hunyadi

Hi Darrell - Both are 'WW2' manufacture but they are not the earilest type. The fist forms came with the 'wrap broach' - the style seen on many earleir awards. From what I have learned the first bronze stars seem to have been awarded to the Navy and the USMC and therefore came with the wrap broach and hte shorter 'coffin' style boxes. However - there is no way to tell if these are truly WW2 era - as they made millions of this 'sewn broach' Bronze Stars and they were awarded in Korea, Vietnam and even up to Desert Storm...

The 'Swank' BS's you see on ebay are in my opinion surplus awards that were found in PA and issued to Desert Storm troops. They were being sold at something like .85 cents ea as I recall when I conversed with the vet.

Still - they are well above the quality that is handed out to our hero's today...

Same thinig is in the pipe lines for US awards with the badly written 'Stolen Valor Act'. Its interesting that there is a thinner line between 'buying' Soivet orders and 'stealing' Soveit orders. I can understand the Russian Federations position as it has seen since the early 90's collectors pouring into Russia and leaving with trunkloads of historical items. Will it truly ever 'dry up'? I cant say. But the ethical question of the moment is 'does the Russian federation need to hold on to every decoration - and even - will they?' can you see them hoarding all the Order of the Red Star's and using them for historical, cultural research? Doubt it - so what happens when a family line dies off - or the old soldier who passes silently in his sleep and the children dont have any interest in the items - flea market? or trash can? Who benefits in the end? As collectors we do hold a (small) yet important role in the preservation of history. Think of how many 'globaly' recognised treasures woudl be simply lost to decay and rot had it not been for an individual to cherish and keep relics of the past - even ones that were never in a direct family connection to the family of the collector. Rembrants? Van gough? - in many of these cases it was never 'a state' to preserved such items...

Yes - the 'yawner' is a nice badge - dont get me wrong, its just one of hundreds of seemingly obscure badges for long service. Aside from that its a well constructed badge.

And the 'yawner' of the evening. Hungarian Trade Council's Union Medal for service to the Trade Union in Gold. Most of the gold wash to the star has flaked off but it is still present on the miniature. The badge came in two grades Gold and Silver. Gold was for 15 years of serivce in SZOT (HU Trade Councils Union) and the Silver is 10 years. The 15 year award came with 3000 HU forints bonus (1 1/2 months pay) and the silver came with 2000 HU forints.

reverse - again notice the wire holder and the enameled gromet - an earlier feature.

And the icing on the cake - A cased Order of the Red Star. I missed out on the really good deal on Ebay a while back - I had one Order of the Red Star before, but the case has eluded me. (1574 ever awarded of this type) Untill now - The Order itslef has a few flaws - but its character in my book.

you can also tell this is an early issue as the ribbon has the wartime wire and gromet design for holding hte medal to the wire - when buying any HUPR awawrds - try to find this feature. In the 1970's they used a flat piece of aluminum in place of a bent wire. Avoid those if you can!

I think there has been one posted before - but this one is a nice early 1964 era Order of Labor in Gold (20,540 awarded) Its early because the case is not made from the painted on leatherette that ended up becoming some sick and sticky good when the box became exposed to weather above 80 deg. You can litteraly stick these boxes to the cieling - but this is not one of those 1970's disasters (they switcehd to the plastic ones to save money after that)

and a nice cased Workers Militia Medal for 5 years of service in the Workers Militia. Insituted in 1964.

Ah yes - the Kivalo Munkaert (Excelent Job / Work) ...you are right it is a off shoot for the Workers Badge. Instituted in 1975 for specific works and projects for both 'the young and vigorious' (I dont make this up folks - its what the law said) and the 'wise and educated' (huh?) Unlike the Workers Badge this was a medal and could be worn with a medal bar. The medal carried with it a bonus of 3000 Hungarian Forints (about 1 & 1/2 months salary).

As this is a mid 1970's medal you will find them in the high impact plastic - the type of stuff kids plastic toys are made from for heavy outdoor use. 'Big Wheels' come to mind... with usualy a crushed felt lined plastic insert. The 1970's was where we begin to see the decline of the economy and as a result the older wood and leatherette cases vanished.

