Russian, anyone?

[GehrigFan]

I have a collection of pins I bought in Moscow many years ago, all related to either hockey or the Olympics. I have identified most of them, but have 5 remaining that I need some translation on. Anyone read Russian here who can shed some light on these last five pins for me?

Thanks!
Mark

[DaClyde]

On the red bordered pin, the word разряд basically means rank or rating, so I'm thinking 1 разряд (razryad) is basically First Class or First Place.

турбаза солнечная долина (Toorbaza Solnyechnya Dolena) seems to be some kind of ski resort or campground. Google Translate spits out "hostel (or campsite) Sun Valley"

чемпионат МИРА Похоккею -86 москва (chyempionat mira pohockeyou -86 Moskva) is literally World Champion of (or in) Hockey -86 Moscow.

цска seems to be a hockey team in Moscow (http://www.khl.ru/clubs/cska/), but most of the results bring up a Russian pro soccer league that uses the same name.

сокол киев (Sokil Kiev) is a a pro hockey league in Ukraine.

Found this nifty tool from Google for inputting one language, and it offering suggestions in another alphabet. It really helped sort these out:

http://www.google.com/inputtools/try/

[GehrigFan]

Thanks Jason! I never even thought of Google Translate - although I don't know how to access the Russian symbols on a keyboard anyway LOL! I appreciate the help - Now all of my pins are identified except 2 that have no wording (one is a cool multicolored pin of a goalie). Surprised how little interest there is in these - I think they are beautiful items from the heyday of Soviet hockey dominance. Even the 1971 hockey card set I bought there is of little value, although 6 of mine are autographed by International Hockey HOFers, making them considerably more valuable to the right buyer.

Mark

[DaClyde]

Glad to help. About all I have retained from 3 years of high school Russian was the Cyrillic alphabet and being able to sound out words. Nice to get some use out of it 20 years later.

I think the main issue for most non-North American sets is lack of awareness. Even in the age of the Internet, most non-US sets are little known outside of their native countries/markets. I can't imagine how someone would have even become aware of a Russian hockey card set in 1971. I do recall seeing a very brief blurb in USA Today back around 1991 about a set being produced, which was fun since we were supposed to bring in a Russian news item each week for our class, and this was a rare convergence with my card collecting hobby.

Even today, when a new Japanese player reaches an MLB team, people are clamoring for their first Bowman and Topps cards as if they are somehow special, while being almost completely unaware of the previous 7+ years worth of Japanese cards those players likely have.