Sino-Soviet Friendship Medal

[Rick Research]

This medal was created in 1951 and awarded through the end of the 1950s, until the split between Nikita Khruschev and Mao Tse-Tung meant THAT end of the on again/off again "friendship" of the two Communist super powers.

Anyone who has ANY varieties of this medal, its documents, and cases, please post under this thread. All other Red Chinese awards will be split into Civil War campaign awards and Korean War awards.

I have seen a medal with reverse inscription and date 1951. There is presumably one dated 1952. Here is a 1953 issue and a closeup of the reverse inscription, found only on Korean War period awards.

The 1951-53 awards were the only ones with any reverse inscription or date. Medals awarded from 1954 until ? 1958 are slightly larger, with much more durable gilt finish, and have absolutely plain reverses. The star on the ribbon is a basic part of the design and should always be present. There are numerous varities of the ribbon stars.

I will be posting a cased post-Korean War type, one on a different ribbon, as well as examples of the "small pink" and "large pink" award documents and a Soviet entitlement document translation.

This is medal #748 in the eccentrically "translated" and arbitrarily sized color photo medals "Illustrated Catalog of Badges in the Chinese People's Revolutionary Military Museum." no date, presumably Peking, 1990s.

There is no other photo illustrated "complete" (sic!!!) catalog of Red Chinese awards known to me. Anyone tempted to get into this field of collecting should have this book, so we at least have common reference numbers to refer to.

Igor Moiseyev at Atlantic Crossroads may still have some copies:
http://www.CollectRussia.com


Note: due to multiple scans in each thread being no longer functional, only one scan will show. 4/14/04

[Rick Research]

Here is a cased final type Sino-Soviet Friendship Medal with smooth reverse and "small pink" award booklet contained inside the lid.

The nicely made case is covered in red cloth and stamped in gold with a facsimile of the medal's obverse and its title on the lid. The clasp parts are brass--but note that there is NO hinge--just cloth joining the top and bottom of the case together:

My scanner has made the deep coral pink award booklet seem redder than it really is. The color as shown with the booklet inside the case is accurate. This is a mock silk paper document, stiff, with a "moire" feel. The outside covers are shown here with page 1 on the left and page 4 on the right. The inscription reads "Sino-Soviet Friendship Certificate"

Inside, page 2 is on the right and page 3 on the left. The recipients name is hand filled in by Chinese calligraphy as the large characters at the upper far right. The last digit of the year as well as number for the month and day are likewise filled in by hand in the line at far left. I will give the text translation, with the filled in details in bold:

"Comrade VELISIKIN in order to thank you for your generous and enthusiastic assistance to our country's socialist construction, we present you the Sino-Soviet Friendship Medal for memory's sake. This certifies Premier of the People's Republic of China 'Chou En-Lai' Year 1956 Month 11 Day 1."

All this tells us is that the Soviet recipient was male. Chou's "signature" (the fish skeleton looking scrawl on the left hand page) is a printed facsimile, althought it "looks" handwritten because it is larger and copied from handwriting, not block print.

Please note that these cased medals will OFTEN be found with the small pink cards tucked inside ABSOLUTELY BLANK--UNISSUED. This type was presented in China, presumably, but the well made medal sets MAY (this is pure speculation) have been manufactured in the Soviet Union, so unused ones DO come onto the market. While there is no way, as in this case, to trace "Comrade Velisikin" (no other awards were obtained with this), an UNISSUED set should not cost as much as one that was actually presented. Look for a name and date to be filled in as on this one! There will be a large empty spot at the line far right for the name and three empty spots for the date in the final far left line on blank documents.

I am indebted to my Chinese friends, as always, for clarifying calligraphic mysteries beyond my linguistic limitations!

Again: due to loss of multiple scans posted within single response having been lost, only one scan will show here 4/14/04

[VerKuilen Ager]

Nice to see the fitted case, which confirms the proper ribbon shape. Over the years I've seen several of these medals, but never with the same ribbon on any of them. One even had a chain and bar to hang from a buttonhole.

Check out the bottom of the foreword of "Illustrated Catalog . . ." for the answer to one of life's miniscule mysteries.

[Rick Research]

Unfortunately in re-creating this thread's previously vanished image hosting site scans, could only fit 5 where there had been 6 scans in my previous post, so will start here with the INSIDE of the pink Chinese award document, filled out as mentioned above.

