Red Max,
finally, over a year after your initial inquiry, here is a picture of the Medal for the 50th Anniversary of the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War awarded to participants from the USSR. This badge must be rare because of the age of the International Brigade volunteers in 1989.
The article states "The badge is almost identical in design to the 1966 badge, but it was struck in bronze and has a bright finish. Moreover, the "50" filled in red was added to the bottom of the obverse of the pendant, and the grid lines of the globe are raised..."
I've had my badge since '99 and bought if for next to nothing. I can't see why anyone would have forged it. I've wondered about the irregularity and presence of the blue finish (see my photo above). It is definitely bronze, however.
I can't tell by the photo color from what metal your badge was struck. If it is anything, but "heavy" bronze I'd be suspect.
As the article states, there were only 98 veterans living when this badge came out. I can't see a whole bunch of room for variations, so I'm inclined to think one of us has a real sample, but not both.
I am not convinced by the figures you stated earlier. I know for a fact that some non-soviet veterans received some of these badges (especially French communists). IMHO, it was most likely awarded in a broader manner than simply to the Soviet veterans.
This may be (one of) the key factor(s) about this badge.
I've read that a lot of those Soviet veterans of the Spanish Civil War didn't make it out of the 1930's: they were very, very heavily purged upon their return. That would probably also include those Comintern foreigners who came to the Soviet Union in the mid/late 30's after service in Spain.
There would be more chance of people within Spain being awarded post-Franco but most of the Spanish Nationalists were dispersed. It is most likely that a Spanish dealer/collector imported this to Spain due to its historical importance to that nation. The open market will cause all sorts of items to travel all over the world and without supporting documentation the best we can do is speculate.
