Defence of Odessa Medal

[Woolgar]

Hi Guys

I am seeking a Defence of Odessa campaign medal to complete my Campaign collection.

I have seen many spurious examples for sale but this one has caught my eye.

Please can you give me your thoughts on it?

Thank you for your time and help

Nick

[Woolgar]

I’m not the only one who is finding this a difficult call then ?

From my research I think I’m going to take a punt on this one as it all seems to check out

Thanks for looking

Nick

[Marcel Banziger]

I have my doubts but I am not 100% certain. These are quite tricky imo. My points of concern are both faces, the ribbons of the sailor's hat, the boots and shoes of both men, the forward bending sailor's hat. Too many points of concern for me. But as said, I am not 100% certain with my judgement here.

[Woolgar]

Thanks Marcel, the faces were my initial concern too but I’m never sure if there are variants

Nick

[VasOnARitz]

There are 3 things that show it is most likely a fake. Note a strap on the sailors bag. This one shows it is right at the side, but mondvor shows it in the middle.
The 'З' seems square on yours, while mondvor seems to come to a point.
Finally, the leaves on yours has no gap to the inner design, while mondvor show ls a notable gap.

[sweersz]

The Defense of Odessa medal is one of the last campaign medals I have yet to pick up because of the price, but dang... now I'm starting to reconsider if it's worth the risk.

[VasOnARitz]

Here is a voenkomat variant with a document. It is slightly more, but I am sure it is an original. The detail is the same.
USSR ULTRA RARE ORIGINAL MEDAL FOR THE DEFENCE OF ODESSA WITH DOCUMENT VOENKOMAT | eBay

[reneblacky]

.

[Marcel Banziger]

While Mondvor is an excellent reference it does however not show all variations of awards so sometimes a bit wider approach of comparing known originals can be useful. I also recommend to use dealers' websites such as Collect Russia or Soviet Orders for example and especially the latter one shows excellent reference photos.

Check the following link around halfway the page for several examples with only slight differences in stamping and also in wear: https://sovietorders.com/medals/?instock_products=out

[Marcel Banziger]

Here's mine for comparison. It has quite some wear and details are worn off as was so often with these early awarded campaign medals.