Hungary T?RZSG?RDA IGAZOLV?NY

[Gordon Craig]

Gents,

With some item of memorabilia that we collect, there comes a "story". I am going to start this thread with a "story". Last Saturday morning, Charles and I met at our usual 8:00 at the monthly Militaria Show in Budapest. The only difference this time was that I had a friend along so Charles and I didn't spend the whole morning together. At one point, Charles was offered a bunch cased and uncased awards for x Forints but wasn't interested. Some time later, my friend and I happened to staop at the same table and were made the same offer. I stood there for a while pondering buying the awards, most of which I did not need, and while I stood there pondering the vendor kept adding item after item and when he finally stopped I said Ok. It took the both us to lug the stuff to the car. Not large items but too much for one pair of hands.

I did so well at that table once I went back a second time and picked up the subject of this post. A 10 ?VES T?RZSG?RDA IGAZOLV?NY. There is no simple one word translation for T?RZSG?RDA. Basically what this is is a Certificate recognizing 10 years of faitful service to the CSEPEL VAS-?S F?MMŰVEK (Csepel Iron and Metal works). Csepel is the largest island in the Danube by Budapest and the Csepel Iron and Metal works is well known for manufacturing tanks and Messerschmit fighters for the Hungarian Armed Forces in WWII. In the pictures below you will see the plastic folder that the certificate comes in. Inside the folder is ther certificate giving the recipients name, the nuber of the certificate , date and place of birth of the recipient, the name of the company the rcipient worked for, and the date of the award. Inside the folder, in a celophane envelope was a paper called a T?RZSG?RDA - TAG with the 10 year pin stuck through it. On the other side of the TAG is the pins number "6415" with a repeat of the information on the other document. What I find interesting about this pin is that it was numbered. The number is actually engraved on the back of the pin. In the load of stuff I got at this vendors table were some 10 and 15 year pins to this company and some were numbered and some were not. This indicated to me that they were only numbered when awarded. T?RZSG?RDA pins are common and come in an endless variety of shapes, sizes and colours but this is the first company I have seen that numbers their pins. I find these pins interesting because there were so many of them. I imagine the majority of workers didn't get awards or a Stahanavista so these pins would have been well received as thanks for a job well done. I good I dea I think rather than waiting until some one retires to give them a momento. As I sort through my box of goodies I'l post more of these pins to give you an idea of the wide variety of styles. If anyone out there has some, please post them as well.

Regards,

Gordon

[Gordon Craig]

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[Gordon Craig]

Picture #3

[Gordon Craig]

Picture #4

[Ulsterman]

Interesting stuff. Nice pin-note the alloy it's made of and the year-1967.

[Gordon Craig]

Ulsterman,

Your point is well taken re the alloy. Since I was not aware of the alloy dates etc. until your post on the Partisan badges I never thought much about the "staybrite" qualities of these badges. Since they came from a factory in the metals business they would have been up there on the latest materials. Thanks for your work on the Partisan Badges alloys. Great stuff. I'll post some other T?RZSG?RDA pins later today. Some use the same alloy others different types of materials.

Regards,

Gordon

Edited April 13, 2007 by Gordon Craig

[Hauptmann]

Hi Gordon,

Very nice pieces. Can't wait to see more! Sounds like you really lucked out. How I wish I could get over there and dive into some of this stuff. I wish we could still find deals like this over here. But anymore, even when folks don't know what they have they just assume it's worth a ton and price it accordingly. But I keep hoping I'll find a real "deal" on some goodies at some point. Our towns yearly gun show is this weekend. I'm planning to go see what they have. I have a feeling it's mostly going to be hunting related stuff and of course guns and knives. Nothing wrong with that... love it all. But not sure if there will be any militaria to speak of. But there's always hope.

But based on what Charles sent me and some of the other Warsaw Pact pins I've seen over the years I'm about as close to being hooked on them as one can be. Great stuff.

Thanks,

Dan

[Gordon Craig]

Dan,

I will have a number of pins left over, duplicates mostly, and some from WP countries that I will be disposing of shortly. I am still sorting through them and deciding which of the WP and youth associated pins I wish to keep. I'll PM you when I am done with the available pieces and prices. They won't be expensive.

Regards,

Gordon

[Hauptmann]

Dan,

I will have a number of pins left over, duplicates mostly, and some from WP countries that I will be disposing of shortly. I am still sorting through them and deciding which of the WP and youth associated pins I wish to keep. I'll PM you when I am done with the available pieces and prices. They won't be expensive.

Regards,

Gordon

Wow! Thanks Gordon! I'm looking forward to it. Really appreciate that!

Dan

[Gordon Craig]

Ulsterman,

Haven't had time to sort through my pins yet. Too much new stuff to buy!

Here are some a additional T?RZSG?RDA items that I picked up in the last couple of days. First up is a T?RZSG?RDA book from a company with the initials BHG on the cover which stands for BELOIANNISZ HIRAD?STECHNIKAI GY?R. I haven't done any research on this firm yet and bought the book and badges because the book has several pages in it that refer to these types of pins and it might contain some useful information once I have time to look at it. There are two pins inside the book pinned through the plastic cover. One is gold and the other black. There is nothing on them to indicate how many years they were awarded for which is unusual. Perhaps that will come to light when I translate the book but nothing jumps out at me from the pages I have looked at so far. Here are the pictures of the book.

[Gordon Craig]

The interior of the front cover with the pins showing.

[Gordon Craig]

The next pages showing the date of 1960 plus the signatures of the appropriate people.

[Gordon Craig]

The next pin is very large for these type of pins. It measures 43mm (1 3/4") by 43mmThe quality is also superior to most pins I have seen. Perhaps it is of better quality because it is for MAL?V, the state airline, and would have been prominently displayed on one of the crew's uniforms. Unfortunately, there was no documentation with this pin and I really would like to have seen that.

Edited April 13, 2007 by Gordon Craig

[Gordon Craig]

The reverse of the MAL?V pin.

[hunyadi]

Here is an interesting one that I picked up recently - these badges are very common, its finding the uncommon ones. I have no idea what this one is for as it is devoid of year or place / factory. But the interesting part is that the badge is numbered. which is uncommon.

[Hauptmann]

Here is an interesting one that I picked up recently - these badges are very common, its finding the uncommon ones. I have no idea what this one is for as it is devoid of year or place / factory. But the interesting part is that the badge is numbered. which is uncommon.

Hi Charles,

Another great find! I do love those numbered sets! And I really like the pin clasps on both pieces. Very nice how the one on the mini stickpin is flattened and curved out like that. A great set!!!! Congrats my friend! Here's to you finding many more before you head home!

Dan

[Gordon Craig]

Charles,

Nice set. As you say, I have seen these pins around but have no idea what factroy they were produced for. Dp you remember if the book we saw at the National Museum had pins like these in it?

Cheers,

Gordon

[hunyadi]

Charles,

Nice set. As you say, I have seen these pins around but have no idea what factroy they were produced for. Dp you remember if the book we saw at the National Museum had pins like these in it?

Cheers,

Gordon

Not to my knowledge...