Original Items: Only One Lot of 2 Available. This is a wonderful pair of Soviet WWII era medals. Though the ribbons may be faded, the details and enamel work are still spectacular with great colors. Awards and decorations of the Soviet Union are decorations from the former Soviet Union that recognised achievements and personal accomplishments, both military and civilian. Some of the awards, decorations, and orders were discontinued after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, while others are still issued by the Russian Federation as of 2021. Many of the awards were simply reworked in the Russian Federation, such as the transition of Hero of the Soviet Union to Hero of the Russian Federation, and Hero of Socialist Labour to Hero of Labour of the Russian Federation. A wide range of Soviet awards and decorations cover the extensive and diverse period of history from 1917 to 1991.

The Medals In this Lot:
- Order of the Red Banner (#362677): It is in wonderful condition though the red colors are faded to more of an orange now, but still beautiful in appearance.

The Order of the Red Banner was the first Soviet military decoration. The Order was established on 16 September 1918, during the Russian Civil War by decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. It was the highest award of Soviet Russia, subsequently the Soviet Union, until the Order of Lenin was established in 1930. Recipients were recognised for extraordinary heroism, dedication, and courage demonstrated on the battlefield. The Order was awarded to individuals as well as to military units, cities, ships, political and social organizations, and state enterprises. In later years, it was also awarded on the twentieth and again on the thirtieth anniversary of military, police, or state security service without requiring participation in combat (the "Long Service Award" variant).

The Order, made of silver, consisted of a white-enameled badge, which had a golden Hammer and Sickle badge surrounded by two golden panicles of wheat on a Red Star, backed by crossed hammer, plough, torch, and a red flag bearing the motto Proletarians (Workers) of all countries, Unite!. The whole was surrounded by two golden panicles of wheat; at the bottom were the letters "SSSR" (Russian: СССР). Additional awards of the Order bore a white enameled shield with a silver sequence number at the bottom of the obverse. A recipient of multiple Orders of the Red Banner would wear a basic badge of the Order with a numeral corresponding to the sequence of the award on a cartouche over the wheat at the bottom of the badge.

The early variants of the Order were screw back badges to allow wear on clothing. Later variants (from 1943) hung from a standard Soviet pentagonal mount with a ring through the suspension loop. The mount was covered with an overlapping 24mm wide red silk moiré ribbon with 1.5mm wide white edge stripes and a 7mm wide white central stripe.

The Order of the Red Banner was worn on the left side of the chest and when in the presence of other Orders and medals of the USSR, was placed immediately after the Order of the October Revolution. If worn in the presence of Orders or medals of the Russian Federation, the latter have precedence.

- Order of the Badge of Honor (#286733): Another fantastic medal with slight fading to the colors.

The Order of the Badge of Honour was a civilian award of the Soviet Union.

It was established on 25 November 1935, and was conferred on citizens of the USSR for outstanding achievements in sports, production, scientific research and social, cultural and other forms of social activity; for promotion of economic, scientific, technological, cultural and other ties between the USSR and other countries; and also for significant contribution to basic and applied research.

The order was awarded 1,574,368 times.

The "Order of the Badge of Honour" was replaced by the "Order of Honour" by a Decree of the Presidium of the USSR on 28 December 1988. Following the USSR dissolution, it was replaced by the "Order of Honour" of the Russian Federation, established by Presidential Decree no. 442 of 2 March 1994.

Two lovely awards ready for further research and display.