Medal "For Demining Palmyra".

[Tal Inbar]

New medal. It was such a SMALL battle - I wonder why they issued a medal.

The medal on a Russian soldier:

[desantnik]

To be fair, the medal refers to demining the city, not a battle for it.

[CtahhR]

Here is the Medal "For Demining Palmyra" (Медаль «За Разминирование Пальмиры») which was created by Order #277 of the Ministry Of Defence on 16th May 2016.

I have been told on very good authority that this Medal has been created with a special order from the Ministry that the mint does not create more than was ordered. The Ministry obviously finds this Medal to have special significance and does not want the Medal to be cheapened. The original production run was short and there are already fakes on the market.

This original piece made it into the collection within 44 days - not a bad time. I wouldn't like to be tasked with finding another!

[CtahhR]

Unsurprisingly fakes of this Medal have been selling like hotcakes on ebay in the $30-$60 price range. Some collectors must be fooling themselves into thinking they've got a great deal but the fakes are very obvious.

No mint mark - not real.

I spoke with the seller and he simply said "other Moscow factory". Might as well say "Baltic mint".