Bulgaria Some Bulgarian enamel

[Theodor]

Hi guys, these days decided to gather a small collection of commie Excellent /Excellent this... Excellent that.../ and other awards-badges. Still these are common and cheap, but sooner or later will be over, so decided to use the opportunity. And they are quite nice, with lots of details and enamel. So, here is a fast catch:

[Gordon Craig]

Theodor,

I agree that in the future these readily available Communist era badges will eventually be harder to find and will go up in price. For this reason, I have started to pick up a lot of the small Hungarian badges. There is a wide variety and even now some of the organizations they represent are getting hard to identify. Would you like to tell us what some of these badges were for or what organization they were from?

Regards,

Gordon

[Theodor]

Hi Gordon, I am myself not very sure what is what... But here is a try. If you manage to read my hand-mouse-written numbers , they go like that:

1. Order of the Red Banner - this is the first commie order, given to army men. Could be awarded for bravery during war or for good work against "the people's enemies" during peaceful times. Piece of junk numbered 5172 on the back.

2. This is a GTO badge which means Gotov za Trud i Otbrana - "Ready for Labour and Defense". These are badges from the DOSO /Voluntary Organization for Cooperation to the Defense/ - a typical commie organization, engaging the youth /and not only/ in the defense of the country against the capitalist agressors An organization, including antiair and chemical defense, ideological training, sports training, shooting training, etc. etc.......

3. Another DOSO badge - "Ready for anti-air and chemical defense".

4. Otryadnik - Detachmen leader... something like that.... as far as I know these were worn by volunteeers who helped the work of the police /Militia/ at ceartain events - for example guarding manifestations.

5. "Excellent" badge of the Ministry of health. Newer version with paint

6. Same, but older enamelled version.

7. "Ready for Labour and Defense" 2nd grade - another DOSO badge, probably a higher grade than the one shown earlier?

8. For Long Year and Conscientious labour - not sure if it is for civil workers or for members of the Construction Troops /probably both/.

9. For Shock-Labour - this one was given to members of the Construction Troops for excellent efficient work.

10. Excellent in the Combat and Political Training - army excellency award badge.

11. Ready for Labour and Defense - 1st grade - I guess this is a later version of the DOSO badge, because is simplified

12. Membership badge for the Komsomol, the youth organization of the Commie party.

These come with certificates of small booklets, my idea is to gather such, too, they are not very common - the badges are easier to find then the documents.

[Gordon Craig]

Theodor,

Thanks very much for taking the time to do all of this work. I have an interest in Bulgarian uniforms, among others, and it is nice to know the names of at least some of the pins that could be found on them.

Regards,

Gordon

[Theodor]

I just remembered having a few more pieces.

The left medal is "For Merits to the Bulgarian People's Army". Next to it is an Interior ministry award - medal "25 years Interior Ministry 1944 - 1969".

The left badge is Excellent in the Railway Troops /these were special troops under the command of the Transport Ministry/ and the right badge is another type of Komsomol youth badge.

[Theodor]

Two small additions - a badge for good shooting and a membership badge and card of the "Union of the fighters against the fascism". The guy joined in 1948, it is indicated that he was participant in the final stage of the WW2.

[nickstrenk]

The topic was created but no images in it,so I decided to put here some photos of nice Bulgarian badges.The Youth Sport -Falcon Union in Sofia.Probably the Congress of the Sport Unoins.

Edited April 18, 2018 by nickstrenk