Right now - and I am sure subject to change in the near future - no one is faking any of the Hungarian People's Republic awards. At least not here. I have seen a few very junky lead copies of some higher awards, but unless you were less than 8 years old you wont fall for them. The worst offense that I have seen yet is taking post 1957 awards and switching out the 1957 coat of arms for the 1949 coat of arms to increase the value.

Here is a few ditties I picked up today - first off is a cased Excelent Workers Militia Badge.

Very nice Sal -

From the photos it seems that the enamel on the obverse bulges out slightly - is that true? My Balfour is fairly flat on the enamel on both sides.

Its a tightrope we all walk.

Those are some coins with more than history behind them - those have Character! I love that Kaisers coin! That is not a damaged underdog thats a gem!

Ahhh ... I see .... tell the wife "Buy me that for Xmas". Then have her wrap it up for the big surprise on Xmas morning.

Many of us have done that before

Actually it was coming through the door with two big bags of stuff and a smile on my face ear to ear.

'What did you find?'

"An amazing grouping...."I said

'OK tell me about it...'

Two minutes of explination cut short

'So how much was it?'

Price

'Can I get this for you for Christmas?'

"Sure" I said.

Its the type of thing I have been looking for for over five years now and now jsut found one. Some folks on the forum know a little about it already - but even then I was only able to get through 25% of it before I made the decision to buy and buy quickly. I have not been able to pour over it sinc then. So in a way it will be a surprise. It has been decades since I was a kid wanting to peek and see what I got in the Christmas 'hide-a-way'

Sweet! I have never seen one marked like that - but then the pre WW2 EK's have a little bit of everything imaginable. Very nice

Hi Folks - the time is now in getting the groupings - mainly because the old guard is dying off and if the trash pickers dont find it the families are taking them to the coin shops or the militaria shops or the fela markets. Five years ago this stuff was hard to find - the medals sure but documetns and groupings...hardly ever. Now they are coming out of the woodwork. But alas the internet is driving up the prices....

The Militaa Badges are similar to the Workers Badges as you got them for doing a good job while training, guarding, etc...Earlier awards were for 5 years of service as well, but when they introduced the Workers Militia Medal in 1964 this practice died and went back to 'good work' form. Many times a militia member also worked in the factory - so they also qualified for the Workers Badge as well for increasing production.

Below is the 'Turba Lot' Militia Badge (the star shaped one) with the document. Next to that is the badge for Military Related Industry Workers Militia (gurading the warehouse of AK-63's or rockets, gurading the small arms factories, etc...) Sadly, I cant tell from this lot where he served. Also is the Workers Militia arm band that woudl be worn while on guard duty.

Wow! Those are lovely. Nice labor groups like that would tempt me to Hungary in a split-second!!

Thanks for sharing.

Wait till you see what I got today - thoguh it has to wait till Christmas as its a gift from my fabulious wife.

C'mon Doc - you have to come over to the Dark Side -

What is one more addicition... there is an entire world behind that old Iron Curtian to collect.

and one other Workers Milita lot - this one is a lttle less complete as there was some water damage to the documents and some did not survive. Its interesting to see that he was awarded the Socialst Workers Medal - a high medal to be sure and the Meritorious Serivce to the Nation in Gold in 1966 - the document on this is exquisite!

Here is a lot I aquired recently to a Workers Milita member. He was in the Workers Milita for thirty years. He was given his second Workers Militai medal (red / blue ribbon) in October of 1989...the communist party was over a month later....

And the reverse - its a nice thing to see that the two came from different factories - this one is maker marked, but the number is higher and has the dished out reverse

Here is what one looks like in better shape...

If you cant read it its #510. This one is from 1948 the first year that they insituted the Workers Badge - this one is one of the more common that are found for Metal Workers - there were 13 variations of the center motif... this was found at a flea market in a box full of junk military insignia...its been there....

Why is it that the most rare are the ones to suffer....

OK back to sport stuff - Here is the gold and silver classes from post 1957 - 'Haditorna' diapears from the lower banner as seen in the Rakosi era badge and is replaced by KHT 'Katonai Hadi Torna' (Soldiers Combat Sport) Far left and far right (from what I have been told by another collector) are for the local military sport competions while the gold in the center is for the national - notice the wreath.