Soviet Academy Graduation Badges

[ibaya]

There are a variety of diamond (or "rhomb") badges floating out there. Some are are nicely made, the kind of quality you would expect from the state mint, and others that quite frankly wouldn't fool a blind man from a 100 paces.

Granted, the quality and construction of the more commonly awarded badges, such as the Guards badges, has deteriorated over the years as the materials and manufacturing processes were simplified and cheapened, but some badges seem to have bucked the trend.

For example, take the first badge a Soviet officer got fresh out of the military training colleges and academies. The quality of the enamel, the detail of the Soviet crest, and the overall fit of the pieces hadn't dropped off compared to the ones awarded back in the 50's.

But I have seen examples (almost invariably lacking a mint mark on the badge itself, forget about the screwplate) where the enamel is sloppily applied and thin, details such as the sunburst rays and the crest lack detail and are uneven, the shape and fit of the parts are loose and/or mismatched -- the whole assembly fairly screams out "cheap".

I've seen these types of examples published in photo references, and offered for sale by various dealers, as legitimate issued graduation badges. I'm posting some examples for comparison ....

Any thoughts?