12-15-2007, 04:46 AM (This post was last modified: 12-15-2007, 04:53 AM by MyEyeSpy.)
Greetings,
At one point Stalin ordered concepts & prototypes for epaultes & neck medal. All the types of the medal had diamonds in it & the epaulets looked quite a lot like marshal boards but with epaulets. Don't recall if the medal was the order of victory, but I am looking for the images of all the prototype concepts.
Lost the images along with much more in a HD crash. I have tried searching for them but can't find them. Anyone who can point me in the right direction?
Hello MyEyeSpy and welcome to the forum.
Do you speak about the marshal star? If this is the case, this was not a prototype.
If I remember correctly, Igor had one for sale at one point.
I am not aware of such prototype that you describe, but I am sure our experts here will be able to answer you and educate us.
From Wikipedia
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The Marshal's Star (Russian: Mаршальская Звезда) is an additional badge of rank worn by marshals of the armed forces of the USSR, and subsequently the Russian Federation. It is a five-pointed star made of gold and platinum and set with diamonds, and is worn around neck when in parade uniform (originally under the collar of the parade tunic, since 1955 on top of the necktie).
The official name, size and number of diamonds correspond to the marshal rank's seniority.
Marshal's stars were first awarded to Marshals of the Soviet Union and Admirals of the Fleet of the Soviet Union. In time, smaller stars were awarded to "Marshals of an Arm of Service" and "Chief Marshals of an Arm of Service", Admirals of the Fleet and (later) Generals of the Army.
Here are photos of the star (without the neck ribbon)
The one with many diamonds is for Marshal of Soviet Union rank while the other is for Marshal of a 'branch of army' (artillery, aviation, etc..) the color of the neck ribbon was different depending on the branch.
The Marshal of Soviet Union Star was established by a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of USSR on 2 September 1940.
The Marshal (of a branch of Army) Star was established by a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of USSR on 27 February 1943.
I am not sure if I can post a photo from Igor's website, but he currently have an original neck ribbon and gold clasp for an Air Force marshal from the 1980s... price for the ribbon (without the star) is $4,500 if you are interested! :D
Did you search the forum for what you are looking for? I remember that some time ago we discussed a small book about Marshal stars that came out about 2002. I showed all the known prototypes, among other things.
I did search but came up short, must have used wrong set of keywords.
Know the name of the book/author/publisher or where one can get ahold of it? Still in print?
DougD, that is an amazing collection, breathtaking. It was not what I was looking for & saw before, but even better in most aspects :D Most appreciated. Many thanks for sharing!
What I was looking for I believe is what can be found in the book you refer to Lapa, as well as the epaulets & uniform kliment linked to, but more & higher res photos as well as different models/designs of them.
