cimbineus

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This badge was established in 1959 in three degrees: gold, silver and bronze. The inscriptions for the silver and bronze grades are "HADSEREG BAJNOKSÁG", (i.e. ARMY CHAMPIONSHIP), but for the gold grade is "HADSEREG BAJNOK" (i.e. ARMY CHAMPION). During the first four years the badges indicated the year in which the award was made. At the same time for the silver and bronze grades there was on the balls a roman "II" and "III" respectively. The ball and the badge were monolithic. These badges are rare.

From 1963 the indication of the year was discontinued, but the badge still remained monolithic for some more years, but later a separate silver ball was attached to the badge on the top of the basic ball with a screw.

So, Gents, the whole collection would consist of 18 badges:

- 12 with indication of years (1959, 1960, 1961, 1962)

- 3 without years, but no additional silver ball

- 3 without years, but with silver balls.

Regards,

cimbineus

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...and the back:

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This was the badge of excellence for the reconnaissance troops and paratroopers between 1950 and 1956 and it was identical for soldiers, NCOs and officers:

Regards,

cimbineus

I still dont buy that one enough - the badge with an original Rakosi coat of arms would fetch probably five times what I paid for this one. If these are being reporduced then why are they not flooding the market? The demand is high. I would have expected to have seen at least three or more on Vatera or even Ebay over the past few years - but I have not seen any... or have I been missing them all???

I still think this was a State Mint prototype - or produced badge but was sold off in the 1990's.

hunyadi,

Please, do not take it personally. I do not argue with you and I have no intention to convince you. My only intention was to help you and others who collect Hungarian medals and badges by sharing with you my opinion. I tried to protect you Gents from a possible disappointment.

In literature I have met just two serious and reliable mentioning of this badge. There was nothing about reconnaissance and paratroopers and this kind of mystified things. This badge was what the inscription says: "EXCELLENT PLATOON" and was awarded to platoon leaders before 1957 with the '49 coat of arms on it.

The badge with the '57 coat of arms has no credibility amongst specialists in Hungary, that is why you can meet those badges not too often, but time to time appears a new "fortune hunter" who tries to place these badges on domestic and foreign auction sites to sell them for beginners or abroad. Sometimes on those sites you can meet fantasy medals too which never existed even as a "prototype"…

Regards,

cimbineus

Gents,

I am sorry to say, but to my best knowledge, there was no such a badge. I mean the one with the '57 coat of arms. This badge is one of the favorites of the counterfeiters, because it is enough to stick a tiny coat of arms to the original badge, and the "scarcity" is ready for putting on the market. (... accompanied with a nice story, of course...)

(About a year ago, one of our members, being in Hungary at that time, met one of these badges, but he was wise enough to resist the temptation, as far as I remember.)

Regards,

cimbineus

Gents,

Here are three "KIVÁLÓ" and "ÉRDEMES" badges from the very first series of badges of the mining industry.

Regards,

cimbineus

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Gents,

Thank you very much for your kind words.

Regards,

cimbineus

Colleagues! Help needed...

We need so much photos as possible of interesting variants ( medals and also miniatures) of austro-hungarian wound medal for an article in czech phaleristic journal SIGNUM. Please help us to find uncommon variants!

thanks..

Ivan - Iver

Iver,

Here is a bronze one:

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... but for any case, here is a closer look:

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Gents,

There was another, a third type of this badge too. That is an RRR!!! rarity grade piece, and only one piece is known so far. This picture shows all three types together, and gives an impression on the sizes of the badges. There is no need to say which is the extremely rare one, I guess...

Regards,

cimbineus

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...and the backs:

Gents,

Let me join this thread too, please. Here are some variants of the mentioned badge.

Regards,

cimbineus

I don't think it's Customs Agent, in the sense that he was a civil servant in government employ. I think he was a private individual offering services to help businesses and people get things through customs, following necessary paperwork, storing in warehouses, etc.

I fully agree with this interpretation. The "Customs Forwarding Agent" helps the foreign companies, representatives, embassies and individuals in dealing with local customs authorities and bureaucracy.

Gents,

This is another relatively scarce "KIVALO" badge. "KOZERGEPIPAR" stands for "MEDIUM MACHINE INDUSTRY" whatever "medium" means. (Definitely not "heavy" but not "light" either... )

Regards,

cimbineus

...good work Péter, its something totaly different as in B/W... Maybe U could add whats written on the other side (if there is something), maybe someone has schematismus and can identify him ... I hope we will see more of them especialy that old soldier with EKO, MVK, Red eagle order etc...

Hi Iver,

Here is an online Schematismus. Although it is a bit limited, but nevertheless, extremely useful:

http://www.militaria...?aazon=1&elso=0

Regards,

cimbineus

Gents,

Let me add one more early badge to this excellent school badge collection:

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This is the same badge from a different perspective:

Gents,

This is the very last version of the "plain" "KIVALO DOLGOZO" badge. It existed just for some months in 1989, right before the changes.

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...Was there ever a "roll" published of who got these?...

Most probably, no, there was not.

...Were there newspaper stories about the "old vets" in the media?

Yes, there were some, but mostly politically motivated, colourful and not reliable at all stories, censored and approved by the Communist Party.

cimbineus

... and here is the Certificat...

... and the seal of authentication: