Here's my brief overview of the event:
Met several board members (Eugene, Vlad, Oleg, Alex and Alex, Dave and the honorary member Paul McDaniel. Some of these guys made some nice purchases that they should share and post... Paul was a super nice guy and I had the honor of discussing several topics that I was wondering about: New variations since the book, possibility of an update to the original and several private topics. He was kind and gave free opinions on whatever you would bring him!!!
As far as the dealers and inventories, I will not post names but you may e-mail me and I'll tell you who's who:
Dealer1: Had three interesting pieces: 1. Order of Kutuzov 1st Class on the suspension, 2. "Prototype" Order of Lenin. 3. "Unpublished Variation" Mirror reverse OGPW1. After speaking with several collectors and Paul I learned that the Kutuzov was a decent copy and wasn't made from gold. Lenin was a jeweler’s piece and the OGPW1 was one as well. This dealer has been on black list of several collectors as well as some dealers. Overall this dealer was defensive and rude.
Dealer2: Had a dozen of high-end stuff and several super nice groups. He had Ushakov 1, Nakhimov 1 & 2 and about 10 various 3rd class Orders. The prices were high but the pieces were premium. He was a pleasure to talk with and let Vlad and I hold and examine the Ushakov 1 as well as Nakhimov 1!!!! WoW, you can't appreciate the true beauty of these pieces until you hold them in your hand. His only request was: "Please don't drop them..." I took off my backpack and firmly stood my ground.
Dealer3: Had 2 Suvorov 1. Yes you read it correct. One was a single piece with a modified serial number hinting that the piece left its home in questionable manner. The second was a part of a group to a dual Suvorov 1 recipient. He wouldn't let me examine it but it's his purgative and I didn't hold it against him. He had a few pieces that were very reasonably priced. A board member picked up 2 Mirror Red Banner screwback and a Mondvor BoH for $700. He also had a RB4 for $450; the problem with this piece is it has outer 2 numbers scratched off. This was probably done by the recipient but it killed its value...
Dealer4: Had a Suvorov2 for $2,500. I almost called Erik to see if I should pick it up for him but then I noticed that the S/N looked wrong. I examined it closer and the back including the MM looked weird. I spoke with Paul regarding this piece and he said that the obverse on the piece was 100% authentic but the reverse was sandblasted to remove the S/N and a new one was engraved.
Dealer5: What a joke. Not a single authentic piece!!! And the prices were 2x more that any other dealer.
Various dealers had medals but the prices were too high for what they had i.e.: Red Star 4xx,xxx for $75.
If I missed something others members might chime in...
Rusty.
Met several board members (Eugene, Vlad, Oleg, Alex and Alex, Dave and the honorary member Paul McDaniel. Some of these guys made some nice purchases that they should share and post... Paul was a super nice guy and I had the honor of discussing several topics that I was wondering about: New variations since the book, possibility of an update to the original and several private topics. He was kind and gave free opinions on whatever you would bring him!!!
As far as the dealers and inventories, I will not post names but you may e-mail me and I'll tell you who's who:
Dealer1: Had three interesting pieces: 1. Order of Kutuzov 1st Class on the suspension, 2. "Prototype" Order of Lenin. 3. "Unpublished Variation" Mirror reverse OGPW1. After speaking with several collectors and Paul I learned that the Kutuzov was a decent copy and wasn't made from gold. Lenin was a jeweler’s piece and the OGPW1 was one as well. This dealer has been on black list of several collectors as well as some dealers. Overall this dealer was defensive and rude.
Dealer2: Had a dozen of high-end stuff and several super nice groups. He had Ushakov 1, Nakhimov 1 & 2 and about 10 various 3rd class Orders. The prices were high but the pieces were premium. He was a pleasure to talk with and let Vlad and I hold and examine the Ushakov 1 as well as Nakhimov 1!!!! WoW, you can't appreciate the true beauty of these pieces until you hold them in your hand. His only request was: "Please don't drop them..." I took off my backpack and firmly stood my ground.
Dealer3: Had 2 Suvorov 1. Yes you read it correct. One was a single piece with a modified serial number hinting that the piece left its home in questionable manner. The second was a part of a group to a dual Suvorov 1 recipient. He wouldn't let me examine it but it's his purgative and I didn't hold it against him. He had a few pieces that were very reasonably priced. A board member picked up 2 Mirror Red Banner screwback and a Mondvor BoH for $700. He also had a RB4 for $450; the problem with this piece is it has outer 2 numbers scratched off. This was probably done by the recipient but it killed its value...
Dealer4: Had a Suvorov2 for $2,500. I almost called Erik to see if I should pick it up for him but then I noticed that the S/N looked wrong. I examined it closer and the back including the MM looked weird. I spoke with Paul regarding this piece and he said that the obverse on the piece was 100% authentic but the reverse was sandblasted to remove the S/N and a new one was engraved.
Dealer5: What a joke. Not a single authentic piece!!! And the prices were 2x more that any other dealer.
Various dealers had medals but the prices were too high for what they had i.e.: Red Star 4xx,xxx for $75.
If I missed something others members might chime in...
Rusty.
"Be civil to all, sociable to many, familiar with few, friend to one, enemy to none." Benjamin Franklin
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Member #193
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Member #193
