Very large format, single page, 9 ½" x 16". The graphic artwork at the top section is an offset print of uncommonly high quality and complexity, compared to similar certificates of the 1930s.

Lenin's portrait hovers rather incongruently over the text specifying the issuers of the certificate as the woodworking shop of the Kuznetsk Metallurgicаl Works, both bearing Stalin's name.

The recipient is awarded with the honorary title of excellent socialist laborer for high results in socialist competition and improvement of quality of the product, and for working at the plant since 1930.

The certificate bearing the number 003 is issued by the "triangle" of the woodworking shop. In the Soviet 1030s vernacular, such a "triangle" consisted of the head of the enterprise, the chief of its Communist Party cell, and the chief of its trade union unit. A rather transparent allusion to the ancient Roman "triumvirate", a Freudian slip popular among the power-hungry Bolshevik "servants of the people" of the 1930s.

In good condition. The certificate was folded in four at some point, evidently for a long time, acquiring a short separation at the fold line at the top, not reaching the graphics. The rest of the fold lines show minute fraying but no separations. There are two old tears to the right edge, one of them reaching the handwritten year. However, all the wear has been repaired with clear tape on the verso. The ink of the last name of the recipient shows an unfortunate smear. The seal is perfectly clear and legible. The top signature, usually done by the director of the enterprise, is faded but still legible. The other two signatures of the "triangle" are perfectly clear. The colors of the graphic artwork and typographical text are vibrant and not at all faded.

Kuznetskstroy was the top priority major "shock" construction project of the first Five-Year Plan based on the government's decision to create a powerful coal and metallurgic industrial base utilizing the iron ore of the Urals and the coal of Siberia. Construction began at the end of 1929, based on the project done by Freyn Engineering Company (a consulting company based in Chicago, IL).

The working and living conditions of the thousands of workers were typical early-Soviet industrial nightmare. With temperatures rarely above minus 30 degrees Celcius, they lived in barracks with walls of wet raw wood boards, no glass in the windows, leaky roofs covered with earth-manure mix for insulation. But in just 1,000 days, the Kuznetsk Metallurgical Works produced its first cast iron.

It is impossible to over-estimate its role during WW2. Simply put, it made victory possible for the Soviet Union.

Please note that the pen in our photo is for size reference.