Measures 15 x 22 cm. The document is of the special kind intended only for a female recipient: the typographically printed text has the female gender form of the verb "awarded" (nagrazhdena). This feature can be found only on some of the early certificates. The ones printed later always used male form of the same word (nagrazhden); in case the recipient was a woman, the clerks either wrote-in an "a" at the end of the word or simply ignored it. Here, we have an opposite case: although the document was supposed to be issued to a female, it was in fact awarded to a man - an uncommon occurrence but not unique in the chaos of the siege, when the sex-appropriate type of document was not always on hand. It is interesting to see that the issuing clerk made a half-hearted attempt to hide the error by partly overwriting the last letter "a" with some scribbles.

Note also the uncommonly early date: the document was issued long before the lifting of the siege of Leningrad and is among the first award certificates of its kind.

In fair to good condition. Shows the usual hard creases from folding with significant splits along the fold lines. Nevertheless, the document remains overall sound and unlike many other "large certificates" of its kind, does not have backing tape applied on the verso. There is age toning and foxing to the verso, especially to the part that was more exposed while the document remained folded in storage. There is wear to the bottom and some water stains along the edges, none of it too glaring. The text and artwork however are largely unaffected by wear, and the document is free of the usual significant soiling or fingerprints. The hand-written entries are fully legible.