Order Of The Star.

[new world]

Order of Star -3rd class

[desantnik]

Have you seen the Russian-language book State Awards of Afghanistan, printed in Moscow in 1998? It is by Tisov and Shirshov.
PM me and I'll help you get a copy.

I bought several Afghan awards a few years back before a recent price hike I've noticed - like the Soviet stuff, their prices have exploded. On a dealer's website and elsewhere in Europe I've seen the third class of the Afghan star being OFFERED for in excess of $200. I honestly don't know if anyone has ever paid that price, however.

[Dolf]

Gentlemen,

Can you please help identifying a couple of Afghan Orders of Star?
I'm posting 3 pics for each, hope it helps.

Can you please also give your opinion about a reasonable price to pay for these Awards now?

Thanks a lot,

Dolf

And a close-up of the reverse of the same piece where a symbol is visible, I guess it's for the Class but I'm not sure what it means.

[Dolf]

Now the obverse of the second piece.

And now a close-up of the reverse of this second piece, again there is a symbol who probably may help identify the Class.

[desantnik]

Dolf - you're showing the Orders of the Star I and II Class. The gold-colored one is the I Class and the "gold-plated" center is the II Class. As you can guess, they were patterned after the Soviet Order of Glory series. I don't know if they were awarded in a sequential order or whether these were just classes of the awards. The marks on the back are true "Arabic" numerals for I and II.
Your I and II Classes are the type produced after 30 NOV 87 through '92 when things started going downhill and the Taliban took over. There is an earlier version of your two pieces awarded from 24 DEC 80 through 30 NOV 87 which looks essentially the same, but has an opened book at the bottom of the center design and a communist-type star at the top of the wreaths.

[Dolf]

Desantnik,

Thanks a lot for the prompt reply.

Do you have an idea of the current prices for these pieces?
I've seen a 3rd Class for sale on the site of that well known NJ dealer for $275, so I guess these ones should cost more, but couldn't find them anywhere to compare prices!

BTW, are the ribbons on my pics the correct ones for these pieces? I realize that the ribbon for the 1st Class is wrongly positioned, but apart from that are these the right ribbons?

Thanks again,

Dolf

[desantnik]

BTW, are the ribbons on my pics the correct ones for these pieces? I realize that the ribbon for the 1st Class is wrongly positioned, but apart from that are these the right ribbons?

The Afghan collecting market is not developed enough to tell you appropriate prices. Pay what your pain threshhold is. I've seen Afghan medals in the FSU and they were initially given away for nothing and now are "out of control." I've also heard reports from guys in Pakistan that you can buckets full of these Afghan awards. I don't know what the truth is.

As to your ribbons, from the pictures and samples I've seen the I Class ribbon is correct (even being "backward" or "wrongly positioned" from what you're used to on Soviet ribbons). The ribbon on the II Class is incorrect and I've usually only seen it on Afghan long service medals.

[Dat Nguyen]

Good Day to ALL,

Acquired a set of the Order of the Stars. Here are the data for this particular order:

Weight: 18, +/-0.5 g
Distance from tip to tip of star: 54.45, +/-0.02mm
Depth of hole in reverse: 1.77, +/-0.01mm
Base diameter of hole in reverse: 15.65 (difficult to measure)
Thickness of tips of star: 1.54, +/-0.02mm

Connecting link is soldered together and is also gold in color.

[Dat Nguyen]

Good Day to ALL,

Acquired a set of the Order of the Stars. Here are the data for this particular order:

Weight: 18, +/-0.5 g
Distance from tip to tip of star: 54.64, +/-0.02mm
Depth of hole in reverse: 1.38, +/-0.01mm
Base diameter of hole in reverse: 19.45mm (difficult to measure)
Thickness of tips of star: 1.44, +/-0.02mm

[Dat Nguyen]

Good Day to ALL,

Acquired a set of the Order of the Stars. Here are the data for this particular order:

Weight: 18, +/-0.5g
Distance from tip to tip of star: 54.16, +/-0.02mm
Depth of hole in reverse: 1.32, +/-0.01mm
Base diameter of hole in reverse: 16.35 (difficult to measure)
Thickness of tips of star: 1.60, +/-0.05mm

The connecting ring on top of this star and the 2nd Class listed above has been twisted

Here is my observation on the availability of the medals and orders at the 2 markets that I am lucky enough to have visited weekly.

With the exception of the long service medals, other medals/orders are rarely seen. Since I can't go out shopping without possibly becoming headless on a video clip, I have a few vendors bringing these medals/orders in for me. Took them 4 months to locate this set of the Order of the Stars. Additionally, almost all medals/orders are missing the hangers or have incorrect ribbons. Don't know why.

I'll be posting a few more pictures later on this week of more medals/orders.

v/r
Dat