New Book, Stasi Decorations and Memorabilia Volume II

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Some of you may remember "Stasi Decorations and Memorabilia: A Collectors Guide" published in 2007 on East German Stasi medals and certificates by veteran Stasi collector Ralph Pickard. This was a groundbreaking work that provided a extensive study of Stasi Medals and their documents that tracked the changes in document formats and signatures over time.

Ralph is about to publish Volume II of Stasi Decorations and Memorabilia at the end of December.

The first chapter of Vol II contains a number of higher state decorations and orders and the end of the book has an extensive update on medals and certificates from Vol I. There are definitely some "drool worthy" medals in this volume.

Ralph has an entire chapter devoted to several Medals and award documents presented to Stasi chief Erich Mielke that includes a rare Karl Marx Order presented to Mielke on 28 December 1977.

The book has a section devoted to Soviet KGB Badges, Documentation and Memorabilia from Stasi officers. The Stasi (MfS) and the KGB had a very close relationship and this is reflected in the 16 pages that Ralph devotes to the topic.

Ralph also shows rare Soviet awards and awards booklets that were presented to Stasi personnel to include the Order of Friendship of Peoples, Order of the Red Banner, Order of the October Revolution and Order of the Red Star as well as several others.

In addition to new information on medals it expands into several new areas and there something for every collector from Stasi shoulder boards, collar tabs and cuff titles to plates, pins, as well as birthday, and anniversary memorabilia and documents. It's truly amazing what Ralph has covered in this second volume.

Ralph sent me an advanced copy of Vol II this week and here is a photo of the two volumes together:



the main shipment of books have left the printers and should be in the United States by the last week of December. For people who pre-order the books, the cost will be $79 USD plus postage. After which the price will be $89 USD plus postage. For more information see: http://stasidecorations.wordpress.com/

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Ralph just updated his blog and added a buy Vol II page at: http://stasidecorations.wordpress.com/buy-volume-ii

For those folks who do not have Vol I he is offering a bundle deal for Vol I & II together at a reduced price.

He is only printing 750 copies of Vol II, all of which will numbered on the title page. So those that want a low numbered book should consider pre-ordering.

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A quick update. Ralph e-mailed me says the books have cleared customs and should be in his hands in a few days. He is still offering pre-orders of Stasi Decorations and Memorabilia Vol II until 12 Feburary 2012 which will save you about $10:

http://stasidecorations.wordpress.com/buy-volume-ii/

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The books have arrived and Ralph is shipping them out to those who have pre-ordered.

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I thought I'd bring this thread back to life since it's been a few months and we may have some new members who are not aware of Ralph's excellent book, "STASI Decorations and Memorabilia Vol II" which was published in January. For anyone who collects or is thinking about Stasi medals and decorations this is a must have book written by the expert. For more see Ralph's blog at: http://stasidecorations.wordpress.com

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Ralph's recently written an excellent article in the Summer 2012 edition of the International Medal Collector Magazine on the Verdienstmedaille der Nationalen Volksarmee – Awarded to the Members of the MfS (Stasi). He has posted it on his blog at: http://stasidecorations.wordpress.com/articles-written-by-author/verdienstmedaille-der-nationalen-volksarmee-awarded-to-the-members-of-the-mfs/

[fred J Borgmann]

I have a copy of the book and it is nothing short of fantastic. I just hope there are enough Stasi/ East German collectors out there so that the author at least breaks even and recoups his costs.