Red banner, ears of wheat and a portrait of the leader of the proletariat — the Order of Lenin on Violiti (Photo)

At the end of last month, the collection of another collector was replenished with a valuable exhibit. It was the Order of Lenin, the highest state award of the USSR, a rare and valuable exhibit on the antique market. And this is despite the fact that most of these awards have survived to our time - 431,418 awards have been made since their establishment.

The sold lot is an award sign in the form of a portrait-medallion of V.I. Lenin. The award itself is made of gold, and platinum was chosen for the applied bas-relief. Individual parts are covered with red enamel, marked on the site.

The obverse of the item is decorated with the image of the leader of the revolution on a gray background, surrounded by a wreath of wheat ears. Two concentric circles are drawn around his portrait, delimited by a red stripe. In the left part of the wreath there is a five-pointed star, in the right and upper parts there is a red banner with the corresponding inscription, below - a sickle and a hammer.
The reverse is engraved with the minting place - the Leningrad Mint and its serial number.

The state award is fastened to an ear with a ring, which are connected to a pentagonal block. The latter is covered with a moire silk ribbon with red and gold stripes.

Recall that the state award in question was awarded in the period from 1943 to 1991. She noted outstanding services to the state and society, in labor, defense of the Motherland, international cooperation.

Its history is believed to have begun in 1926. It was then that the head of the Main Directorate of the Red Army, V.N. Levichev, proposed issuing a new award. It was to be received by persons who had been awarded the Order of the Red Banner four times. But this project was rejected.

At the beginning of 1930, work on the creation of the order was resumed. The artists were tasked with creating a sketch of the future award, the main one of which would be a portrait of the leader of the revolution. The winner was the work of the artist I. I. Dubasov and it was handed over to the sculptors who created the model. In the same year, the first Orders of Lenin were produced at the Goznak factory.

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