Phaleristics as a part of museum collections

Abstract

In this article the authors raise questions of the scientific description of museum phaleristics, especially their existence in collections from the moment they are acquired by a museum. Authors point out the problem of developing a unified approach to the description of phaleristics, and of using various concepts and definitions. Experience with these objects in the Central Naval Museum allowed the authors not only to identify a series of problems of scientific description, but also to offer specific methods and ways to solve them, which can be applied in many museums of different profiles. State registration of new acquisitions in the museum’s collection includes several stages. During primary registration, an act of acceptance of an the item for temporary storage is drawn up for consideration at a session of experts. Following the results of consideration, the commission of experts decides whether it is appropriate to accept the item for permanent storage in the museum. Many items of phaleristics require a number of features to be considered: the content of precious metals and precious stones; museum registration of state awards. The research examined the issues of state registration of museum items and describes in detail the problems of registering special items made of precious metals and precious stones, and the problems of testing in accordance with modern museum requirements, based on the practice of the Central Naval Museum. Special attention is paid to the specifics of the registration of state awards in the Museum Fund of the Russian Federation. To acquire these items for the museum’s collection, permission must be obtained from the Commission on State Awards under the President of the Russian Federation. The article contains a number of concrete examples characterizing the features of research and fund work with USSR awards.

Keywords:

phaleristics objects, state awards, Central Naval Museum, special accounting, description standard, jewelry expertise