hunyadi

After sorely missing the Axis Forces dagger dispaly in the Hungarian Military Museum, I thought we could start a virtual one here. Please post any and all WW2 period Air Force Dress Daggers...

Naturally I will start off with something Hungarian

After searching for five years now for one other (I sold my 1944 NCO dagger in 2003 ) I finnaly found an original. This is a Royal Hungarian Air Force officer grade pilots parade dagger. Original war time production. She is a bit salty - but she is not a four letter word that starts with "F". as many you see today are (as enterprising folks used parts of the old dies in the 1960's to make 'museum copies'....and till recently they produced many more...

Anyhow - enjoy - if she could only tell the tales....

1st model from my sources seem to indicate that it should be 82mm in diameter. this was the 1849 model

2nd models were created in 1872 were 92-95mm in diameter. The wreath indicates that it is a war medal - without swords for behind the lines type of serivce - with swords for more 'frontline'

The PPSh are a separate piece - from 1953-1957 they were soldered on and could easily come off. They simply used the Merit Medal of Socialist Labor and added the machine pisotls. However - it would not make much sense to fake one of these by removing the PPSh as the military is far more rare. In 1957 they useda different die and incorporated an extra chunk of metal for the PPSh to be affixed by a rivet through. (this is the form that Bryan posted) Then iin 1964 they went to a 3rd design which had a massive bar on the reverse that supported the star, and the PPSh. These are more rare as less than 5000 were awarded from 1964-1989.

Anything pre 1964 has great quality to it - interensting as the 1964 revisions were for the upcoming 20th annaversary of the end of WW2....

As for fakes - there are a few - mostly muddled with items - but still one can spot them pretty easily - I would say you may find one in three hundred to be messed with in some manner - but wait - just wait I am sure more is coming....

Another one I will have to dug out from the closet to get a scan of the reverse,

Bryan

This is a Distinguished Service Medal - similar form but its got the crossed PPSh's at the bottom - this is a military award...

Does anyone have a time-line on these at all??? When they were made, awarded, numbered onese vs. unnumbered ones?

somethign that would have normaly resulted in someone being awarded the bronze grade of the Order of Labor...this was the lowest of the labor awards in 1953. Notice the three stripes on the ribbon for '3rd class' (Merit Medal of Socialist Labor has two close together) But - what constituted being awarded the Bronze Order of Labor in 1964 or the Labor Merit Medal from 1953 to 1964 was purely subective. Do a good job, be a good Party member etc...

Here is the breakdown of the award numbers according to the Blue Bible (the numbers are not exact to the Large Medals Book)

1953 858 (first form of the medal only)

1954 1706

1955 3584 (10th annaversary of the end of WW2)

1956 1802

1957 493 (1956 revolution didnt make folks happy to hand out medals)

1958 1404

1959 921

1960 1763

1961 1164

1962 1167

1963 1179

Total 16041 (about 1400 per year)

You generally see the safety pin on the civli awards as they normaly did not take the time to sew on a ribbon loop. As with all of the labor awards - they were given out subjectivly on merits and accomplishments. This form was the mid grade of the labor awards from 1953 to 1964. The wording of the Order of Labor, Merit Medal of Socailsit Labor and the Labor Merit Medal were intended to be awarded by the ?Hungarian Peoples Republic to those who in the interest of service to and the furtherance of building socialism by outstanding merit?. Pretty vague...

Reverse of the same medal

Merit Medal of Socialist Labor

Insituted in 1953 under the 5th Law of 1953, the Merit Medal of Socialist labor had the same criteria and wording as the Order of Labor and the Labor Merit Medal. This was considered to be a replacement for the silver grade of the Order of Labor as instituted in 1950. Like every award instituted in 1953, the follwing year they were all redesigned. This is a 1954 version of the Merit Medal of Socialist Labor and was awarded from 1954 to 1964. This particular form has the 'Rakosi' coat of arm in the center and was only awarded from 1954 to 1956.

reverse of the same award. Note that the wreath was originaly done in silver plate - but it has mainly worn off of the front section.

