Gordon Craig

The stick pins of the 25 and 35 year awards and the gold 35 year badge.

My previous post deal with the medal presented to members of the professional and volunteer fire fighter of the state of B-W. All German states do not issue medals to recognize long service. Some use a breast badge. One of them is Rheinland-Pfalz. EHRENZEICHEN FÜR LANGJÄHRIGE DIENSTE HONOUR FOR LONG TERM SERVICES AUTHORIZED IN 1985 (OR 1983-DEPENDS ON THE REFERENCE THAT YOU USE) BY THE PRIME MINISTER OF RHEINLAND PALATINATE THE SILVER AWARD WAS FOR 25 YEARS. THE FIGURE “25" APPEARS ON THE BACK OF THE BADGE WITH OAK LEAF SPRIGS ON BOTH SIDES. THE GOLD BADGE WAS FOR 35 YEARS. THE BACK IS THE SAME AS THE SILVER EXCEPT THAT THE NUMBER 35 IS BETWEEN THE OAK LEAF SPRIGS. THE BADGE IS 39MM X 51MM. THE AWARD CASE MAY, OR MAY NOT, CONTAIN A STICKPIN FOR WEAR WITH CIVILIAN CLOTHS BUT ALWAYS CONTAINS A RIBBON BAR. A MINIATURE OF THE BADGE IS IN THE CENTRE OF THE RIBBON BAR. IN FEBRUARY 2010 A FURTHER BADGE WAS INSTITUTED FOR 45 YEARS OF SERVICE. THIS BADGE IS SIMILAR TO THE GOLD 35 YEAR AWARD BUT WITH GOLD A OAK LEAF SURROUND. SERVICE TIME SPENT IN THE YOUNG FIRE BRIGADE AND THE MILITARY CAN BE COUNTED FOR THE AWARDING OF THESE BADGES. IN TWO LINES AROUND THE BOTTOM OF EACH BADGE IS WRITTEN; FÜR VERDIENSTE IM FEUERWEHRWESEN FOR SERVICES IN FIREFIGHTING I'll start with the award from my collection. Regards, Gordon

AN AWARD TABLE AND, THE FORTY YEAR CASE AND THE 50 YEAR AWARD.

THE CASE FORE THE 25 YEAR AWARD. THE MEDAL IN THIS CASE IS FOR THE STATE OF NORDRHEIN-WESTFALLEN. THE CASES FOR BOTH STATES ARE THE SAME EXCEPT FOR THE WORDING ON THE FRONT.

BADEN-WÜRTTEMBURG “FEUERWEHR-EHRENZEICHEN IN SILVER UND GOLD” FIRE DECORATION IN SILVER AND IN GOLD INSTITUTED ON 25TH OF JUNE 1956 THE SILVER AWARD IS FOR 25 YEARS SERVICE AND THE GOLD FOR 40 YEARS OF SERVICE. WRITTEN AROUND THE OBVERSE CIRCULAR SECTION OF BOTH AWARD IS; FÜR VERDIENSTE IM FEUERSCHUTZ. (FOR MERIT IN FIRE PROTECTION IS A LITERAL TRANSLATION BUT IN ENGLISH IT WOULD PROBABLY READ "FOR 25 YEARS OF LONG SERVICE")THE REVERSE OF THE AWARD IS PLAIN WITH A SLIGHTLY PEBBLED SURFACE. THE RIBBON IS RED AND WHITE FOR BOTH AWARDS BUT THE SILVER HAS A SILVER STRIPE ON THE EDGES OF THE RIBBON WHILE THE GOLD AWARD HAS A GOLD STRIPE ON THE EDGE OF THE RIBBON. PERIOD PICTURES INDICATE THAT THE SAME RIBBON STYLE IS ISSUED TO BOTH MEN AND WOMEN. BOTH STAGES OF THE AWARD MEASURE 43MM X 43MM. THEY COME WITH A RIBBON BAR FOR WEAR ON THE UNIFORM AND SOMETIMES A BUTTON HOLE DEVICE FOR WEAR ON CIVILIAN CLOTHING. THE LARGE RIBBON BAR WAS THE FIRST TYPE ISSUED AND IT IS DEVOID OF ANY DEVICES. LATER ISSUE RIBBON BARS WERE MUCH SMALLER AND FEATURED A DEVICE IN THE SHAPE OF THE CROSS ON THE AWARD. SINCE 1981 SERVICE TIME IN THE YOUNG FIRE BRIGADE COUNTS AS OF THE 14TH BIRTHDAY. THERE WAS NO YOUNG FIRE BRIGADE WHEN THIS AWARD WAS AUTHORIZED. FROM 1945 UNTIL 1956 THERE WAS NO MEDAL AWARDED. ONLY AN HONOUR CERTIFICATE. A CERTIFICATE IS ALSO AWARDED WITH THE 1956 MEDAL. ON THE 26TH OF JULY 2011 THE COUNCIL OF MINISTERS ADDED ANOTHER LEVEL OF THIS AWARD FOR 50 YEARS OF SERVICE. THIS STAGE IS CALLED “FEUERWEHR-EHRENZEICHISCHES IN GOLD IN BESONDERER AUSFÜHRUNG” FIRE DECORATION OF HONOUR IN GOLD FOR SPECIAL EXECUTION. THE RIBBON ON THIS AWARE HAS AN ADDITIONAL GOLD STRIPE ON THE RED PORTION OF THE RIBBON. THIS LAST STAGE RECOGNIZES SERVICE UP TO THE AGE OF 65. THE OBVERSE AND THE REVERSE OF THIS AWARD, IN SILVER, FROM MY COLLECTION..

