07-22-2004, 01:21 AM
Art,
We should probably continue this in another thread, but, yes, that's correct. We now know that mints never produced those copies and hence they were never officially (by the central Government) authorised and presented to the HSUs. At the same time I have seen two copies, one with minor and the other with significant wear and patina. Both were goldplated (gold partly worn on both) and both were stamped, not hand made by some local goldsmith or handy man. This of course requires fairly sofisticated production facilities, that in the Soviet times could not have been in private hands. So somewhere, somehow somebody must have authorized those copies to be made for every day wear. I personally know a HSU and a famous writer, who had shown me his copy, and said that they (meaning HSUs) were able to obtain them. Unfortunately it was not appropriate to ask more questions at the time. So I guess the research still continues, at least for me.
Alexei
We should probably continue this in another thread, but, yes, that's correct. We now know that mints never produced those copies and hence they were never officially (by the central Government) authorised and presented to the HSUs. At the same time I have seen two copies, one with minor and the other with significant wear and patina. Both were goldplated (gold partly worn on both) and both were stamped, not hand made by some local goldsmith or handy man. This of course requires fairly sofisticated production facilities, that in the Soviet times could not have been in private hands. So somewhere, somehow somebody must have authorized those copies to be made for every day wear. I personally know a HSU and a famous writer, who had shown me his copy, and said that they (meaning HSUs) were able to obtain them. Unfortunately it was not appropriate to ask more questions at the time. So I guess the research still continues, at least for me.
Alexei