Though these have been discussed elsewhere - I thought it would be good to start a thread on some of the other labor awards:

Labor Merit Medal

In replacing the lineage of the 1950 Order of Labor the Labor Merit Medal was intended to be third in the trilogy of the new Order of Labor as instituted in 1953. Interestingly enough in the proclamation of the 5th law of 1953, the wording for the Labor Merit Medal was the same as the Merit Medal of Socialist Labor and the Order of Labor. As such it was intended to be the lowest form and in essence to replace the Order of Labor in bronze from 1950. With all of the awards created in 1953 under the 5th law, they all underwent a design change for 1954. This particular form was awarded between 1954 and 1964, though this example would have been issued from 1957 to 1964 as it has a mini on the ribbon.

Here is a recent Order of Labor in Gold that I aquired. Its a very nice early example with the hot enamel and very sharp details.

Just to get an idea how rare the 1950 to 1954 sereis was: The list of numbers reflects all three grades awarded per year (acording to the data in the Blue Bible):

1950: 347

1951: 590

1952: 840

1953: 21

After reviewing the threads - I noticed that we seemed to have covered the Bronze and the Gold, but the Silver was not touched (though they were posted elsewhere..) To start off this thread - I will post a recent find: This is the Order of Labor in Silver issued from 1950 to 1953 when the Hungarian Parliament passed the 5th Law of 1953 (April) which disolved the Order of Labor in Gold, Silver and Bronze. In its place only the Order of Labor was used which was a gold class. To fill the gap of the silver and bronze classes in 1953 they used the Merit Medal of Socialst Labor (silver equivalent) and the Labor Merit Medal (bronze equivalent). This of course was done till 1964 when it was brought back in its three classes. Afte that the Merit Medal of Socialst Labor and the Labor Merit Medal were canceled.

You never know what you are going to find on a nice spring day...Order of Labor in Silver 1950 issue with the mini and ribbon bar. To say these are hard to come by is an understatement....

Gordon - my condolances.

Gordon did a great explination on the two outter medals. These were the type issued in 1964 as long service medals to individuals in uniform. The following year a new design was created and a Gordon explained this type was set for civilian contractors in the ministry of defense.

THe silver police medal looks to be a nice early type with hot enamel on the prismatic star. As Dan pointed out this is the silver type: issued for 15 years of service in the police forces.

Lastly you have the 'Service to the Fatherland' medal in bronze. This was the first medal designed and issued by decree of the Ministry of Defense (boefre it had been the council of ministers or the presidents council who created medals and orders) in 1956, just a month before the October 23rd revolution... Though after the revolution of 1956 the medal was continued. Though in my opinion one of the most honorable looking medals - it was only awarded for a 'good job' - 'pat on the back' type of medal. The bronze being the lowest grade.

Does anyone know what this is? Is it an organization of some sorts??? As you can see the armband has seen better days. Any help would be apreciated.

Finding an original ribbon is near impossible. I have a replacement type if you are interested PM me...

Hi Dan - breeding these eh?

The one is:

Order of Merit of the Socialist Nation awarded in 1967 on May 1st to 9516 of the 'die hard' old bolseviks.

reverse

Since I like Partizan items: I was able to find one of these - no number, so possilby a re-issue? Either way its a nice little badge with a nice 'utopian' reality sculpturing to it.

A new find: Distinguished Artillery Radio Operator

Yes - there is endless research - actully the book that we have (Xerox) has all the badges 'listed' but not all of them illustrated. So that actually has more in it than the regulations have. I think probably about 25% of the badges never had a regulation published - OR - they were published in 1955.... but where is the regulations from 1955.....hush, hush....

Thanks for the link! I was able this weekend to find a book - the best match to the truck is a Csepel 350 series.

Nice one Ilja! Just to clarify - this is for the Gold Class of the Security (Police) Service Medal. The gold would have been awarded for 30 years of service. The individual in this document was a police captain.

I would assume that this is a 'memorial card' as the bottom reads in Hungarian 'Gods Happiness' (name) then 'In rememberance of his mercy'

Very interesintg - wonder what else fit on those loops on his chest???