Exporting Of Items.

[Lapa]

Will,

I'd advise you to be EXTREMELY careful with OMDs in Ukraine for several reasons.
. First, Ukraine is one of the top producer of fakes, some of them of top quality
. Second, according to local law it is illegal to export OMDs from Ukraine. You may run into some serious trouble at the airport on the way out.

Marc

[desantnik]

I second the motion - don't even consider it.

[Pravda]

Thank you for your responses. I will definitely take that into consideration.

Cheers,
Will

[Tretov]

Buy the common stuff on eBay and the more delicate stuff here.

[Bogdan]

Originally Posted by Art

It could be seen as the ultimate representation of the saying, "Do as I say not as I do." In 1961, President John F. Kennedy (JFK) imposed a total trade embargo with Cuba. But before doing so, he made sure that he had taken care of his own desires. While the rest of America was denied their favorite Cuban cigars, JFK made sure he would not be going without.

When Salinger handed the Cuban cigars over to JFK, the President was said to be shocked. He ordered Salinger to hand them over to the Chief of Customs. He also told Salinger to make sure that he got a receipt for them, as he no longer trusted Salinger in regards to cigars. When Salinger asked what JFK intended to do with the cigars, the reply was that he was going to destroy them. To which Salinger skeptically replied that he knew the president was going to destroy the cigars, "one by one."

Looks like a case of privilege has its perks. I love the distruction of the cigars one by one. I suppose this was done by burning.

[Tretov]

How is the current situation regarding Soviet decorations in Belarus, and capital Minsk, and how about exporting them? Is it the same regulations as in Russia?

[dav1941]

In my last trip there in 2001 I had no problems but with todays environment who knows? In those days it was possible to pick up handfulls of campaign/defense medals right in front of the Cosmos hotel in Minsk where there was an impromtu flea market down the street toward downtown. They were not asking much then either. In particular I remember this old guy wanting to sell a collection of medals and orders with documents. Since I wasn't a collector then it seemed ridiculous that someone would pay money for that kind of stuff. I was more interested in collecting the multitude of denominations of bills circulating at the time since there were no coins on hand. Fascinating, not sure if they have coins now? You had tons of bills and felt rich!

[RedMaestro2]

Tomorrow I'm leaving for Russia (sorry for the last minute notice). I'll be visiting Moscow and St. Petersburg, then Helsinki, Tallin, and finally Stockholm.

I'll do a little bit of medal shopping while I'm there. The Izmailovsky Market in Moscow and souvenir market near the Church on Spilled Blood in St. Petersburg are on my itinerary. From what I read on this thread on the market
I'm not expecting to find much, but I'm hoping to pick up something basic like an ORS or ORBL. Is that a reasonable goal? Any advice or hints at what I could expect to pay? I know exporting is a problem, but I will be leaving St. Petersburg via ferry. I think that will make it easy (or am I mistaken?)

Any recommendations for markets in Helsinki, Stockholm, or Tallin?

The only war museum I'm going to is the Great Patriotic War museum. But the Kremlin Armory looks like it has a medals exhibit.

The Moscow Kremlin - Symbols of Glory – decorations of the Soviet military leaders

I'm hoping it will still be there.



Thanks,

Alex

[Esteban_cool]

Well, even if you leave via ferry, you gotta be careful. Customs usually check passengers and their luggage randomly, and there may be a slight chance they may have metal detectors at the entrance gates. If they catch you even with the cheapest anniversary or Umalatova medal, you´ll get into a heck of a trouble.
Last time my father worked in Russia and went to St. Petersburg a couple of years ago, he took some of his free time to look for soviet militaria, and most of the stuff he found was, if not fake, made-up from original pieces; and what looked original was ridiculously expensive.

[Tretov]

If you're looking for uniforms, you can pay me a visit in Stockholm. I do also have awards (including RS and RBL). And flags. And maps. And visor caps. And I do take dollars. And PayPal. And no risk to get caught in customs.