Nazi and Soviet Medallions

Dr Doran · Jun 19, 2008

I was not sure where precisely to post my small collection. However, I am hoping they will be of interest to the people who frequent this forum. Please forgive the cufflinks which were not supposed to be in this picture. And the FL badge. Whoops. On the right is a Soviet medallion I picked up at a flea market in Vilnius, Lithuania in summer of, I believe, 2003.Clockwise from that is a wonderful Polish medallion, I assume of the Soviet period, which reads "Exemplary Soldier" in Polish. I really love it. It reminds me a bit of the Bauhaus symbol. It is also from Vilnius. Then we have a swastika medallion, same flea market, horrid condition but a nice piece of history unless it's fake. It seems real, but this is not one of my areas of expertise. Directly above that is a very, very old pin of Kemal Ataturk. I got it from a Turkish tour guide I met in Turkey. To the left of it is a modern badge for the Turkish Democratic Socialist Party, not all that interesting. To the right of the FL badge is a pin with Lenin's face on it and something in Russian. Sorry the picture is so sub-par. I wanted to get it posted anyway.

BellyTank · Jun 19, 2008

Cool.

There are SO many repros of Nazi regalia on the market, going back to JUST post-war(believe it or not, there was a great demand and not enough for all the returning servicemen)... hard to tell from here. And the Party Stick Pins are so plentiful, easy to copy and cheap to make and buy.
The Baltic States are also known for making a lot of almost-expert-fooling/collector-fooling gear.

I had a pair of silver and blue enamel swastika cufflinks, hallmarked Birmingham 1911, present from my brother- gone missing.

B
T

Dr Doran · Jun 19, 2008

BellyTank said:
Cool.

There are SO many repros of Nazi regalia on the market, going back to JUST post-war(believe it or not, there was a great demand and not enough for all the returning servicemen)... hard to tell from here. And the Party Stick Pins are so plentiful, easy to copy and cheap to make and buy.
The Baltic States are also known for making a lot of almost-expert-fooling/collector-fooling gear.

I had a pair of silver and blue enamel swastika cufflinks, hallmarked Birmingham 1911, present from my brother- gone missing.

B
T

Thanks, BT. I do imagine that these sorts of things might be manufactured and then distressed for purposes of verism. Luckily nothing cost more than a song. (The guy also had a Beer Hall Putsch memorial medallion, but the quality was horrid and he wanted something like $20 which was more than I wanted to pay.) I am rather confused about the swastika cufflinks you mention (very cool for a costume party, unless your name is Prince William). 1911? I always thought the NSDAP was a post-WW1 development. And why Birmingham? Have these nothing to do with the NSDAP?

Maguire · Jun 19, 2008

This is true but the swastika was in use in Esoteric societies in Europe and elsewhere for quite sometime before the NSDAP adapted it. It was already recognizeable by that point. I've got a lot of Soviet pins and medallions and what appearsto be a Soviet WWII pocket watch commemorating the victory (in fine condition i might add), but no Third Reich memorabilia

Dr Doran · Jun 19, 2008

Maguire said:
This is true but the swastika was in use in Esoteric societies in Europe and elsewhere for quite sometime before the NSDAP adapted it. It was already recognizeable by that point. I've got a lot of Soviet pins and medallions and what appearsto be a Soviet WWII pocket watch commemorating the victory (in fine condition i might add), but no Third Reich memorabilia

Maguire, I'd love to see what you have. Wy not post them on this very thread?

BellyTank · Jun 19, 2008

Doran said:
I am rather confused about the swastika cufflinks you mention (very cool for a costume party, unless your name is Prince William). 1911? I always thought the NSDAP was a post-WW1 development. And why Birmingham? Have these nothing to do with the NSDAP?

No, no- not Nazi ones at all. Birmingham was a silver making town and the hallmark gives a coded year and place mark. The Victorians were well into History and -Genæology, especially re-writing it and claiming exotic/exciting ancestors. The whole Egyptology thing, the Colonies... went on well after the Victorian era.
Just a fanciful piece of jewellery.

Sadly, lost!

B
T

Spitfire · Jun 20, 2008

Excuse me!

"I am rather confused about the swastika cufflinks you mention (very cool for a costume party, unless your name is Prince William)."

Exuse me Doran but how the f... can a svastika be "COOL".

Maguire · Jun 20, 2008

Doran said:
Maguire, I'd love to see what you have. Wy not post them on this very thread?

What a splendid idea. Once i get another day off from work (which doesn't look like it may happen) i may do just that!

