hunyadi

Very nice - it will be very interesting to see what the research reveals. On a side note I find 50% of the collecintg part is finding the item , the other 50% is banging our heads against the wall when we "could have and should have..."

When I compared this one to one of the known musuem copies, you can tell the difference in quality! I wonder if there is a MAP or PV park somewhere on it? But dont try to remove the ribbon to find out!!! Congratulations again - another nice piece to a fantastic collection.

Not realy a militaria thing - but you never know - wrap plates in newspaper and put them in the box verticaly. A plate is stronger around the rim rather than the center, so you have less chance of breaking. AS for putting stuff in boxes, I like to plan on some guy (usually me!) dropping the box from 4'. So I pack things with that in mind...armor, armor and more armor. Its the worst point in ones life to be the one who destroyed a piece of hisotry...its right next to people talking on cell phones in a movie theatre and....

If you read the book 'Fly Boys', you can read about this rescue, and the grim fate of the others in H. W. Bush's group...not many war books make me squirm, but that one did!

Very nice! Was this the one at the Bedo auction??? I know that there are many of the 'museum' copies around, though this does not look to be one for sure - I wonder if you have had the chance to inspect it closely? Any makers marks? Congratualtions! A very hard itmes to find indeed!

This is the badge for 'Excelent Artillery Marksman' - about as common as pigs flying....

interesting to see some of our local collecotrs / dealers gracing the pages...

some of the pages...

There have been rumors that this was going to be published "soon" since this summer. Finaly arrived just in time for Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all! And thank you all for contributing to the best site! Thanks also goes to some of the best people I have ever encounterd anywhere! Thanks to Dan (Hauptman) for a lovely gift!

And they make a great Christmas present!!! Thanks to Mikolas (St. Nick in Hungarian) in the USA and the UK for my copy - of additional interest is one of the cap badges in my collection now from pg 16

Yes we do -

top shot of the belt

and a belt buckle - well - half of one... the seller had 'fixed' the other half out of a Pioneers (KISZ) belt buckle. Shaved off the flag and glued on a SZIT badge. Not till I got it home did I recognise the 'extra' work...

Got a couple of items from the organization now - a cap badge

and the book for #444

So close to Gordons - #826

Celebrations held on March 15th were only for two days and the political parties used it to all they could - here is a nice badge I got lately that would have been worn by someone - I think this may have been for the Smallholders Party? But not certain???

Here is a bronze class - there was no finish on the badge for the bronze calss except a laquer coating - this one was probably found in a dump - but its representative...

To compare - the 1948 "HV" or Hatarvadasz (Border Hunter Badge) these were awarded to all in bronze for being in the borderguards, then it couldbe awarded in silver for 2 1/2 - 3 years of service or capturing 60 people trying to cross the border illegaly. This is the gold grade actually and was awarded for 5-6 years of service, capturing 120 people or as a recognition award by the deputy of the Bordergurads to anyone (usualy a commemorative piece for upper ranks in the military)

Borderguard badge - Zsolt - do you know when these badges were used???

Shots taken with the camera today

Yes there were only 19 good commisars in the HUPR. The Kivalo badges for any segment of the military be it infantryman, artillery observer, etc... were pretty hard to get - they were not dished out to the masses and it was not until 1953 that the Hungarian Military reached its peak in terms of size. In order to get the badges in many cases (not just the politicla one) you had to show above and beyond your duties, you had to be the "poster child" of your profession - (IE others had to want to reach your level of proficiency) along with needing to have excelent grades on all your exams, etc... many of the requirements were so subjective that naturaly the decision on who got the badges was also determined by the commanding officer at company or regimental level (depending on the type of badge). So not only a great soldier but also a good 'politician' with the upper ranks. It is my belief that the badge was only avaialble for a couple of years - and political officers were mostly done on a battalion level - company in odd cases, that you had to be very special to get the badge. I showed the badge to a couple of other dealers - many exclaimed that they had not seen one in decades... I feel very lucky! Yes Dan - dreams do come true is all that I can think of... but after landing these two today - ready to pack up and head back...its not going to get better, well it could....

Hitlerites with torches??? Sorry could not resist...

I think the size of the bar used was also be determined by the size of the wearer. I have seen 13 medals stuffed onto a 7 1/4" bar, but it was tight and it was to a Munkasor (no stiff regulations in that organization for sure) but the numbers given by Akos seem to be pretty standard. Nice to see a complete set of these. Not easy to find the bars even by themselves anymore.