Order of Victory: the most expensive award of the USSR

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:43

In 1943, the world-famous Order of Victory was established, which is the highest military award of the USSR. It was a five-pointed star with a round medallion on which you can see the Spassky Tower of the Moscow Kremlin. This is not just an order, but a unique work of jewelry art, consisting of five artificial rubies and 174 diamonds (16 carats). In addition, expensive materials such as gold (2 g), platinum (47 g) and silver (19 g), as well as enamel, were used for its manufacture. At the moment, the Order of Victory is one of the most expensive Soviet awards. In addition, it is considered the second rarest after the Soviet Order "For Service to the Motherland" 1st class.

Order of Victory: history of creation, gentlemen

Initially, profile bas-reliefs of Stalin and Lenin were to be placed on the Order of Victory. Nevertheless, Stalin decided to place an image of the Spasskaya Tower on it. It was planned to decorate the Order of Victory with natural rubies, but since it was impossible to pick upcopies that would withstand a single color background, it was decided to use artificial stones. The original name of the order was also changed - "For Loy alty to the Motherland". The same Stalin renamed the award, although the author of the idea of creating this order was Colonel N. Neelov. The sketch of the order was created by the artist A. Kuznetsov.

In total, 20 copies of the Order of Victory were awarded. The first award took place in 1944. As a rule, they were awarded the highest generals for the successful conduct of large-scale military operations. Most of the holders of the named order were prominent historical figures. In particular, the Order of Victory was awarded to G. Zhukov (twice), I. Stalin (twice), I. Konev, K. Rokossovsky, A. Antonov, D. Eisenhower, B. Montgomery, I. Tito and L. Brezhnev (was deprived of the order in 1989). Foreign citizens were awarded as allies in the fight against Germany. There is even a memorial plaque in the Kremlin Palace, which lists the names of all the holders of the described order.

How much is the Order of Victory?

A unique work of art, an important cultural and historical value, a symbol of victory over Nazism - all these are the characteristics of the Order of Victory award, the value of which is almost impossible to estimate. After all, only the price of the material at the moment is equal to the amount of $100 thousand.

Therefore, it is not surprising that there is only one order "Victory" in a private collection. His cavalier was the Romanian king Mihai I. By the way, he is the only one ofholders of the order, survivors. However, in the 1950s, his award was sold to the Rockefeller family for $1 million. It is still unknown whether this unique award was bought from Mihai himself (in 1947, within 48 hours, he was forced to emigrate from Romania with only one suitcase) or from the Ceausescu family, who took away the regalia from the king. Mihai himself denies the sale of the order. Be that as it may, but after some time the Rockefellers put up the order "Victory" at Sotheby's auction. As a result, it was sold for $2 million.

S. S. Shishkov, an expert on Soviet awards, is confident that if the Order of Victory is put up for auction again, its value will be at least $20 million.