Hungary Hungarian People's Republic Awards

[Ed_Haynes]

For some reason, I thought we had a thread for Hungarian PR awards. Apparently, we do not (or at least I could not find it).

OK, we have one now. Please post away!

[Ulsterman]

OK: Will do-the most common award, the excellent workers badge. A friend of mine is in the process of writing a really good article about these;there were a lot of variations of the badge and redesigns made to reflect both the political and economic changes in Hungary from 1949-89. It's the most common Communist era award out there and lots of fun to collect-and so far, cheap, with no fakes. The early ones are really well made too.

Edited October 3, 2006 by Ulsterman

[Ed_Haynes]

My sole contribution:

Munka ?rdemrend / Order of Merit of Labor

Cased, with ribbon bar.

[Ulsterman]

Another one: This one was awarded to the communist old Guard-no Nagy supporters got these. Slightly less than 10,000 were ever issued.

[Guest Rick Research]

here are a couple from the back pages:

http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=3631&hl=Hungarian

and

http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=953&hl=Hungarian

[Ed_Haynes]

here are a couple from the back pages:

http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=3631&hl=Hungarian

and

Oops, how'd I miss 'em!

Can you do your Moderator Magic and conjoin these, Oh Great Rick???

[Ulsterman]

Oops, how'd I miss 'em!

Can you do your Moderator Magic and conjoin these, Oh Great Rick???

by the way Ed:

Did you know the hungarians also had a Spanish Civil War commemorative medal? Only @ 174 awarded.

[Ulsterman]

Here is the 1959 , 40th Anniversary of the Revolution Commemorative medal-28,001 awarded, possibly to 1919 Communist revolutionarys who fought the Freikorps and Horthyites as well as to undeserving Communist Apparatcheks.

Edited September 29, 2006 by Ulsterman

[Ed_Haynes]

by the way Ed:

Did you know the hungarians also had a Spanish Civil War commemorative medal? Only @ 174 awarded.

Yes, and I am in quest of one . . . pant, pant.

Here is the 1959 , 40th Anniversary of the Revolution Commemorative medal-28,001 awarded, possibly to 1919 Communist revolutionarys who fought the Freikorps and Horthyites as well as Communist Apparatcheks.

And that one too (new for me). Lovely item, lovely history!

[Ulsterman]

und a bar @ 1980. What do you think Ed-worth starting another "bars" section in the OMSA database perchance?

[KeithB]

15 Year Long Service.

[KeithB]

with award document

[KeithB]

I have three more. I don't have any books that cover Hungarian awards, and while I wrote down exactly what they were I can't seem to locate it. If anybody wants to name these I would be appreciative. I do remember the first two are labor, and the third is military but beyond that I am drawing a blank.

#1

Edited September 29, 2006 by KeithB

[KeithB]

#2

[KeithB]

#3

[KeithB]

Finally a Order of Merit as posted in a linked thread, though this one is silver

Edited September 29, 2006 by KeithB

[Ulsterman]

#1 is the "Munka Erdemerem" of 1954-'the Labor medal': 20,652 awarded.

#2 is the "Szocialista Munkaert Erdemerem:1954-57" or the 'Socialist Labor Merit Medal': 7,092 awarded.

#3 is the "Kivalo Szolgalatert Erdemrend" or the 'Merit Order for Outstanding Service': 4,248 awarded.

Edited October 3, 2006 by Ulsterman

[Bryan]

Hungarian Merit Medal of Socialist Labor (1953 model)

[Bryan]

Hungarian Medal for the Serivce to the Fatherland

[KeithB]

...

Thank You

[Hauptmann]

Hi all,

Okay, here's my contribution.

My Labor medal:

[attachmentid=55710]

[attachmentid=55711]

[attachmentid=55712]

[Hauptmann]

Here's a little ditty I picked up off Ebay back in April of 2005 for a mere $17.50. It was mislisted as a "Vintage Russian (?) Medal with Red Star - In Box".

What caught my eye was the case (I'm a sucker for cases) as in my current experiences with Soviet bloc awards most tend to have come in either cardboard boxes, cheap plastic cases or in fairly decent looking cases but with no base on the inside on which to rest the medal. Either that or it has a base but it's made of thin, cheap plastic perhaps with a thin coat of cheap flocking.

However, the key word with this award is not cheap but quality.

The case on this one (again at least to me) screams old world craftsmanship. It's heavy, solid and well made. That and the look of the "badge" and the fact that it's silver seemed to indicate 1950's vintage since most of the more recent communist pins and badges I've seen tend to be in aluminum or some other cheap metal if not in plastic.

Outside of case:

[attachmentid=55714]

Inside of case:

[attachmentid=55715]

Badge obverse:

[attachmentid=55716]

[Hauptmann]

Badge reverse:

[attachmentid=55719]

It also seemed to have a fairly low serial number - E108:

[attachmentid=55720]

And in the base of the case:

[attachmentid=55901]

When I had originally spotted the badge I did some reasearch to find out what it really was and managed to discover the following:

After several name changes the MHS name was used for the Hungarian Sports Federation For Defense. That name was used from 17 August 1957 up till 08 August 1967.

The other wording on the badge: Kivalo Munkaert stands for Outstanding Manpower (or Labor).

I could not resist... I bid and luckily won. I've never regretted it since. It's a small badge but well made and the case is as nice as I imagined it would be. Plus I've never seen another set like it.

I've been wondering if this was the standard of quality for such small, humble awards at that time or if perhaps this was made up for some party bigwig or one of his/her children?

Again if anyone has any further information on this piece I'd love to hear from you.

Thanks,

Dan

Edited October 3, 2006 by Hauptman

[Ulsterman]

sent you a pm Captain! NICE badge.

Below is zinc Sztahanovista workers' badge with no serial #. Awarded in 1954 this type was phased out shortly thereafter. Look at the enamel work-superb!

Edited October 3, 2006 by Ulsterman

[Hauptmann]

sent you a pm Caotain! NICE badge.

Below is zinc Sztahanovista workers' badge with no serial #. Awarded in 1954 this type was phased out shortly thereafter. Look at the enamel work-superb!

Hi Ulster,

Wow! Very nice indeed! I love the blues and candy apple reds they used on so many of their awards and badges. Really stands out.

Hope you'll post the back too.

And thanks again for all your help on mine. Can't wait to hear more... excitement, tingle!

Dan