Medal "For Victory Over Germany In The Great Patriotic War 1941-1945".

[Art]

Alexei,

Is there a reliable, non-destructive way to tell? I read on McDaniels site that he has seen these gold-plated campaign medals and he writes they were most likely awarded to "General officers and Marshalls". I would assume this would make them at least R3. I would trust the authenticity better if I found one in my collection than seeing a "Genuine gold-plated WWII award" up for sale on EBay.

I've looked into buying a non-destructive gold-testing device before, but the price was outrageous. This was a few years ago and prices may have fallen. I know there is a destructive test, but it involves rubbing a small bit of the gold onto an abrasive block, just enough to leave a mark, then adding chemicals to the mark and what I would guess is that a certain reaction is supposed to take place.

Art

[alconlon]

Alexei,

In McDaniels book,he mentions that the reissues of campaign medals have a "Thick Gold Wash".

I thought that meant real Gold,I could be completely incorrect since I have no way to test the medals in my collection.

Happy hunting.

Thanks,Al

[Kim]

In "Red Army uniforms 1918-1945" they write that documents with red covers were given to parrticipants to the victory parade, june 24 1945. 10 000 pieces made. Are there any truth to that?

/Kim

[Nota Bene]

Kim,

It's just one of the theories, but I am inclined to believe that it may be correct. All such documents I have seen were signed by high-ranking officers.

Alexei

[Kim]

I hope you are right. Of of my groups have this document so it would be nice if that was true. But I'm not so sure about 10 000 awarded. The serial number on mine is 21 288. Perhaps it was just for a few chosen ones, the rest got the more common paper?

Anyway here is that document.

[Nota Bene]

Kim,

Mine has the serial number of 56931, which doesn't mean anything. I don't know if the 10,000 is correct, they seem to be rarer then that.

Alexei

[Nota Bene]

Robert,

There are actually more loop variations to this Medal. Here are some, but not all.

Alexei

[Robert Pierce]

Wow! If this is an indication of how complicated this is going to be, I'll need some real help. More than me just studying one reference book. This is something! Thanks for the 'wake-up' to reality.
So are all of the filed loops 2nd variation or is it more complicated than that? Were the split rings the 1st variation?

Robert:)

[Robert Pierce]

Thanks, Art.
So then do all these different loop variations that Alexei posted fall into three major 'types' ?
I see from the photo he posted, that there are more than one style of 'filed' loop. The same with the 3rd variation with the loop made to look like the 1st variation, only being part of the medal itself. If so, this makes things a lot less complicated. Just my thinking here, and this is a question but, are the different styles of each variation perhaps from a different mint? This would make sense to me. Or was the manufacturing of these medals held to that high of a standard? Certainly the dies that were used in each mint weren't all the same?????? The different sized 2nd & 3rd variation loops show evidence of that. On my 2nd variation I see the pebbling in the background more pronounced than what is present on the 1st variation.
I find it all very interesting.:)

Robert

[Nota Bene]

Robert,

I wouldn't call them "major types" - there are three basic variations, determined by Paul McDaniel in his book, and each variation has minor variations as to the loop, design details, etc. About 15 mil of Victory medals were awarded, so they obviously had to change the dies more then once, and every time they did they were probably looking for more efficient ways to produce it.

Alexei