Ostvolker (Eastern people) Awards

[andrei1774]

Greetings,

I would like to initiate a New Thread for Discussion and share some
information on The Ostvolker Award.

To Date, we haven't seen much information relating to Ostvolker on this Forum.
I hope this New Thread will be very insightful in assisting Collectors to better understand this Award, its Variants and different Classifications. Additional opinions, Information, etc, will be greatly appreciated and beneficial to The Collective Community as well.

Here is a bit of History regarding the Ostvolker Awards.
The Award itself was designed by Elmar Lang from Godet & Co. and instituted on 14 July, 1942 as an Award for Bravery to Eastern Volunteer (And some German) troops fighting against the Communist threat.
Though there is little Data (none proving) of how many Ostvolker Awards were distributed, there seems to be a Consensus among Collectors that perhaps 200,000 were issued and with that number including German troops who were eligible.

All Awards were manufactured in Zinc or a Zinc based alloy.

- Types:
There are only 3 major types of this Award that are guaranteed 100% original within the Collector Community.

[andrei1774]

1st Type.

[andrei1774]

1st type second class

[andrei1774]

The Most Scarce version with a Flat reverse and W/O Rope on the Front Centerpiece.
Should always be unmarked with still unknown Maker. Some Collectors attribute this to Godet ( being of the opinion that since Godet designed it, he probably held 1st copyrights to manufacture first). Though no documentation has ever surfaced to validate this claim.

IMO, this is one of the earliest types produced in 1942-1943, which can explain its scarcity, (Since first awarded in 1942, many lost during war and to history).
This Award is also shown in the Book by H. Doehle (in the1942 publication, the Flat version of the Award is pictured)

[andrei1774]

1st class in silver and gold come in the cases with sharp corners, 2nd class in the packets with double inscription in German and Russian.

[andrei1774]

Both classes have two types of die. One with visible beginning of sword blade and one without.

[andrei1774]

Please pay close attention to the Top Ray on the 2nd Class. It ends in a Sharp
point and skews a little bit to the left from center.

[andrei1774]

The weight for the 1st class is – 25-27gr.

For the 2nd class – from 10.5 to 14.6 gr.

[andrei1774]

2nd Type

[andrei1774]

2nd class

[andrei1774]

Well known type from Rudolf Wachtler & Lange Mittwaida im Sachsen always marked “100” on the needle or on the ring, sometimes double marked “100” along with L55 (scarce).
IMO this type was produced in 1943-44


1st class in gold come in the cases with round corners, 1st class in silver ONLY in packets

[andrei1774]

2nd class – in packets

[andrei1774]

The weight for the 1st class is – 18.5 – 20 gr.

For the 2nd class – from 10.5 to 12.9 gr.

[andrei1774]

3rd Type

[andrei1774]

3rd type , 1st class without swords