09-30-2011, 10:29 AM
Russian awards can be a minefield. With there being so many Ministries and branches awarding real awards there are a vast number of designs and you also have the infinite amount of unofficial awards. The official awards can also vary a great deal now that capitalism has come to the country as most awards are made by contract (to the lowest bidder) and you can have varying quality due to a different contractor. Some awards can have different style fonts or finishes but will be just a "real" as another. You can find some medals with many different mint marks. It also seems like different ministries use the mint of their own choice and whilst one ministry has awards made at one mint at the same time another at another etc. A very complicated minefield to collect.
"Signed with his own rubber stamp"
