09-04-2002, 05:11 PM
I recall hearing years ago that Communist east Germany, in need of "hard" western currency, had taken advantage of the desire of collectors for Third Reich material, and had assembled some of the original craftspeople to turn out very good copies of Third Reich insignia, in particular SS cufftitles. I never saw any proof of this, though.
However, recalling this story made me wonder about the possibility of the creation of Soviet awards by the current Russian government. Presumably the Moscow Mint still has the dies for any number of higher Soviet Orders and decorations. What would prevent the Russian government from producing (or reproducing) Soviet awards, with original dies and enameling techniques? They could be sent out of the country for quiet sale, with the result that a minimal investment of time and effort could generate a healthy bit of money. Even if this were done for no other purpose than, say, to provide operational funds for some of the activities of the Intelligence Service outside of Russia, it would still seem to be something that would be a profit-making venture.
Anyone think that there is a chance of this being done, or am I just being paranoid?
However, recalling this story made me wonder about the possibility of the creation of Soviet awards by the current Russian government. Presumably the Moscow Mint still has the dies for any number of higher Soviet Orders and decorations. What would prevent the Russian government from producing (or reproducing) Soviet awards, with original dies and enameling techniques? They could be sent out of the country for quiet sale, with the result that a minimal investment of time and effort could generate a healthy bit of money. Even if this were done for no other purpose than, say, to provide operational funds for some of the activities of the Intelligence Service outside of Russia, it would still seem to be something that would be a profit-making venture.
Anyone think that there is a chance of this being done, or am I just being paranoid?
