Badge "Veteran Of DOSAAF Of The Latvian SSR".

[Upperbylad]

Hi,

The scan is of a Veteran DOSAAF award, which is part of an incomplete medal group I have. The badge for this is missing.

My queries are:
- is this is a rare item - I've searched on the net and can't find one
- would the number 199 have been on the award.
- What did you have to do to get one of these?

Also - if anyone has a picture, could they share it please?

Thanks,

Mark

[Tommy]

Awarded by the central Dosaff comittee for the Latvian ssr.

199 is the document number.

Neat stamp.

I've not seen the badge before but if its a veteran Znak and not government produced then it could be quite scarce.

[Upperbylad]

Thank you.

What is Znak?? (I'm still a relative newbie to all this.)

The group is incomplete, in respect of this badge and two wartime Orders of the Patriotic War (1st and 2nd Class). So this badge maybe was rare, and the group has been cherry-picked.

Still interesting - I will post details in due course.

[CtahhR]

Znak simply means Badge.

This is an "local" SSR award Badge so it is far more obscure than All-Union items but this does not by any means make it more valuable nor desirable to most "State awards only" collectors.

[Keith]

Mark,
I think this document is great - I collect similar items for Estonian SSR, and the local badge documents can be quite expensive with competitive bidding at the online auctions. I have come across most of the Latvian documents, but never this. It depends on how scarce this is in the Latvian collecting community and how many of the collectors have this. It only takes two collectors at auction to run up the price. In Estonia there are maybe 5 serious badge document collectors, but for many of these documents, there have been fewer documents than collectors that have come on the market, leading to crazy prices.
Most importantly - this is an interesting document! A regular dosaaf badge document could have been earned anywhere, but from this document you can narrow it down to a particular location.
Keith

[CtahhR]

These more "specialised", regional items certainly can have their fans. Personally I like items from the Georgian SSR and Komi ASSR (wonder why?).

Supply and demand are always the key. I've also found that sometimes two enthusiasts are not needed to put the prices up. A "dodgy" dealer with a shill can often squeeze the lone enthusiast. Other times complete lack of interest in an area coupled with a respectable dealer can lead to picking up items for pennies.

I have noticed a distinct lack of LSSRs awards on the market despite their European Union free market positions.

[Keith]

Supply and demand are indeed the key - there are several items for which I do appear to be the lone collector. To bring these items out to market, you have to talk up the prices so the dealers will look to buy them and sell them to you. When you are the lone enthusiast, you have to establish a floor or the items will never be found. Sometimes the dodgy dealer who shills people is the only way to find rare and unpopular items.

I tell lots of dealers - set the prices on these items much higher than market - that way its more likely they will still available when I come back.

Its my understanding that there is a small hard core group of local collectors in Riga that scoops up most of the rare Latvian items.

Keith