I received a response from Dmitry, two photos and a note. The photo of the reverse of the orders is not up to his normal standard, but I doubt any shenanigans. What can be seen of each order corresponds with the types they should be according to the excellent www.soviet-screwbacks.com site. The order book looks good as well, and most importantly shows serial numbers. They aren’t anywhere near the numbers listed on the auction site! As Dmitry said in his note “It just all wrong.” I must say that, overall, the catalog is not impressive; pictures don’t match descriptions, some entries obviously wrong. Wonder how it will affect the auction? There’s no errata yet, and the auction is only days away, so I wonder if it’ll go forward with bad data online? Seems like it could open up a smelly can of worms if a bidder wants to contest something.
Ah well. At any rate the choice is now mine. A $1,600.00 minimum bid seems excessive. With the 12% hammer fee ($192.00) and shipping and insurance I’d be looking at a minimum of $1,850.00. Breaking it down by piece:
OPW II $150
OPW II $150
RS $175
RS $100
Capture of Budapest $80
Capture of Vienna $90
Liberation of Prague $60
Victory over Germany $25
Victory over Japan $30
WWII issue Guards badge $40
3 jubilee medals $25
25th Anniversary of Victory in WWII $15
2 Mongolian badges $25
(All the above have docs, factored into the price.)
The fact it’s a group: $300
Totals to $1,265.00
This undervalues most of the awards by 20%-30% compared to prices only 6 months ago. Perhaps a mistake, but I don’t see prices rising, they’re falling. I also may be undervaluing the group premium, in fact probably am. But there’s a difference between the market saying it’s a big deal and me saying it. I love groups like this – they’re what I collect. Ahh, I’ve also not included the research. Hmmm… that’s easily another $200, probably more with translation assuming all four citations were returned. Since none appear to be long service awards, and they all fall in the s/n ranges to be wartime awards, it could be a very interesting series of citations. Adding that in brings the group to about $1,500.00 total. Hmmmmm…
So, another note to Dmitry asking what’s in the research, though I doubt he’ll respond before Friday. We’ll see.
I have looked at four other pieces in the auction, so will probably be bidding no matter what. Two OG III and two OPW II. With research. Total of my bid so far is about $600.00, a good price when research and translation is included.
But do I want to spend $2,100.00 in this time of falling prices? Not to mention that, reading my earlier post, I’m done collecting… Hahahahaha!
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