I also have that same style box with one of my Lenin's. Strange they didn't include some sort of nice insert, similar to the other higher awards. I'm wondering if they were ever in better boxes, then post-war when everything cheapened up a little went to these? My set with this type of box dates from the 1950's, what is yours?
I am sure they must have had other boxes as well, and I don't know when exactly they started using these, but I know that they were used at least from 1942 till 1957. I have had documented Lenins from those dates with names of the recipients tyiped on a strip of paper, glued to the side of the box.
Those boxes were mass produced in the SU to store cheap "zhachki" - pins (which this box was used for - just look at the picture).
The numbers of these cheap boxes made are probably in millions, so I am not surprised that many dealers use them. It's just like us using plastic pocket sleeves to store medals - you see many medals sold in those plastic packages and no one says they originally came with the awards.
Quite a few years ago I would regularly see Dmitri Markhov at the Meadowlands Militari Show in New Jrsey, where I would sometimes aquire an item from him. At one of the shows I commented that I had never seen any Soviet Orders or medals being offered in their original cases or boxes. In fact, I had no idea what the cases might even look like. Dmitri replied that there was no special signifigance atached to the boxes, and as a result they were not generally saved. At the next show, when I reached Dmitri's tables, he reached underneath the table and took out the small red box with the canvas-style covering, white interior, and no insert. He handed this to me and told me that this was the presentation box for virtually any Soviet award of signifigance. I asked him what had happened to the insert which I was sure must have been present at one time to receive the medal. Dmitri explained that there were no inserts; the box was used without any insert at all. So as of perhpas 10 years ago that was the information that I received from Dmitri on award boxes (By the way, when he handed me the box at that show it was not simply to show me an example; he was giving it to me as a gift).
