.S.S.R.".

[otlichnik]

Just one more comment. Yes, the chance for screw-ups and mistakes was there, especially in the Raivonkoms.

BUT, any error, such as a lack of stamp or signature, or a very odd date should always be a "red flag" - a warning of a POTENTIAL problem.

It should make you check and re-check the entire document, award and/or group with greater care.

If there are other suspicious things - other "red flags" such as a poor medal strike, the wrong feel of paper, a bad stamp or suspicious stamp, etc. then beware the item.

If on the other hand everything else looks good then it may well be a simple error.

What I am trying to say is that while errors do exist, especially in the huge Soviet system, sometimes it will still be a fake or altered item and we can not just ignore the error because some are genuine. Always be vigilant.

Take the un-numbered, but otherwise filled in and aged NKVD and KGB badge award documents. They look so good that I acepted the first few I saw as genuine errors. Then I saw more and more, and began to look closer. Now it is clear that every one of the un-numbered NKVD and KGB award documents is fake.

Luckily, on medal docments the news is not quite that bad.

Shawn

[Christophe]

Shawn,

Many thanks for your comments.
I should have precised in this thread - it's obviously clearer in those posted in "Paper items", that my point was concerning Medal Documents only (I'm modestly not collecting badges, or badges award documents... maybe later...).
About Medal Documents, it would be interesting to have a view of the proportion of "un-compliant" stamped or signed docs. I have the feeling they are quite rare, at least for the common ones...

Ch.

[CtahhR]

Here is an 11th August 1958 dated document. Awarded to Lieutenant Zauri Iosifovich Hatiashvili (Заури Иосифович Хатиашвили) by Military Unit 40310 (409th Motor-Rifle Regiment, 147th Motor-Rifle Division based in Axalkalaki GSSR).

[Bill Garvy]

[SIZE="3"]Document for the Medal for the 40th Anniversary of the Soviet Armed Forces awarded to Nikolai Fedorovich Kalchuk, July 9th, 1958 by Military Unit 10758 and signed by Major-General Kovalenko.

Document for the Medal for the 40th Anniversary of the Soviet Armed Forces awarded to Technical Services Major Nikolai Ignat'evich Laletin on December 1st, 1956 by the Commander of Military Unit 61798, Guards Major-General of Artillery and Hero of the Soviet Union (#5616), Nikolai Grigor'evich Ushakov.[/SIZE]

[CtahhR]

Military Unit 10758 was the 33rd Naval Air Training Centre that was based in Mykolaiv in Ukraine.

[Bill Garvy]

[SIZE="3"]- Document for the Medal for the 40th Anniversary of the Soviet Armed Forces award to Major Konstantin Stepanovich Hudoteplov dated June 25th, 1958 and signed by the Commander of Military Unit 60833, Colonel Kobyakov.

- Document for the Medal for the 40th Anniversary of the Soviet Armed Forces awarded to Captain, Medical Services, Ivan Ivanovich Shevchenko, dated November, 1958, by Military Unit 42072.

Document for the Medal for the 40th Anniversary of the Soviet Armed Forces awarded to Major, later Lieutenant Colonel, Vyacheslav Fedorovich Perov of the Medical Service dated November 6th, 1958 and signed by the Head of Military Hospital #378, Colonel Medical Service Lazarev.[/SIZE]

[CtahhR]

Military Unit 60833 was 52nd Guards Tank Regiment, Group Of Soviet Forces In Germany.

Military Unit 42072 was 810th Training Aviation Regiment, Har'hov Higher Military Aviation School For Pilots Named Twice Hero Of The Soviet Union S. I. Gritsevts.

[Bill Garvy]

[SIZE="3"]Document for the Medal for the 40th Anniversary of the Soviet Armed Forces issued to Senior Lieutenant Ivan Nikolaevich Zemlyanski dated July 31st, 1958 and signed by the Commander of Military Unit 08374.

Document for the Medal for the 40th Anniversary of the Soviet Armed Forces issued to Ivan Mikailovich Volkov dated April 30th, 1958 by the Commander of Military Unit 11587 Lieutenant Colonel Smirnov.

Document for the Medal for the 40th Anniversary of the Soviet Armed Forces issued to Lieutenant Colonel (Medical Service) Timofeiy Markelovich Zezyulin dated July, 1958 by the Commander of Military Unit 57949, Lieutenant General Belik.[/SIZE]

[CtahhR]

08374 is Harbarovsk military region. At the time they had a serious tuberculosis problem.

[Bill Garvy]

Document for the Medal 40th Anniversary of the Soviet Armed Forces issued to Mikhail Konstantinovich Lazurenko dated April 8th, 1958 by the Minister of Defense of the USSR (Министр обороны СССР), Marshall & Twice Hero of the Soviet Union (#49 & #9041), Rodion Yakovlebich Malinkovsky