Red Star and other hardware

[Auke]

Yes, enamel is glass and quite delicate, and also very sensitive to temperature changes. I know someone who stored his awards in a room with significant temperature changes and one day the enamel on several of his awards showed cracks. Fortunately I have never dropped an award (well, once, but the piece was undamaged), but I once received an envelope in the mail that was filled with red enamel fragments... The cap badge it came from had lost all enamel while crossing the pond...