Yugoslavia YU Lapel Pins

[Christian Zulus]

30th anniversary of workers selfmanagement - 2 Slovenian lapel pins from a table medal

Gentlemen,

I introduced that table medal at this thread: http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=18495 .

Here are the 2 matching lapel pins:

Best regards

Christian

[Christian Zulus]

JAT lapel pins - communist period

Gentlemen,

these are JAT lapel pins from the communist period.

The first one is just an ordinary JAT pin and the second one is commemorating the introduction of the BOEING 737-300 aircraft into the service of JAT - might be around 1980 ?

That's the link to JAT-Airways http://www.jat.com/ , one of the savest airlines in the world .

Best regards

Christian

[Laurence Strong]

I like those Was there a significance with the Bronze, Silver and Gold JNA pins?

[Christian Zulus]

I like those Was there a significance with the Bronze, Silver and Gold JNA pins?

That's the question to our native experts ...

Best regards

Christian

[Christian Zulus]

JAT Boeing 737-300

Gentlemen,

JAT took the Boeing 737-300 in the year 1985 into service:

So, that lapel pin has to be from the year 1985 .

Best regards

Christian

JAT lapel pins - communist period

Gentlemen,

these are JAT lapel pins from the communist period.

... and the second one is commemorating the introduction of the BOEING 737-300 aircraft into the service of JAT - might be around 1980 ?

That's the link to JAT-Airways http://www.jat.com/ , one of the savest airlines in the world .

[Christian Zulus]

Branko Karakas - YU-composer & head of JNA-Music

Gentlemen,

yesterday I had the honour to meet Col. Karakas and to speak with him about his career in the JNA and his years with Marshal Tito.

He showed me a lot of photographs with Tito and him. I recognized, that Col. Karakas had 3 (three) different uniforms matching to the different events with Marshall Tito:

- Colonel of the JNA-Army

- Colonel of the JNA-Airforce

- Captain 1st rank of the JNA-Navy

I asked Branko Karakas: "What's that, you can be either Navy, Airforce or Army?"

He told me, that Tito made a big journey with the Galeb and as the head of the JNA-music-department, he had been with him with some musicains. JNA-Music had normal army-uniforms. So, all the high-ranking officers & admirals were sitting togehter with Marshal Tito and all - inclusive Tito - had their bright white navy-uniforms - only Col. Karakas wore the olive-green jacket of the JNA-Army. Tito asked Branko Karakas: "Why do you wear such an queer army-uniform on board of Galeb?" Col. Karakas answered: "Marshal, JNA-Music has only army-uniforms, because we belong to the army." Tito told him: "For the future, whenever you come with me, you will wear the appropriate uniform: Navy, Airforce or Army."

So, Col. Karakas had promoted to the only officer of the JNA - besides Marshal Tito himself - with matching ranks & uniforms in all branches of the JNA .

He showed me his orders & medals:

- Brotherhood and Unity 2cl

- Order of Yugoslavian People's Army 3cl

- Order of Military Merit 3cl

- Order of Merit for the People 3cl

- and some medals

Well, I think, that's a nice collection for a renowed YU-composer, who worked as the head of JNA-Music .

Best regards

Christian

Staff-lapel-pin of Tito's yacht "Galeb"

Gentlemen,

Tito used a very large yacht, the "Galeb" (= seagull), for his journeys around the world. The ship is now on sale again: http://www.sybarites.org/2006/05/08/marsha...-auctioned-off/ and in a really bad condition .

I got this - rather large - lapel pin from Branko Karakas, renowed YU-composer, conductor, JNA-colonel & personel director of music of the late Marshal Tito:

He told me, that this was the lapel pin for the staff at Tito's yacht "Galeb".

Best regards

Christian

BTW: I asked Branko which military orders - as a colonel - he got from Tito. He told me, that he received all the 3rd classes of most of them .

[leigh kitchen]

Some of my pins.....

Edited July 27, 2007 by leigh kitchen

[leigh kitchen]

And most of the rest, not many of them have a military link.......

[Christian Zulus]

Dear Leigh,

amazing collection .

Please, could you part the scans and post some blow-ups .

Best regards

Christian

[leigh kitchen]

Ok, some more detailed scans - 1

[leigh kitchen]

2

[leigh kitchen]

3

[leigh kitchen]

4

[leigh kitchen]

5

[leigh kitchen]

and 6

[Luka]

Here is my little collection, I could have many more but I dont have much interest in these pins

[Christian Zulus]

Here is my little collection, I could have many more but I dont have much interest in these pins

Dear Luka,

many thanks for showing your collection to us .