Soviet medals aren't too hard to come by though- i mean the USSR only dissolved 17 years ago or so. But nevertheless, it was a different time wasn't it?

Charlie Noodles · Jun 20, 2008

Spitfire said:
Exuse me Doran but how the f... can a svastika be "COOL".

A nice eastern one would lend itself to gold and cuff-links.

Twitch · Jun 20, 2008

I remember back in about 1962 in Hot Rod magazine an Indian fellow had a 1932 Ford 3 window coupe. On the end of the GMC 672 blower shaft he had an Indian swastika- a reverse of the German one. It caused quite few letters even though it had nothig to do with naziism. It was all in the perception.

Today I consider the

to be synonomous with being a rebel and nothing to do with slavery at all even in any strained sense.

The swastika will someday return to that status of a simple innoctuous symbol. In some non-European locales it is equated to a beligerent attitude to ones government for whatever shock value it may have. [huh]

BellyTank · Jun 20, 2008

Twitch said:
I remember back in about 1962 in Hot Rod magazine an Indian fellow had a 1932 Ford 3 window coupe. On the end of the GMC 672 blower shaft he had an Indian swastika- a reverse of the German one.

Most Indian Swastikas I've seen point in the same direction as the Nazi ones.

Do you mean Native American Indian, or Indian..?

B
T

Smithy · Jun 21, 2008

BellyTank said:
Most Indian Swastikas I've seen point in the same direction as the Nazi ones.

Do you mean Native American Indian, or Indian..?

B
T

BT is right Twitch if you are talking about the swastika in Indian (East India) imagery. It can be depicted facing in either direction, there is no set prescription for which way the bars should point.

As many will know the swastika was also in the roundel for the wartime Finnish Air Force but this had nothing to do with Nazism, rather it related to traditional Finnish (and Sami) symbolism.

Spitfire · Jun 21, 2008

The svastika was also found in the vikingperiode in Scandinavia - being a sign of The Sun. It was even used on beerlabels from Carlsberg and Tuborg - that is untill Hitler and his Nazi scum started to use it.
Then it was removed from the labels.

We can talk ever so much about svastikas in other religions, cultures etc. But this thread was about the nazi svastika - and I still do not find it "cool" to wear a nazisign as cuflinks, pin, beltbuckle... whatever.
It's just bad taste and bad judgement.

scotrace · Jun 21, 2008

Please, let's try and discuss the artifacts themselves, rather then the symbols in the abstract. We're among friends and all have high regard and respect for each other's sensibilities on a touchy subject. Our past experience in such threads shows that we really need to stay on topic.

Spitfire · Jun 21, 2008

OK - nice colors and I like the typefase too.

BellyTank · Jun 21, 2008

The cufflinks were pre-Nazi era, pre WW2- actually, pre WW1, as I mentioned.

Spitfire-
Every day, when I was still in København, my Daughter and I would cycle(twice) through the Carlsberg brewery estate, through the huge gateway, with the huge Elephants, emblazoned with huge Swastikas, in the Hindu design.
My Daughter loves those Elephants, her Mother is Indian.
My Daughter doesn't know what a Nazi is.

Svastik is the Indian word, which has been hijacked.
There is a town called Swastika, in Ontario.

http://swastika-info.com/en/startpage/danmark/1069534845.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swastika

Those things which aren't Nazified, cannot be de-Nazified

B
T

Spitfire · Jun 21, 2008

...with my compliments to your daugther

BellyTank · Jun 21, 2008

Yes- beautiful Victorian decoration.

Thanks,

B
T

Stan · Jul 2, 2008

Smithy said:
As many will know the swastika was also in the roundel for the wartime Finnish Air Force but this had nothing to do with Nazism, rather it related to traditional Finnish (and Sami) symbolism.

Hi,

My favorite painting (I have a print thereof, not the original of course) is of a dogfight between a Nazi ME-109 and a Finnish Spitfire. It never fails to garner doubletakes from folks that see it for the first time - a battle between two fighters sporting swastikas. It's the presence of the two very similar -at first glance- roundels that causes the doubletake.

Stan

Staredge · Jul 3, 2008

If you get me a clearer picture of the Lenin pin, I can transliterate the letters. Collected Russian coins for a while, & learned the cyrillic letters.

I collect znachki, the little Russian pins. Have quite a few with Lenin's picture. Always had an interest in Russian history, combined with growing up during the Cold War.

Nazi and Soviet Medallions

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