Georgian Red Army Red Star

[Chuck In Oregon]

Originally Posted by Soviet

Chuck, are Soviet orders easy to find in Georgia ?

It used to be fairly easy to find good Soviet orders, medals and badges in Georgia. There is one main flea market, the Dry Bridge, in Tbilisi. My first visit to Georgia was in 2001 and back then I was a new collector and I turned down things I would love to own now. There was a lot to choose from. Of course, old-timers back then were already talking about the good old days of early independence when even more was available.

Today it is really different. The Dry Bridge still exists but it is very difficult to find anything interesting there. There are a handful of regulars who haunt it early in the day every day just to see if anyone brings in something interesting to sell. All of those regulars have their own good buyers, guys like me, and they know that they can turn a profit in one day if they can buy right and fast. The days of having a half-dozen stalls of medals and badges to wander around and look through are gone forever. There are still a few vendors who cater to tourists and newcomers and charge ridiculously high prices for the most trivial medals, badges and znachki. No collector really takes them seriously.

Of course, good things do continue to come to market. Finding and buying them, well, that's a different problem altogether. I have two good Georgian friends who are really knowledgeable collectors in their own right. They know what I'm looking for and they will buy for me with full confidence that I won't stiff them on a deal or quibble about a price that may have been more than we expected. They are more than worth their money and I think of their profits as well-earned finder's fees. I think they are the very best of all the guys there. They are smart and very good at their jobs and we both know it. We enjoy our time together, have some laughs and drink some cappuccinos, they make a few bucks and I get some nice things for my collections or for re-sale. We have a mutual respect and we trust each other. My Georgian friends are the thing that made my time there enjoyable.

There are also some major Moscow buyers who visit Tbilisi, Yerevan and Baku looking for things to take back to Moscow for re-sale. Those guys are hawks and they have a lot of ready cash and they are driving prices up fast. The Moscow market is red hot. I have passed on a couple of things, only to change my mind an hour or two later and want to do the deal. Too late, the items had already gone to Moscow or been sold over the phone to a Moscow buyer.

So I'm sorry to say that the short answer to your question is "no".

Chuck