Gift To Stalin On His 70th Birthday From Kalinin Excavator Factory
This was a gift to Stalin on his 70th birthday in 1949. The front cover says: "To The Great Stalin." The photograph shows " a new type of excavator, rubber-tired, E-255-1, Ladle volume - 0.95 cubic meters." Under the plate showing Stalin's portrait, the inscription says: "Dear Josif Visarrionovich! For you, in honor of your seventieth birthday, the collective of the Kalinin Excavator Factory, established in the post-war era, and designed by the VNII engineering design agency, has constructed, in a short period of time, a working model of a rubber-tired excavator, the first of its kind in our nation. Wishing you many years of life for the good of all working people." According to the seller, this presentation piece was recovered from the Stalin Museum in Soviet Georgia after the museum was blown up by the Civil War. Its large (19X12 inches) and folds open. The cover is inscribed in Cyrillic, "For Stalin" with the Roman numerals for "70", his birthday. It was presented by the collective factory which made steam shovels and tractors and was received by Stalin personally.
