BalkanCollector

Wasn't this cross established in 1916? Karl became the emperor in November 1916. EDIT: Seems like we've replied at the same time. @GdC26

What an amazing mapcase and a very amazing project! I have my grandpa's leather mapcase (Yugoslav People's Army) and it still has a lot of pencils, erasers, rulers and other stuff that he used. Not as cool as your piece though since it's much more common.

Thank you for sharing these amazing pieces from your collection!

Thank you for your quick response! The spying industry was blooming at the time so no wonder it had its representatives in the fair.

Can someone help me identify this Czechoslovak badge with a year 1946 on it? It has a maker mark KARNET KYSELY on the back.

Very nice badge! It's a youth railway 1947 shock worker badge. These are rarer than the regular shock worker badges with a year only. I've seen them go for as much as 20€.

We're talking about some very expensive bananas here. ?

WOW, the details on this fruit bowl are out of this world!

The road Čačak-Titovo Užice 1960 badge. It's interesting that the road was built the same year as parts of the Highway Brotherhood and Unity as shown in one of the previous posts. Other than that, I don't know much about the badge nor the labour action for which it was issued.

These are amazing. I love the fact that so many of these are numbered and made of silver. Thank you very much for sharing them with us!

Great! Please let me know when you open the thread in case I miss it.

Adriatic Highway (Jadranska magistrala) 1964 badge. Adriatic Highway stretches along the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea and it passes through Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro. It was built during the '50s and '60s but I've only seen the badge with a year 1964 on it.

Indeed! It would be more interesting if they were numbered but at least you can match any badge to a document to complete the set. I would really like to see them. Please send me a private message with a link if you posted them somewhere.

Probably the most famous Yugoslav labour badge of them all, the shock worker (udarnik) badge. Shock workers were highly productive workers and they got these badges for their labour merits. There are many of these badges with different years on them and some of them even have extra writing. For example the youth railway (omladinska pruga) or highway (autoput) which indicates that the badge was meant to be given to a shock worker who worked on these labour actions. Here is my shock worker badge from 1959.

Now some documents... Here's the group of documents issued to my grandpa. He participated in two youth labour actions, Highway Brotherhood and Unity 1958 (Ljubljana-Zagreb) and 1959 (Paraćin-Niš). He was a regular worker (brigadir) in 1958 and a commander of company (komandir čete) in 1959 when he earned a shock worker (udarnik) badge. He was a worker of the 3rd Belgrade Youth Labour Brigade which held the name "Žikica Jovanović Španac" in 1958 and "Boris Kidrič" in 1959. My grandpa got three badges, highway 1958 and 1959 badge and a shock worker 1959 badge. Unfortunately, the badges are lost and I only have his documents. Highway 1958 Highway 1959

The work to connect north with south of Yugoslavia continued 8 years after the Zagreb-Beograd part of the highway was built. These were the highway labour actions by a year: 1958 - Zagreb-Ljubljana (80km, 53,323 people) 1959 - Niš-Paraćin and Demir Kapija-Negotino (110km in total, around 51,000 people) 1960 - Niš-Grdelica and Udovo-Gevgelija (113km in total, around 48,557 people) 1961 - Grdelica-Skopje (138km, 46,699 people) 1962 - some final work on the highway and I think this includes parts of highway in Serbia and Macedonia 1963 - Osipaonica-Beograd It is said that 251,737 people participated in the labour actions from 1958 until 1963 which finally completed the highway and connected Ljubljana with Gevgelija. I think that the number 251,737 is based on the addition of the number of people who participated in each of these actions and not the total number of different people so I believe that the number of different people participating in these actions is lower since there were people who participated in multiple of these. For example my grandpa participated in two actions, the one in 1958 and the one in 1959 so his share in the total number of people 251,737 is most likely 2. I've only seen one badge design for the highway labour actions from 1958 until 1963 but with different years on them. Here are two examples from my collection with years 1959 and 1962 on them. 1959 1962

Perhaps one of the most famous labour actions was the Highway Brotherhood and Unity. The first part was built between Zagreb and Belgrade in the length of around 400km of highway. The preparations lasted from 1946 until 1948 and the work started on April 1st 1948 and it lasted until July 15th 1950. I've seen different badges for this labour action but I only have the one from 1949. The one from 1950 looks the same like this one but it obviously has a different year on it and instead of the white enamel part where there's the text bratstvo-jedinstvo it has light blue enamel. I've also seen a star shaped badges with a screw on the back and with a date 29.XI.1949. on them. These are more rare and more expensive. Here's the example of the badge from my collection.

This one is a personal favorite. Vinodol 1952 badge for the construction of hydroelectric power plant Vinodol and the road Delnice-Gornje Jelenje. Unfortunately I don't know much more but I've seen the same badge with years 1953, 1954 and 1955.

Thank you Gordon! Stay tuned for more although I don't have a lot of them since I only started collecting these recently. Keeping up with the theme...Youth Railway 1951 (Omladinska pruga 1951). Railway Doboj-Banja Luka (90km) was built from March 1st 1951 until December 20th 1951 and it is estimated that over 87.000 of people participated in this labour action. The difference between the first two badges I posted and this one is that the first two badges are pressed sheet metal and this one is a heavier full chunk of metal.

Another similar badge for a different labour action, Youth Railway 1947 (Omladinska pruga 1947). Railway Šamac-Sarajevo (242km) was built from April 1st 1947 until November 15th 1947 and it is said that 217.234 people participated it the labour action.

I started gaining interest in Yugoslav youth labour actions (omladinske radne akcije) badges recently and I couldn't find any thread related to the subject so I decided to create one. I will post examples from my collection and I'll try to give some information if possible. First and foremost, the badge Youth Railway 1946 (Omladinska pruga 1946) of the first post-war youth labour action in Yugoslavia. It is said that 62.268 people, mainly youth volunteers, built 90km of railway from May 1st 1946 until November 7th 1946 and connected the two cities, Brčko and Banovići. These badges came with small booklets isued to recipients of the badge but I only have the badge unfortunately.

I just started gaining interest in Yugoslav youth labour actions so it's nice to see a Bulgarian counterpart of such work. Thank you for sharing!

Very nice! Too bad you can't post the photos.

That's very nice! We don't see many of those with documents. Please share some pictures if you're willing to do so, there are some of us who geek about this stuff very much.

Thank you very much for your quick response! What do you think about the authenticity of the medal on the pictures I posted?