State of the hobby.

[Roscoe]

Hello All

I just joined the forum and have been collecting for a couple of months now and would like to ask a question.

What are the members opinion as to the state of the hobby? By this I mean what about current prices, where the were in the past and where you'll think they are going. Also what about supply/availbility for the future?

Thank you

[Tretov]

The prices have risen since 1991, of course. While it was still possible to get most awards (of course apart from the highest WW2 orders etc) at decent prices all until a few years ago, it is very expensive to get a basic collection today. Red Banner and October Revolution orders now go for 500 USD per piece; Red Stars are over 50 USD and some of the WW2 campaign medals are very hard to find. I did not really get into collecting Soviet awards until the late 90s and I am glad I made the massive purchases back then.

[rboomsma]

For me, I stopped buying about a year or more ago and it has been a least year since I posted anything on this forum. I see since then, prices seem to have doubled and there are very few orders available. Also there is a only a few dealers left and there prices are sky high.

I just can't afford to pay those kind of prices that orders are going for. I am down to researching some of more rare and important orders.

For those trying to collect soviet orders now, you have to have very deep pockets and many orders are hard to find now.

[roy]

I've not added anything new to my collection in a long, long time. In fact, I've given serious thought to selling my collection, but after thinking about it, I decided to keep the collection, since it has taken a good deal of time and money to have aquired what I have.

My last major order purchae was about 2 years ago, and it was the Order of Friendship of Peoples. At that time, I paid around $320 for it. There are a few common medals like the Victory Over Japan I still need to find, but overall, my days of actively collecting are over.

[Elmar Lang]

Hello,

I'm a collector of imperial Austrian orders since the late '70s, but I've always liked the awards from USSR and the Socialist countries: these, until the mid '80s, were scarce and expensive. From then, it became very easy to find any type of award. Because of that, I've fulfilled my dream of opening a socialist section in my "Belle Epoque-oriented" collection. I didn't forget the smiles of other fellow collectors, thinking that a collection of such apparently tasteless orders would have been a waste of time and money.

Now, we see that investing some money in good quality Soviet orders would have been better than investing in stocks of the "new economy"... of course the determining factor was the social and economical development of Russia (always "...a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma").

All this, if we consider an USSR collection as an investment.

If we remain "pure" collectors, well, the future is -in my opinion- not good. Let's just see what happened in two recent auctions (one in NY, January 2008 and one in London, June 2008).

After the incredible rise of Imperial Russian Orders, it was obvious a rise of USSR pieces.

I'm quite pessimistic: in a short time, we'll be back to only study Soviet awards.

If we'd in need to collect in the Socialist field, there are other countries' orders & decorations, still retaining fair prices: Rumania, Bulgaria, Hungary... (but Albania's prices are rising too...).

I remain an enthusiast of USSR orders, I still study them, I look for and I buy books on the subject but, under the collecting point of view, I'm back to Imperial Austria.

Best wishes,

Elmar Lang

[Roscoe]

Hello All

Well so far it seems to be a rather pessemitic response, which is kind of what I expected. Even with my limited time collecting I've gotten the impression that prices seem to be inflated and supplies limited. With any collectable there are cycles were they are in fashion and prices rise beyond their value and supplies become scarce but then there is usually a correction and prices return to a more reasonable level. I hope this will happen with Soviet awards also.

But I've been bitten by the Soviet Order bug so I guess I'm stuck. Fortunately I can afford most of he mid level awards but I don't ever expect to be alble to afford any of the higher orders. I just hope the OGPW 2 I pay $500 for today doesn't turn out to be available for $50 5-10 years down the road.

Thanks for the information.

[Kirchgoens]

In the bazaars of the non-Russian republics of the former SU, stuff is also getting harder to find and the once-low prices often approach US/Moscow market levels now. I've learned to set my sights on the awards of the common soldier (ORS/OG3/OPW/BM/CSM), and pick up what I can. Now the OG3's and OPW's (1 and 2) have become dear and a bit rare (and the ORS expensive now), but the medals are still to be had. Humble they may be in the eyes of the old crowd, but at least they are real and they are affordable!

[Greg Collins]

In my opinion:

The intrinsic value (smelt value) of the orders is very low when compared to the value of the order as an order. The value of the order is determined by the collector willing to pay the particular asking price. In other words, when I purchased my V1 October Revolution for $285 a couple years ago, THAT was it's value then. Nowadays, I'd be surprised if you could get it for less than $500. Good for me; bad if you want, and don't already have, one. Also remember that, if you already have a reasonable collection, your stuff is now worth a whole lot more than you paid for it. Good for you!

It's the same with oil. When demand is higher than supply, prices go up.

Will we see more availability? Probably not from Russia. They are in something of a "hayday" over there now... and to be honest, it's probably their turn. Good on 'em. My guess is that if we see an increased availability, it will be due to American collectors releasing their holdings to stay alive. Gloomy- you betcha- but it is how I see it in this so called economy.

[Bogdan]

Of course prices have gone up since the 1990's but there are still some fairly decent values out there. I do not rely on e-bay for my purchases unlike a few years ago. I just sit and wait and compare prices. My collection does not really grow, but I do pick up some nice things occasionally here locally and through internet sales. So unlike 10 to 15 years ago, one cannot buy a lot of items for the same dollar we spent in 1995 but there are items out there, just be patient. I am a little surprised by how many people want to sell their collection or parts of them. I can understand why but a few years back before my divorce, I had a huge collection of world orders but had to sell them off to pay for the divorce, etc. The only ones I kept were the ones from the USSR for some reason or another. I grew up seeing photos of these orders and medals in encyclopedias and magazines and being in on the "tail-end", so-to-speak, of the "Duck and Cover" years in elementary school, I thought I would never even see one of these orders in person, much less than holding it and examining it. So the hobby is now slow and things at a good price are hard to find, but there are some things out there. Keep looking and good luck!

[Synthesis]

I think the hobby is bound to be effected, to some extent, by the re-introduction of Soviet-style uniforms in the modern Federation.

While it probably it's a big deal to those who specifically collect War or immediate Post-War materials, those are becoming progressively less common anyway, as is to be expected.