+- The Soviet Military Awards Page Forum (https://soviet-awards.com/forum)
+-- Forum: Soviet Awards Forums (https://soviet-awards.com/forum/Forum-Soviet-Awards-Forums)
+--- Forum: General And Slightly Off Topic Talk (https://soviet-awards.com/forum/Forum-General-And-Slightly-Off-Topic-Talk)
+--- Thread: Damaged, Repair, Clean, Preserve Soviet Awards And Documents. (/Thread-Damaged-Repair-Clean-Preserve-Soviet-Awards-And-Documents)
Damaged, Repair, Clean, Preserve Soviet Awards And Documents. - UQWozza - 07-18-2012
This one is easy - I agree with the others - leave it alone.
It would be more difficult if there was only a small patch or two of corrosion. Generally then I clean those spots because they are "damaging" the medal.
I don't and won't clean to get a nice shiny medal. Patina is an important part of the story of the medal.
Simon
Damaged, Repair, Clean, Preserve Soviet Awards And Documents. - Esteban_cool - 07-18-2012
The only thing I would remove would be the verdigris of the reverse to avoid corrosion with some vinegar, to keep the rest of the patina.
I´d leave the rest as it is.
Damaged, Repair, Clean, Preserve Soviet Awards And Documents. - Pobeda45 - 07-18-2012
I surmise we take a much more careful approach than the veterans themselves ever took--so many vets polished their medals, wore them without regard to order of precedence, etc. But yeah, I preserve the heck out of them. Only soap and water.
Damaged, Repair, Clean, Preserve Soviet Awards And Documents. - Tommy - 07-19-2012
Thanks for all the replies everyone.
I'm gonna keep it as is :-)
The thing that surprised me the most is, depite the fact that it's rusty as sin, the pin on the back still works and the metal feels really strong. I have far newer medals with pins that fel much flimsier!
Tommy
Oh and one more thing.
Is this a Type 2 piece? Issued 47ish? The ring seems pretty U-shaped to me, even more so in real life.
Cheers
Damaged, Repair, Clean, Preserve Soviet Awards And Documents. - Pobeda45 - 07-19-2012
Here's a recent acquisition..research pending. Not broken, but definitely plenty of that salty factor. :thumbsup
George
Damaged, Repair, Clean, Preserve Soviet Awards And Documents. - Tommy - 07-19-2012
Love it!
Damaged, Repair, Clean, Preserve Soviet Awards And Documents. - Lützow - 08-21-2012
This is my first comment on this forum. For the record I've been collecting Soviet militaria since about 1990 when I was in Berlin.
I'd clean it up. This is not the condition in which the veteran would have worn this particular campaign medal, so why not make it look presentable?
Damaged, Repair, Clean, Preserve Soviet Awards And Documents. - Auke - 08-21-2012
I would leave it as is. I sometimes remove dirt from medals (like the stuff that often surrounds the OPW hammer and sickle), but other than that I don't touch them. I absolutely never replace ribbons or suspensions.
Damaged, Repair, Clean, Preserve Soviet Awards And Documents. - PaulR - 08-22-2012
Leave it alone.
Damaged, Repair, Clean, Preserve Soviet Awards And Documents. - CtahhR - 09-03-2012
Now returning tp the topic of Great War or earlier ground dug awards, I recently found this Austro-Hungarian War Medal Type 2 (For actions 1873-1901) for sale after being ground dug in Slovenia. As with all ground dug items the story is not certain but this was probably lost during "routine" rather than combat (although it is not impossible for it to be lost due to action), in the late 19th or earliest part of the 20th century.
This certainly wasn't "smashed up" to cash in as it cost me less than £2 delivered.