Collecting East European awards - WHY?

[Commissar]

Not only that but they are great conversation pieces! Whenever I have people over and they see my many caps its always fun to explain, and of course they marvel at the orders and medals displayed on the walls, even if there are not that many.

[Esteban_cool]

I switched from soviet to east bloc awards because of the price. I started a little bit late collecting seriously, and when some pieces became quite desireable to me, they were already out of my budget. I´ll still be collecting soviet uniforms though, and I will definitely stop buying soviet ODMs after I get a desired-for-a-long-time Red Banner .

Now, concerning the craftmanship, beauty and historical value of other former east bloc awards, they may not be as perfect as soviet, but they still have beautiful, original designs, quite nice enamel work, and IMHO show a very interesting way to understand the influence of the USSR in those countries.

[Simon]

Phillip, Commissar, and Esteban, thank you for answering my question.

[deValcourt]

Anytime Simon. Esteban brings up a good point that I had only int he back of my mind. With the exception of maybe Yugoslavia and some of the Romanian awards, the rest of the Warsaw Pact countries' awards are heavily influenced by (if not manufactured in) the Soviet Union awards. They even share the same or similar names and classes or "grades." Bulgaria might just as well have officially joined the USSR as far as their awards go. Even their "KGB" called the "MVR" ended up using the same sword, shield and star motif on their honored employee badges.

Phillip

[Esteban_cool]

Originally Posted by devalcourt

With the exception of maybe Yugoslavia and some of the Romanian awards, the rest of the Warsaw Pact countries' awards are heavily influenced by (if not manufactured in) the Soviet Union awards.

Phillip

I´d think that rather than Yugoslavia and Romania, Poland got much more carried away. "100% communist" awards were very few, and their design didn´t resemble that much the east bloc standard. No stars, no political/war heroes to name them after, and only from time to time, tools, workers and wreaths.

Usually, All the rest of the countries complied with those design standars somewhat "imposed" by the USSR.

[deValcourt]

Not in the secret services area - wreaths, sword and shield/eagle.

Phillip

[Esteban_cool]

Originally Posted by devalcourt

Not in the secret services area - wreaths, sword and shield/eagle.

Phillip

You´re right. State Security awards´ designs were similar in all countries, including Poland. But they still kept their white eagle, instead of replacing it with the star/H&S. (BTW, do you know why they did so?)

That´s why I consider east bloc awards as historically interesting as soviet.

[Commissar]

I always thought the Poles had contempt for the Soviet system and chose their eagle for many emblems in place of the hammer and sickle because they wanted to be different and not so completely Soviet dominated.

[Jeffrey Meffert]

You can always do a theme...Various red banner of labors made for a nifty display (Albania 2nd/Yugoslavia, Soviet, Czech, Mongolian, Korea, Albania 1st, Poland, Bulgaria, DDR 3rd)

[Tretov]

Originally Posted by Esteban_cool

You´re right. State Security awards´ designs were similar in all countries, including Poland. But they still kept their white eagle, instead of replacing it with the star/H&S. (BTW, do you know why they did so?)

Before communist time, the eagle had a crown - which was removed after the war. I don't know if the crown is present today.