I think, that there are some nice military ones among them - could you post us a short description of the items - many thanks in advance .

Best regards

Christian

[Mukerjee]

Here is my little collection, I could have many more but I dont have much interest in these pins

Nice collection; I have many of these representing "Brotherhood/Unity" from the "Land of the Southern Slavs". Actually, collecting militaria/political pins from communist/other eras is a cheaper way of collecting history. Like stamp collecting, you can pay less for damaged items. They also make great conversation pieces when you wear them at the office or a party!

Edited January 26, 2010 by Mukerjee

[Mukerjee]

And one for the JNA

Thanks nice pins. I have the JNA/other Yugoslav militaria pins. They come in may colrs and sizes. In fact I always wear them when I am in Kosovo or Sarajevo as a "proud recuiter" for the JNA; the early 90's in the Land of the Southern Slavs showed us that Brotherhood and Unity lives on!

[Valter]

In 70's and 80's pin collecting was extremly popular in ex-Yu, hence there are many many political, organisational, sports, trade etc. pins - almost every organisation, factory, local community, club, even pub or shop - had their own pin. These pins often came in "sets" i.e. bronze, silver, gold, and these "grades" served no purpose, except fulfilling collector's demand.

The other kind of pins were those produced "officially" as a form of award, recognition for some merit, membership, or a miniature of larger scale badges (i.e. para or military school badge's miniatures).

I have only a handful of them as I don't really collect pins

1st. pic, from top left to bottom right: air force; artillery school center; (signals school ??? I can't really read it on pic, and I dont have the pin at hand right now ...); bottom row- turned upside down: air force technical school center (2x); war school; ground forces academy (the last 2 are miniatrues of official badges).

[Valter]

Reserve officers of infantry school in Bileća (my school!!! ); music service NCO's school; general military high school Franc Rozman Stane, Ljubljana; military high school Brotherhood & Unity, Belgrade (last 3 are minis of official badges)

[Valter]

30 years of armored units (there's also bronze version - no official meaning of these "grades"); artillery of Slovenian partisan IX. corps anniversary; XIX. Slovenian partisan liberative shock brigade Srečko Kosovel (mini of semi-official commemorative medal); Tito's guard mini.

Edited January 27, 2010 by Valter

[Valter]

10th class of ground forces academy; navy NCO's school anniversary; 70 years of military industry; AA forces anniv.; air forces anniv.

[Mukerjee]

10th class of ground forces academy; navy NCO's school anniversary; 70 years of military industry; AA forces anniv.; air forces anniv.

Excellent addition on YU pins. Are these the only official ones? Should I assume military pins were official? Which ones were sanctioned by the government? With this info, I would know what and what not to bid on Ebay. GMIC should consider a section on militaria, retired militaria, militaria-like (Stasi, etc.) lapel pins from other countries since these are generally cheaper to collect than medals, are easier to store, and can even be worn today.

Edited January 27, 2010 by Mukerjee

[Valter]

Excellent addition on YU pins. Are these the only official ones?

Noooo, there are plenty more of them. It's hard to determine which ones are "really" official, as military archives are in Belgrade, inaccessible to foreigners and probably also to ordinary people from Serbia (Saša, do you have some more information about accessibility to archive sources?). But speaking broadly, all badges of schools, academies etc. should be approved by Ministry of defence or general staff or some other authority, and this usually included approval to produce minis for civlilian dress (the same minis were often used as a small gift to official visitors etc.), so i consider "official" pins that are minis of school badges, and the same goes for minies of other badges - para, border troops, guard ... Other pins - anniversary, veteran organisations, factories and institutes related to military, were probably also approved by "someone", but that could be on a much lover level, i.e. the commander of school or chief of some office. Partisan-related pins were approved and given out by veterans organisations of former units (those also produced some commemorative medals) and their production, number, quality and award criteria varied - some pins were considered almost as decorations, others were just sold or given as souvenirs.

There were 30+ different military schools with their badges, and usually there were a couple of different minis for every badge - silver, gold (color, not real silver or gold), enamelled, painted ... so there should be 100+ "official" pins + even more unofficial.

As far as i know, there's no catalogue of ex-YU pins. :speechless:If you are uncertain about some ebay item, just ask (you can PM me), but many of these had highly exaggerated prices ; a "realistic" price for most pins should be a couple of € or even less; exception are some rare pins from early years.

Should I assume military pins were official? Which ones were sanctioned by the government? With this info, I would know what and what not to bid on Ebay. GMIC should consider a section on militaria, retired militaria, militaria-like (Stasi, etc.) lapel pins from other countries since these are generally cheaper to collect than medals, are easier to store, and can even be worn today.