Mysterious (well, slightly) 1st class Nakhimov № 107

[Japanx]

Once upon a time in the United States they sold this piece

1.jpg

2.jpg

[Japanx]

Photos are terrible ...

But anyway

3.jpg

4.jpg

[Japanx]

Nothing to worry about chaps!
This one was cerificated

5.jpg

[Japanx]

The only problem with piece is that Nakhimov № 107 was issued in 1981 to Admiral Amelko for "Zapad-81" (Указ ПВС СССС №5935-К от 04.11.1981)

Why this is a problem?

Bacause admiral was still alive at the time of the sell.
And not only he was alive and well, but he also wore his 107 pretty actively.

5 (2).jpg

[Japanx]

By the way, here it.
Amelko №107

Obverse

33.jpg

[Japanx]

Reverse

34.jpg

[Airon]

The serial between those 107s seems to be quite different.

[Japanx]

They are indeed

[SergioV]

Amazing Order, but what happened with the mint mark?

About McDaniel..

[Japanx]

... but what happened with the mint mark?

Nothing unusual.

... About McDaniel..

Come on!
He didn`t promise anything

[Japanx]

Btw, order book for 107 of Amelko

33.jpg

34.jpg

[Japanx]

His other order book

35.jpg

36.jpg

[SergioV]

Wow nice doc, Nakhimov II class Nr 8
I'm sorry for the guy that bought this well presented fake..

[Japanx]

I'm sorry for the guy that bought this well presented fake..

Well, don`t be.
It`s not a complete fake after all

[Lapa]

Here is the description of that sale in 2003:

Order of Nakhimov, 1st cl., #107, 1981 issue.

Comes with McDaniel authentication certificate. Most outstanding near mint condition: 10 out of 10 rating by Paul McDaniel. Authentication was done several years ago, and since then the order has received additional wear to the gold from handling. The wear is very light, there is no enamel damage and the order would still rate 9 to 9.5 out of 10 in our opinion.
Issued to Admiral Nikolai Amel'ko in November 1981 for leadership during war games "Zapad-81", this is one of the two Nakhimov 1st cl. issued that year. These two were the last Orders of Nakhimov 1st cl. ever awarded. Both specimens are slightly different variation than the earlier Nakhimovs, and according to currently available information only 2 of this variation have ever been issued.

The order comes with Xerox copy of the order booklet for Nakhimov 1st cl. (the only decoration listed in that document) as well as Xeroxes of 3 other award documents. One of them is a 1964 order booklet showing his WW2 era and early post-war decorations including Nakhimov 2nd cl. #8 and three Orders of Lenin. The other two documents are a 1972 booklet for Red Banner, 3rd award and a 1985 booklet for Patriotic War 1st cl. Included is also a compilation of his archival record.

Admiral Amel’ko served in the Soviet Navy since 1931. After graduating from naval academy he worked in the naval intelligence until 1938. In January of that year his life and career very nearly came to an abrupt end when he became a victim of the Stalin’s purge of the military. In a rare reversal he was released from prison just a year later and was able to return to naval service. At the beginning of the Patriotic War in 1941 he was commander of the training ship Leningradsovet. With his vessel he participated in the Baltic Fleet’s desperate escape from Tallin to Kronstadt in August 1941. It was Amel’ko’s superb leadership and skills of his crew’s that saved the ship and all 200 men aboard under uninterrupted attacks of Luftwaffe. By 1942 he already commanded a squadron, first of antisubmarine net boats, and then of minesweepers and smoke screen setting cutters. In 1944 his 10th Smokescreen Squadron provided protective cover for dozens of Soviet convoys in the Baltic. During the capture of several islands in the Gulf of Finland in June 1944 Amel’ko was under nearly uninterrupted withering fire of German naval artillery and warships. His boats not only provided smoke cover for naval infantry but also engaged German self-propelled landing barges. For these operations Nikolai Amel’ko was awarded with an Order of Nakhimov 2nd cl.

After the war Amel’ko continued his outstanding career in the navy. In 1954 he was promoted to Rear Admiral. During 1962-67 he commanded the Soviet Pacific Fleet reaching the rank of full Admiral by 1964. In 1979 – 86 he was Deputy Chief of General Staff for the Navy and in this capacity supervised war games “Zapad-81” (“West-81”). His “courage, selfless and high skills” during these large scale maneuvers earned him an Order of Nakhimov 1st cl.

$54,000

[Japanx]

Yep.
Many words


Thanks Mark

[komsomol]

I'm sorry for the guy that bought this well presented fake..

Well, don`t be.
It`s not a complete fake after all

Genuine brand new piece with a s/n added?

[Japanx]

Genuine brand new piece with a s/n added?

You got that right

[Japanx]

Like this one

22.jpg

23.jpg

[Japanx]

The only question - where did they find it?
Most likely a stolen piece from a museum ...

[komsomol]

Most US collectors would say everything was possible in those years where Russian were eating their children to survive, where nuclear missiles were proposed on ebay, Boris Yeltsin drinking by citernes, etc...

[Japanx]

Yea.
I am familiar with "typical US collector" perception of the Russia

[Dom]

Interestingly,

in many areas collectors are crazy about authentication certificate or deemed sellers, many stories about it

[Japanx]

Yep.
They certainly are.
Great Niemann comes to mind

[komsomol]

Interestingly,

in many areas collectors are crazy about authentication certificate or deemed sellers, many stories about it

MAny believe dollars can replace knowledge. About McDaniels, I believe his honesty can't be questioned, and in 1995 he was a pioneer. Now he's only a man, and an army of collectors and researchers in Russia would have come at any time whatever could happen. The biggest sin IMHO is the lazyness to learn or do a linguistic effort to grab infos in books or from russian collectors...

Nick, about the robbery hypothesis, two questions come to mind:
- I believed most orders exposed in russian museum - and a fortiori the highest ones - were copies?
- what would do a non-serialised order in a museum? The theory would command that a brand new piece be in a safe at the State mint?