E.L., Thanks very much for your response. Now if we could only figure out what the stylized M stands for my search will be complete. Regards, Gordon

Peter, Thanks your your thoughts/comments. Italy has been mentioned before by other who have commented on this pin and that is a distinct possibility. I guess that the quest for ID goes on. Regards, Gordon

Gentlemen, This stick pin came with an assortment of militaria items. I have been unable to identify it. Anyone have any suggestions? Regards, Gordon

hunyadi, Thanks. Gordon

Stogieman, A very interesting grouping. Lots to study here. Thanks for posting the pictures of all the documents. Like Hunyadi, my Russian is rusty from lack of use, even the small amount I used to understand. The blue covered document is associated with the MVD and was possibly an ID card for that organization. Hunyadi, Is this guy/number in your book? Regards, Gordon

Gentlemen, How about an auction number so we can all see this auction. Perhaps we could help with estimating price then. Regards, Gordon

Stogieman, Was it sold on ebay.com or some other ebay? Regards, Gordon

Gentlemen, We seem to have a dispute over the authenticity of a medal sold by one forum member to another. Before this gets to be a problem I suggest that you try and resolve this matter outside of the forum. Especially if the transaction took place outside of the forum. Please do not make any more posts about this particular medal on this thread. Regards, Gordon Moderator

Rick, Welcome back! I hope you are back for good. Regards, Gordon

Easty, Yes it may take some time to find one of these badges. Mine came from Hunyadi and he acquired his when we both lived in Budapest. He had the edge on me as he speaks Hungarian. Regards, Gordon

Easty, The period between the end of hostilities in Hungary and 1948 when the government became a communist controlled one was one of turmoil and little certainty. Very few awards were produced during those years. The government was more concerned about feeding the people than producing medals etc. As far as Hungary goes, if you are only collecting partisan war time of post war awards I would consider the ones produced in 1945 best suited to your collecting interests. Whether they were produced in the Soviet Union of Hungary wouldn't really bother me. Hungary simply did not have the capability to produce medals/awards etc. in the first years following the war. Historically, medals and awards were produced in the Hungarian State Mint and right after the war this was not possible to do. These 1945 badges are very rare especially those that still have the parachute attached. I have one of Soviet manufacture and one of Hungarian manufacture and the parachute is missing on both of them. Good luck in finding some for your collection. Regards, Gordon

Ulsterman, It depends upon which badge is being referred to. The Partisans Badge of 1945 or the Hungarian Partisan Commemorative Badge. The Partisan Badge of 1945 began to appear in mid 1945. It is still unclear to me if this badge was created by the M-P-B-Sz, (Hungarian Partisan Fellowship Association) although I suspect this was the case, or the Hungarian Government. It was not until late October that regulations were written by the government allowing this Partisan Badge to be worn on army uniforms. The early Partisan Badge of 1945 were manufactured in the Soviet Union. Exactly how many or during what period is unknown to me. The Hungarian Commemorative Partisan Badge, a modified design of the Partisan Badge of 1945, was was officially created by the Council Of Ministers on December 5th, 1954. This date was picked to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Hungarian Struggle for Freedom. The first of theses badges were not produced until 1955. Less than 7000 of these badges were produced then. After the first badges were awarded by the Hungarian Government, subsequent badges were awarded under the guidance of the MPBSz. Although I do not have any proof, I believe that the unnumbered, stay bright, Hungarian Partisan Commemorative Badges were produced by the MPBSz. I apologize for my brief comments above. I should have been clearer. Regards, Gordon

Easty, All of these badges would have been issued during the Communist period. The communist period is considered to be from 1948 until 1988/1989. Regards, Gordon

Alex, The NBC troops in the BW were responsible for decontamination of equipment personnel etc. Here is a link to WIKI that explains what they do. I tried to post a translated very to the forum but it kept saying that I had posted too many photos. http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/ABC-Abwehrtruppe_(Bundeswehr) The green DDR hat is for the Volkspolizei and the grey pipped one is for DDR Prison Guards. Regards, Gordon

In post war times, from 1945 to 1962, the tail points towards the head of the lion. These buckles were made of steel. Here is an example of a post war buckle for the dates mentioned.

GC*, I can not tell you when and where this cap badge was produced but I can help with when I think it was worn. I've researched the belt buckles of Czech origin and this would appear to conform to the belt buckles worn before the war. The only way that you can tell is by looking at the tip of the tail of the lion. In pre war times the tail points upwards. The buckles were made of brass. Here is a picture of an pre-war buckle.

Michael and Uwe, Interesting question. I received a lot of Ebeling's hand written correspondence when I bought this uniform including pictures of him wearing it. The pictures are all in black and white so I can not tell if the aesculaps is different colour or not. I checked the uniform and the pins on the aesculaps on both shoulder boards are gold. Perhaps the gold finish has disappeared over the years due to interaction between the material the aesculaps were made of and the material used for gold finish. I have no doubt that this uniform has not been alter in anyway from the time when Ebeling wore it. Regards, Gordon

Michael, Which photo/post # are you referring to? Regards, Gordon

Steve, Interesting picture and an interesting combination of awards. Regards, Gordon

Michael, Thanks for adding to the thread but I do not see any fotos on your links. The first link shows an Olympic torch and the second one just gives me a page to search for something. Regards, Gordon