Question about Defense medals

[guscano]

I don´t know if the question is relevant, but I have been watching several auctions and gone through several online vendors during the last two months and have not found a single Stalingrad Defense medal with certificate, while I have seen other "Defense of" medals with the docs coming ot now and then.

Are the Stalingrad medals with certificates that much harder to find?

What would be your advice as experienced collectors, to buy the medal by itself (more commonly available) and then wait for a certificate to come out and buy it, or have patience and wait until I can obtain both at the same time?

How much would be fair to pay for such medal and its certificate?

I appreciate your answers, as soviet medal collecting is a field I am starting to dive into and I am still a novice with little idea of availability.

Best regards,

Gus

[Eryk]

No longer a novice, but not collecting nearly as long as many (most?) here, I've noticed that medal docs are indeed harder to come by than previously. And dearer.

A realistic strategy is to buy when available - in this case picking up the medal first (probably), then the doc. If you buy a single medal, then find a medla + doc for sale, buy them and simply sell the single (assuming you don't want two medals).

Be sure to 1) use the resources available to detect fakes and 2) not over pay in an eBay frenzy. If you're going to pay dealer prices, simply buy from a dealer, or advertise here with your wants. Besides not having to wait it's also (usually! still buyer beware) better odds to not get a fake.

[guscano]

Thanks for the advice, Eryk. I have tried to educate myself on medals by studying this wonderful forum as well as other medal resources on the net.

And I agree on the Ebay frency. On Ebay, patience pays.

I guess a good price for a Stalingrad medal var. 1 with original ribbon and mount would be around 60-70 US dollars. Right?

Regards,

Gus

[Eryk]

Well, if you're looking to spend that there's a dealer (one who afaik is actually active), listing them for about that price. As well there are ebay stores with approx. that price. So one would think an auction should finish below that amount.

As for a "good price," it's all relative. That seems in the ballpark of what Stalingrads go for in summer, 2008. Actually the low end of stores/dealers. You can occasionally find them for US$40 or so. Here for example, meaning the sales forum. Lot's of old timers have multiples of the more "common" campaign awards, which this falls into, and occasionally sell them here.

So very wishy washy advice on price. Sorry, but everybody has to decide what's important to them in that regard. Because prices have so outstripped both the "it's so cheap that it don't matter" and the "it's expensive, but the precious metal is worth it" thresholds there's really no good all-round advice about price and what's "worth" what, IMO.

One piece of advice I will give - get a copy of the now out of print "Comprehensive Guide to Soviet Orders and Medals," by McDaniel and Schmitt. It's spendy, but worth it, both as an initial tool to use for collecting and for the comprehensive list and pics of the awards.

[guscano]

I guess it works as with the rest of military items, where the price is not a fixed amount, but what someone is willing to pay for it on a given moment.

Thanks again for your solid advice, Eryk, especially regarding the book. I will try get hold of a copy of it before going for "heavier" items.

Regards,

Gus

[Lapa]

Gus,

When dealing with unnumbered medals, you can never be certain that the medal and the document you buy were actually awarded together. IMHO, simply buy the medal and the document you need, either individually or as a pair, but do not pay anything beyond their individual prices.

Marc