Greg Collins

A very good friend just sent me an image of an Excellent Miner badge I have not seen before. Apparently, the "hanger" is missing. Was wondering if anyone is familiar with it- maybe has a complete example in their collection- and can tell me something about it that I can pass on to him.

And the reverse...

Another Dozsa item... a gymnastics medal from 1953. This is my first Dozsa item from the Rakosi era.

The back and nut...

Finally... at long last, I found one of these. This Stahkanovist badge is numbered 177 and has a Komuna nut. Enamel is in pretty good shape for a late '40's- early '50's badge.

Thanks for the list, Charles! I'm going to go back over the book now to see what I can find out.

Page 3- the initial information page.

The last for now is an elementary grade book for Eva Urban begun 31 January 1954... 28 days before I came into this world. No photo spot here (unfortunately), but plenty of grades and teacher's comments.

Page 3- the initial information page...

Just inside the cover... the other end of the unsightly rivet. She was, in my opinion, quite a "looker"; her grades were good, as well.

Next, the engineering grade book of Piroska Tokes begun in 1952. I'm showing the cover, inside cover and page 3. As with the military book, the remaining pages are full of information.

Inside cover and page 1...

A few documents from the Rakosi era that I recently received... the first is a soldier's book belonging to Pal Wagner and begun in 1953. I'm showing the cover and the first inside pages; the remaining pages are nearly all written on and many are stamped. If you want to see any of these pages, just ask.

Charles, Believe it or not, I had one of those offered to me not too long ago and, like a fool, I hemmed and hawed over the price (I believe it was $70). When I finally made up my mind to go for it, it was gone. Another "the one that got away"... :speechless:

There's a Hungarian look to this badge, in my opinion. I have several badges that are similar to it, although the hinged clasp is decidedly different. Nice looking badge wherever it's from.

Charles, I would also implore you not to leave. I would hope that we are still all friends/comrades here. Ulsterman, To date, I've not heard of any outright fakes other than the exchanging of the Kadar emblem for the Rakosi emblem (easy enough to do) on certain awards. I would also be curious if there are other types of fakes being sold.

Gentlemen, It was never my intention to cause such a rift when posting three, simple ribbon bars. I regret the decision- never thought it would lead to this. After all, when the original material (ribbon itself) is deviated from (paper or paint), and given the fact that the designer may use some "artistic license" because of the supplies at hand, what we have here is a representation at best, and will never actually be sure of what we're looking at without the award documents present. And that's well and fine because it is, after all, the way it was.

Charles, The reason I believed these were Public Security medals rather than Silver Service to the Nation is that the tricolour is not "rimmed" in gold and the blue on the Service to the Nation medal is even darker than on the Public Security medal... unless there is a variant of which I am not aware.

Jeez Charles, I dunno... Infantry Communications collar tabs, fitting loops for the shoulder boards- indicating '51 rather than a later modification and a full set of Rakosi seal buttons... looks pretty standard to me. Overall uniform colour seems gray rather than olive/khaki, but this could just be either fading or my monitor. What am I missing?

And now an eight award bar... Workers and Peasants medal, two Public Service medals (should be in the third and fourth places), the Medal for Labour/Service (should be second), and medals of Service for 25, 20, 15 and 10 years. I find it interesting that the Public Security medal is depicted in light blue on two of the bars, and darker blue on one of them.

Next, a four award bar... Workers and Peasants medal, Public Service medal (should be third), Liberation Commemoration medal of 1969 (should be second), and a 15 Years Service medal:

Picked up three ribbon bars- paper under plastic type- the other day. The "ties that bind" them are that all have the Return of Power to the Workers and Peasants medal and the Public Security medal, indicating the bearer was in service prior to 31 December 1956. Also, in all instances the ribbons are out of order... not unusual in many Warsaw Pact nations. First, a bar with three awards: Medal of Labour/Service (should be in the second spot), the Workers and Peasants medal (should be first) and the Public Security medal (light blue here):

Well... Kevin's excuse was pain killers... I really don't have a good excuse for that one- even looked at the piece while I was typing. Whew! Maybe I'm being revisited by the early '70's, I dunno...

Gordon, So, from what you're telling me, the award is basically the same but in a different time frame, with the predominantly white badge being after '70-'75ish and the predominantly green badge used before that (from '57 until the beginning of the white badge). Hope I've got it right. Cimbineus, Thanks for showing the variations. Mine, I'm told, was made in Czechoslovakia at the Stalin factory there- the nut seems to attest to this although nuts can be replaced. I would like to get my hands on the first variation you show... I like the darker background with the silver plated guard. Appeals to my design aesthetic a bit more than the others. Bolder.

Gordon, Can you tell me how the badge I just posted interfaces with this badge; which is the higher award or, perhaps, are they given for different aspects within the Border Guard?