Next are the obverse and reverse of a well worn 1952 dated reverse medal, with the original ribbon and wire pin, but with the ribbon star replaced by a recent Soviet junior officers' shoulder board star--not a bad make do effort.

It should be noted here that the Korean War dated pieces appear to be copper, and have dulled like old pennies. If they were ever gilt, nothing remains of that finish.

Also, for comparison, follows the 1952, 1953, and smooth reversed medal (from the case above) shown side by side.

Measured from the top of the suspension knobs to the bottoms of the base notch, and at the widest points just above the side ribands tops these are:

1952: 43mm High and 37mm Wide
1953: 44mm High and 39mm Wide
Smooth: 46mm High and 39mm Wide

The dated reverse issues seem much smaller because the later smooth reverse type is much fuller and rounder above the middle ribands. The undated reverse type also usually has an extra jump ring, adding to the impression of being taller.

[Rick Research]

Here is the ribbon bar of a Hero of the Soviet Union and senior air force general, with TWO "Sino-Soviet Friendship Medal" ribbons on the bottom.

How was that possible?


Because there were SEVERAL Red Chinese awards that used the same ribbon.

For another ribbon bar including this Red Chinese medal, see

http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...03&postcount=4

[Rick Research]

Although hardly the best illustration, here is a Soviet personnel file photo showing the Sino-Soviet Friendship Medal in wear-- shadowed down there in extreme lower right profile, by naval administration Captain 1st Rank L. P. Pankratov in 1958:

[NavyFCO]

Here is the ribbon bar of a Hero of the Soviet Union and senior air force general, with TWO "Sino-Soviet Friendship Medal" ribbons on the bottom. How was that possible?

Rick:

I have two groups who each have TWO Sino-Soviet Friendship Medals. One group is to a tanker, the other is to an Air Force technical officer. The latter also has the medal "For Assisting the North Koreans Against the Americans" (or something like that!) Interesting, eh?

--Dave

[Rick Research]

How many times could they be "friendly?"

Different YEARS? Or of the same one? Documented?

The VERY eccentric "Catalogue" of the PLA Museum shows numerous awards all on the same ribbon, or the other "generic" type, with embroidered horizontal stripe on red -- the first obverse scan in THIS thread showing one of that other type ribbon:

http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...13&postcount=1

4/14/04 Having lost the ability to show more than one scan per posting, here is the opened (bottom shown at top of scan) presentation case mentioned earlier:

[NavyFCO]

Rick:

Here's a picture of the Air Force technical officer. Unfortunately, the medals are missing the documents, but they are clearly seen on his uniform photo.

--Dave

[NavyFCO]

Here are a few of the Sino-Soviet medals from my collection. The top three belonged to the fellow in the photo, the bottom two belonged to the tanker. I believe I have a photo of him wearing them somewhere...

--Dave

[NavyFCO]

And the obverse... Note the differences in quality!

[Rick Research]

Wowee!!!! That photo is freaky!!!!!

Here is a closeup with the "1953" inscription:

[NavyFCO]

Here's a pic of the former owner of the bottom two medals. You can note he's only wearing one of them, yet both are documented. Go figure!

--Dave

[Rick Research]

BTW, the photo Dave shows in posting #9 with the "Mao" medal snuggled between the two SSFMs-- and shown clearly top left in post #11 makes the FIRST time I have ever seen confirmation that this particular award was awarded to Soviets, although mine too came from Russia.

Here's a thread on other Red Chinese Korean War awards. The "Mao" Medal is "#942" in the very strange "Illustrated Catalogue" of the PLA:

http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...&highlight=942

And here is the "1952" dated reverse

[Rick Research]

I could not add any more scans up in posting #2 as I re-created illustrations.

Here is the small pink award document as tucked inside presentation cased medals, with the parts ACTUALLY FILLED IN circeld in white. Everything else is pre-printed.

Again, be aware that MANY of these cased medals being offered for sale while absolutely original were NEVER ISSUED and the name and date portions are BLANK. Look for Chinese text in the circled areas for actually AWARDED medals.

Here we have at upper far right on page 2 "Comrade Velisikin" and at far left bottom on page 3 195"6" year "11" month "1" day.