12-31-2017, 07:44 PM
2017 has been the most busy year so far for me, it's been difficult to keep up with everything and almost impossible to catch up on some ongoing projects. I certainly intend to get some major projects finished in 2018 or at very least give it an ambitious try.
As I predicted, prices are still falling (though research is up slightly) and it is still a great time to be a collector. In fact a few days ago I bought an Order Of The Red Star (900k serial range) for a price that I don't think has happened in a generation - $8. I don't think that $8 will become a usual price for them but at the same time, prices will edge ever closer to that.
I set myself a target at the start of the year to post at least one Researched Medal per week, I fortunately managed that - in Medals "For Bravery" alone. There have been 32 Military Groups posted that with the addition of additional researched solo pieces accumulates to 26 Researched Orders and 93 Researched Medals. Not quite the heights of 2016 but I have been changing focus slightly (when I've not been too busy too focus!)
In that pile of researched awards/groups a few jump out at me
Stalingrad Tractor Factory!
NKGB Partisan Organiser
Cold War Exercises Red Star
A Researched Medal "For Courage During A Fire".
(And yes I know I need to finish posting the group to the chap who helped put Gagarin in space)
Away from Soviet items, I've posted a fairly random array of awards, documents and groups from areas covered here. 9 documented Vietnamese Orders pretty much summed up my short lived focus on Vietnamese awards - although I have a backlog of hundreds of Vietnamese items to post. When there's time!
Finding a Documented Lao Order to a foreigner wasn't an easy task - Freedom Order
I think my focus may have been mainly towards awards from Armenia and the Artsakh Republic, there are now over 150 items from those nations in the collection. Last week I picked up an exceptional 14 award (yet incomplete - for now) group to an Armenian "Suicide Squad" volunteer. I got the group directly from the family and the group may grow as they continue to go through his things, although the missing Document and Medal may be long lost. This group also busts an old myth about NKR war combatants - I'll save that for another day.
This years highlight out of all the Armenian/NKR bits I've picked up and posted is an easy choice for me. Type 1 Variation 1 Gratitude Medal. That award was at the very, very top of my wants list. I suppose I'll try and research it in 2018 too.
I also find this pair - Colonel Dimit'r Nikolov Mosinov, Liberator/Hero Of The War Against Serbia - pretty exceptional. I've had interest from museums about displaying them. Maybe later - I have plenty of other items on display in museums currently and I need to consolidate.
The forum continues to expand. There have been at least 25 new forum sections created in 2017, with the latest created just yesterday. "Always Ascending".
The forum software is still awaiting its long overdue update, although that is something out of my control. That may bring back some of the options that were lost in 2015, after a cyber attack, I don't know.
My research services have been very heavily used this year, with more than 1,500 researches being performed to date, with less than a dozen "not found" results. At least three "top end" dealers use my services, so I'm quite happy that they continue to be repeat customers. Some other researchers even use me to research for them, my contact has found the "unfindable". I also sometimes spend a whole day searching on "the site" to make sure the correct citation goes with the correct award (trying to undo administrative mistakes isn't always a quick fix!). It's due to being bombarded by so many requests that I've not been able to finish researching my own backlog - 41 awards still on that pile, with a considerably higher number of citations I'll have to obtain away from "the site".
What will 2018 bring? Pretty much the same as 2017, prices falling a bit more, more research and more goodies posted on the forum for all to enjoy. Not forgetting to mention - more fakes on the market! I know I have some interesting groups and a few pieces of gold to post in 2018. The best things will probably be a surprise to me - maybe some strange and completely unexpected research.
I really need to start making a good headway into the backlog of things to post on the forum I've got. Thousands and thousands of scans and that's without touching on the 980 Bulgarian groups I still need to post.
As I predicted, prices are still falling (though research is up slightly) and it is still a great time to be a collector. In fact a few days ago I bought an Order Of The Red Star (900k serial range) for a price that I don't think has happened in a generation - $8. I don't think that $8 will become a usual price for them but at the same time, prices will edge ever closer to that.
I set myself a target at the start of the year to post at least one Researched Medal per week, I fortunately managed that - in Medals "For Bravery" alone. There have been 32 Military Groups posted that with the addition of additional researched solo pieces accumulates to 26 Researched Orders and 93 Researched Medals. Not quite the heights of 2016 but I have been changing focus slightly (when I've not been too busy too focus!)
In that pile of researched awards/groups a few jump out at me
Stalingrad Tractor Factory!
NKGB Partisan Organiser
Cold War Exercises Red Star
A Researched Medal "For Courage During A Fire".
(And yes I know I need to finish posting the group to the chap who helped put Gagarin in space)
Away from Soviet items, I've posted a fairly random array of awards, documents and groups from areas covered here. 9 documented Vietnamese Orders pretty much summed up my short lived focus on Vietnamese awards - although I have a backlog of hundreds of Vietnamese items to post. When there's time!
Finding a Documented Lao Order to a foreigner wasn't an easy task - Freedom Order
I think my focus may have been mainly towards awards from Armenia and the Artsakh Republic, there are now over 150 items from those nations in the collection. Last week I picked up an exceptional 14 award (yet incomplete - for now) group to an Armenian "Suicide Squad" volunteer. I got the group directly from the family and the group may grow as they continue to go through his things, although the missing Document and Medal may be long lost. This group also busts an old myth about NKR war combatants - I'll save that for another day.
This years highlight out of all the Armenian/NKR bits I've picked up and posted is an easy choice for me. Type 1 Variation 1 Gratitude Medal. That award was at the very, very top of my wants list. I suppose I'll try and research it in 2018 too.
I also find this pair - Colonel Dimit'r Nikolov Mosinov, Liberator/Hero Of The War Against Serbia - pretty exceptional. I've had interest from museums about displaying them. Maybe later - I have plenty of other items on display in museums currently and I need to consolidate.
The forum continues to expand. There have been at least 25 new forum sections created in 2017, with the latest created just yesterday. "Always Ascending".
The forum software is still awaiting its long overdue update, although that is something out of my control. That may bring back some of the options that were lost in 2015, after a cyber attack, I don't know.
My research services have been very heavily used this year, with more than 1,500 researches being performed to date, with less than a dozen "not found" results. At least three "top end" dealers use my services, so I'm quite happy that they continue to be repeat customers. Some other researchers even use me to research for them, my contact has found the "unfindable". I also sometimes spend a whole day searching on "the site" to make sure the correct citation goes with the correct award (trying to undo administrative mistakes isn't always a quick fix!). It's due to being bombarded by so many requests that I've not been able to finish researching my own backlog - 41 awards still on that pile, with a considerably higher number of citations I'll have to obtain away from "the site".
What will 2018 bring? Pretty much the same as 2017, prices falling a bit more, more research and more goodies posted on the forum for all to enjoy. Not forgetting to mention - more fakes on the market! I know I have some interesting groups and a few pieces of gold to post in 2018. The best things will probably be a surprise to me - maybe some strange and completely unexpected research.
I really need to start making a good headway into the backlog of things to post on the forum I've got. Thousands and thousands of scans and that's without touching on the 980 Bulgarian groups I still need to post.
"Signed with his own rubber stamp"
