05-30-2011, 02:47 PM
I think I might just be a tiny bit addicted. Now you may realise why I had to teach myself how to read Korean.
Of the 367 Orders, Commemorative Orders and Hero Star currently in the collection 120 of them are numbered so of the 247 unnumbered Orders and Commemorative Orders there are 27 unique Orders with 60 variations in total. Usually I am sold them unseen so it's a Russian roulette situation. So far I haven't found any variation in the "40th Anniversary Of Fatherland Liberation War Victory" Commemorative Order which I thought I would as there were so many issued. I also have 15 documents for Orders, which isn't a very good percentage but when I do find them they usually only cost $1 each. If anyone would like me to make up a "how much to pay" list I could happily do that. One thing is for certain if you are buying through middle men you aren't getting a very good deal at all. I've watched one dealer in particular by things time after time on that online auction site place and then relist them himself for sometimes 1000% mark-up (Although with rather little success).
The official communication I got from the DPRK people on the display so far was "Very impressive" so I can't complain! Hopefully I can expand and expand as there are so many DPRK awards out there are so little precious metal in them to warp the prices. I would like to have an additional 200 DPRK Orders entering the collection each year to pad out the display. Time will tell. Many Chinese dealers are sitting on VAST reserves and only sell one at a time to keep the prices right up, which is very disappointing if you keep seeing them return to the market each time going for less and less after getting in early as not to miss out. There are not many fakes out there yet but that situation is confused as the fake Hero stars are usually of a better construction than the modern originals.
The DPRK award system, actual awards and then the market for them isn't something that you can pick up overnight by any means!
Of the 367 Orders, Commemorative Orders and Hero Star currently in the collection 120 of them are numbered so of the 247 unnumbered Orders and Commemorative Orders there are 27 unique Orders with 60 variations in total. Usually I am sold them unseen so it's a Russian roulette situation. So far I haven't found any variation in the "40th Anniversary Of Fatherland Liberation War Victory" Commemorative Order which I thought I would as there were so many issued. I also have 15 documents for Orders, which isn't a very good percentage but when I do find them they usually only cost $1 each. If anyone would like me to make up a "how much to pay" list I could happily do that. One thing is for certain if you are buying through middle men you aren't getting a very good deal at all. I've watched one dealer in particular by things time after time on that online auction site place and then relist them himself for sometimes 1000% mark-up (Although with rather little success).
The official communication I got from the DPRK people on the display so far was "Very impressive" so I can't complain! Hopefully I can expand and expand as there are so many DPRK awards out there are so little precious metal in them to warp the prices. I would like to have an additional 200 DPRK Orders entering the collection each year to pad out the display. Time will tell. Many Chinese dealers are sitting on VAST reserves and only sell one at a time to keep the prices right up, which is very disappointing if you keep seeing them return to the market each time going for less and less after getting in early as not to miss out. There are not many fakes out there yet but that situation is confused as the fake Hero stars are usually of a better construction than the modern originals.
The DPRK award system, actual awards and then the market for them isn't something that you can pick up overnight by any means!
