About ribbon bars

[EricFG]

Here's a group I just received. I got these because they were all the property of GPW vets. A few long service orders but the majority are I think orders won in battle (whick of course I like sooo much more)

Note the top row of the bar marked X. Looks like it's out of order.

[EricFG]

Note the top row of the bar marked X. Looks like it's out of order.

I know it's wrong muckin' aboot with history but this sort of thing irritates me to no end. So after considering sliding the ribbons out and shoving them back in in the correct order I noticed that each row of ribbons is seperately mounted to the backing plate. So I carefully pried the two little tabs at each side up, all the while hoping they wouldn't go "SNAP" on me. Thankfully it worked well.
I took a shot of the bar undone so you can what's inside these things.
Pretty cool.

[Tretov]

We're not really there yet. You may also like to change the placement of the 1968 and 1978 armed forces anniversary medals, so that they are in the correct order.

[EricFG]

****! You're right. They're backwards and the Labor Vet's in the right place but reversed. I just opened a can of worms.

I see more examples of screw-ups on other bars.
Was dyslexia an epidemic in Soviet Russia? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

[Kirchgoens]

I think it was pretty much endemic, especially as these old guys got older and older and older. Some probably really didn't even know the correct order, especially when you see the correct order of the campaign medals with some of the others that pop in between. I see them out of order even on 9 May on the chests of veterans.

Some bars may have been done through the local Voentorg, but I think some were kits like what we can do with our US ribbons. Until I got my own US Army stuff custom mounted when I had a bit more spending money, my early days in the Army I always built my rack on my own with bare ribbons on those cheap aluminum rack mounts. We always had to double-check each other to make sure the order was correct. Thank god for for the people over at Ultrathin! They aren't cheap, but their mounts are downright beautiful.

[EricFG]

Here's something I just saw on eBay. It is what looks like a brass suspension for the ribbon bar which is something I've not seen before.
I know that for a time they used brass medal suspensions. I'd guess that during that time they also made brass ribbon bar suspensions.

[medals73]

Here's an Afghan-War-era ribbon bar. I think it is the Order of the Sun in the last place (where it doesn't belong?) but corrections would be welcomed.

[medals73]

And an early thin plastic one.