The 100% positive feedback is often very deceptive. There are a good number of pedallers of fakes in Ukraine, Lithuania, etc that are very well known for their fakes but still continue to offer 1,000,000% real items to those willing to believe they can consistently purchase items from them year in, year out for under market value. Ignorance is bliss.
In collecting these items we must always be receptive to learning.
If a Soviet Soldier received 4 campaign Medals it is almost certain they will be found on Podvignaroda.ru Then when the documents match up to the information on the citations a little bit of suspicion can be removed. "The site" can offer great insights into items we had little idea of their historical importance or contrastingly expose our susceptibility to fakes.
Many times I have been promised I have obtained a "complete group" only to find that the "top end" has already gone walkabout. Then again I've learnt my lesson and always check!
The documents may indeed be authentic and all the awards coincide with entries either on an Award Card or on podvignaroda, however, that being said, I don't think there is any way to determine with any degree of scientific certainty if those unnumbered medals were issued/awarded to that individual, or accompanied these authentic documents. Many, if not all, of the unnumbered medal/document sets are "put-together", or "value added"; no judgement meant or implied, only an opinionated observation. Best case scenario would be possibly mismatched but authentic medals with authentic documents; worse case scenario, authentic documents/reproduction medals.
Unfortunately I believe there are even the scenarios of fake medals/fictional entries/authentic documents, fake medals/fake documents/factual entries and fake medals/fake documents/fictional entries.
I have seen cases of real awards being sold with real award documents with factual entries - but the documents only filled in "to order" by the dealer very recently. Fortunately there can be tell tale signs for us in this scenario. Usually the seller repeatedly offers the same set month in month out, with slight differences in the hand in which the information is written but more helpfully using the wrong pen or as I have seen in once case - offering two variations of the same "made to order" factually accurate, authentic document sets at the very same time.
There are some really industrial fakers out there. They love "KGB", "NKVD", "SMERSH" and other buzz terms.
I also think it has been too long since anyone mentioned the "black light". That is also a good test on older pieces.
I can't understand how its worth the effort to make a quality fake medal + fake document when you're selling it for only $10-20 a pop. I'm no expert but I feel like if I were going to pedal fakes, I'd go for something with a higher profit margin than a CoB with over a million awarded. I guess there's money in it though, if people are indeed doing it.
As with the two Liberation medals in the other thread, I've tried to make new scans of this Königsberg. I have several concerns with this one, first with the seemingly inconsistent thickness of the rim. Also, the suspension to me seems to be in far too good of a shape to be ~70 years old. Does anything else stand out to you all?
The medal is unquestionably fake. In addition to the rim and lack of wear, the letters are all too "chunky."
The doc is interesting and at first glance could be real, but I'd want to see a better scan. Notice how the medal's image runs into the top line of text. This is a possible, contemporary printing error making it all the rarer, but also the mark of a modern printer reproducing old documents and not getting it right.
I'm ambivalent too. The serial number is correct for the Georgian SSR at that time (A real document only 78 digits off can be found here - http://soviet-awards.com/forum/soviet-mi...post291396) but that doesn't alter the fact that it could be a copy rather than a completely made up fake.
Based solely on your photographs, I am of the opinion your Medal for the Capture of Berlin is authentic. The ribbon looks to have been replaced, but this is/was a common practice.
