For most people, state orders and medals are either symbols of history or past glory. But for Alexei, 28, they represent a profitable business.


Alexei trades at Moscow's smallest and most silent black market -- the numismatic tolkuchka on Taganka Square. Every morning at 11 he takes his spot and starts waiting for his clients -- sellers, collectors and middlemen trading in old Soviet medals.


"If you have enough money you can buy any order or medal here, no matter how valuable and rare it is," says Alexei.


Two years ago, commercial trading of state awards was prohibited by special decree of President Boris Yeltsin. The president's ban was instigated by veterans organizations, which had complained that open trading of state awards was a disgrace for the country.


But the ban has not prevented the medals tolkuchka from thriving. While novices sell and buy cheap Komsomol badges and commemorative pins displayed on folding tables on the street, the serious business of buying and selling valuable medals is conducted in whispered transactions.


"The best way to buy here is by having somebody we know recommend you," says Alexei.


Soviet-era medals and orders have been in constant demand both here and abroad since the beginning of perestroika, said Valery Durov, a numismatics expert.


"The further the Soviet era recedes into the past, the more valuable Soviet decorations become," Durov said. "In recent years the illegal market of medals and orders has become vast and well-organized. It is now a big business, with hundreds of thousands of dollars of annual turnover."


Every order or medal has a fixed price. The most valuable is the extremely rare Marshall Star, which can sell for as much as $25,000, Alexei said.


"Of course you won't be able to buy a Star decorated with diamonds just in the market, but you can leave an order here and at least contact the middlemen," he said.


The World War II orders of Ushakov (known in the trade as "Ushki"), Nakhimov and Bogdan Khmelnitsky, all produced in very small quantities, cost from $4,000 to $10,000 dollars. The famed Order of Lenin, called "Baldy" on the market, can be easily purchased for $350 to $500, while the Order of Alexander Nevsky sells for $150. The least expensive order is the Order of the Patriotic War, which was produced in mass quantities in 1985 and sells for $1 to $4.


Not surprisingly, the main source of the awards is veterans and their descendants.


"Often they come here with a pack of rare medals, and we can buy them dirt-cheap," says Alexei. "Some people are saying it is immoral to deceive the elderly, but we're not the ones who caused them to lead such miserable lives. This business is very profitable, and won't disappear because of one presidential decree."


Though some veterans have profited from selling their badges, veterans groups still see harm in the trade.


"Now awards don't differ from ordinary badges," said Viktor Moiseyev, of the Moscow Veterans Organization. "They have lost their significance and those who have them are losing respect."


The Moscow police see more tangible troubles.


"The demand for these things forces criminals to search for them," said a police spokesman. "Nothing stops them if they find them."


In the late 1970s an Admiral Kholostyakov and his family were killed for several orders of Ushakov, he said.


"Who knows how many less famous people have suffered because they had rare orders?" he said.