Badges of the USSR: review, description, collecting. What does faleristics study? What is the name of the badge collector?

Collecting breastplates icons and signs as well as various tokens, formedinto an independent industry in faleristics in the 60-70s of the XX century.
Collecting badges became popular in the first half of the century due to the expansion of international relations, the development of tourism and the mass production of various souvenir, commemorative and other badges by both national and private enterprises. The direction in this type of faleristics usually has a thematic nature: heraldry, history, sports, transport, architecture, and so on.

The collections of some major falerists number hundreds of thousands of different badges from different countries. Scientists in many countries still argue about when the first badges appeared, perhaps when man learned to forge useful things from metal, or perhaps later, when he discovered the process of hardening, smelting, casting and smelting.

Occupying a niche between faleristics - collecting and the study of awards, visual agitation and folk culture, collecting badges has become one of the most widespread and democratic hobbies, drawing into its midst hundreds of thousands of people, united in clubs, and proud individual collectors, connoisseurs of their favorite subject. Collecting badges can overlap with fanaticism; football fans collect badges on a given topic, hockey fans collect badges on their own topic. Meetings are held at various Olympics and other world competitions where Badge collectors show their collections and exchange items of interest with each other.

Of course, within a huge family of collectors there are clans and differences. And those who collect badges on the topic “Religions of all times and peoples” look down on the collector of sports or rock music badges. This world is also vast because the issue of badges (not counting those made at Mints) does not require any high resolution.

Judging by documents and excavations, badges in Europe already existed in Ancient Greece in the form of insignia of clan and army. Following the family coats of arms, city emblems and heraldry appear with their own language and symbols, which the Christian world has followed for centuries. Thousands of enthusiasts are keen on searching for badges with the coats of arms of countries, clans and cities.
Every competent collector will tell you that in classical heraldry there are seven colors - the colors of gold, silver and enamel (niello, purple, azure, green and scarlet), expressing a spectrum of qualities. That gold is a symbol of wealth and generosity, azure - softness and grandeur, and red - fearlessness. That animals occupy an important place on coats of arms. The oldest coat of arms (three leopards in a scarlet field) is considered to be the coat of arms of England, introduced by Richard the Lionheart upon his return from the crusade. That the modern heraldic sign of Moscow (scarlet background and St. George on a white horse slaying the dragon) is based on a 1781 design approved by Catherine II. And on the badge with the “young” coat of arms of the Jewish Autonomous Region, wavy lines mean the Bira and Bidzhan rivers, and the Ussuri tiger deployed against the canon indicates the unusual origin of the region, created by Jews and prisoners expelled by the Stalinist regime to the Far East.
Here you can note the presence of icons with Masonic heraldry.The Masonic museums in Scotland, Germany, and the USA contain not only ritual objects and thousands of volumes dedicated to the history of Freemasonry, but also hundreds of unique icons, testifying to the scale of the movement that has penetrated all continents. A large collection of Masonic badges and tokens is among the 25,000-strong collection of badges of the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg.

In addition to badges of institutes, military academies and insignia issued by mints, the Hermitage collection contains unique icons, released after the October Revolution.
Having made them a propaganda tool, the Soviet state issued hundreds of thousands of propaganda and award badges. Among them were not only the badges of the “initiators of socialist competition” miner A. Stakhanov and others, but also thousands of others, whose plots would seem strange today.

It is worth paying attention toUSSR iconsissued before the middle of the 20th century, among them there are interesting specimens that, due to the small number of issues, can be valued at a good amount.
For example, take the “Excellent Road Worker” badge.

The "Excellent Road Worker" badge was produced in 1943-1957 and has three varieties, slightly different in design. In particular, we are talking about differences in the drawing of individual elements of the token - ribbon, leaves, working tools. There is also a difference in the spelling of the name of the sign and the size of the product itself (about three millimeters in width). The production used yellow metal, oxidation, enameling and silvering technologies.

Today prices for USSR icons on average from 3 to 5 rubles per copy. Such a low price is explained by the fact that the circulation of these products at one time was very, very large. Fans of faleristics, those who collect badges, generally give preference to badges issued before the fifties and purchase them with great pleasure.The excitement of such demand is that until the fifties, only heavy metals were used in the manufacture of badges, and their quantity was not significant.

There are several factors influencing the price of badges, the first is how the badge was preserved, then how many of them are on the market, the presence of engraving is of great importance, the manufacturer’s mark, and so on.
In total, six main groups of badge evaluation can be distinguished:

1. Circulation from 10,000 thousand pieces; Simple design. The price for such badges is about 25 dollars.

2. Circulation from 10,000 thousand pieces; With a complex design, the price will be approximately $75.

3. Small edition pins can cost $100.

4. Rare space or other themed pins with interesting designs and a lot of information can cost $150.

5. Badges with documents in excellent condition and excellent design, which have their own history, the price of these reaches up to $500.

6. A rare exclusive badge can cost more than $1,500.

Some people collect different things and objects for the sake of scientific interest, others - for profit or for some other reasons. In this article we will talk about such a type of activity as collecting badges.

Collecting as a hobby: reasons for the phenomenon

So why do many people love to collect various things (often completely unnecessary and priceless), turning them into huge collections?

Collecting is first and foremost a hobby. And any hobby, as you know, is a way to “get away” from routine, gray everyday life or uninteresting work. A person, spending his free time searching for this or that rare thing, first of all relaxes and is distracted from his daily worries. After all, in this matter he can become a real king, an expert. And thus realize his own, which he cannot fully reveal at work.

Psychologists argue that the main reason for the desire for this activity is purely psychological. At the heart of any collecting is the thirst for accumulating something. Every person always wants to own something significant.

One way or another, what is important for any collector is rather the process of collecting. Finding a new item for your collection and carefully studying it brings great pleasure.

Collecting and its main types

Each collector has his own way, depending on his status. Some people hunt for beer caps, while others collect paintings by certain artists, each of which costs hundreds of thousands of dollars. Collections can be private, museum, state, and the like.

The word itself comes from the Latin collectio, which means “gathering” or “gathering”. Collecting is a human activity that involves collecting certain objects that are united by a theme or specific features. Moreover, this is not simple collecting. Any collecting involves a detailed study of artifacts, their description, as well as systematization.

What types of collecting exist today? There are a lot of them:

• numismatics (collecting, as well as the study of coins from different regions and historical eras);
• Bonistics (collecting paper bills);
• philately (collecting postage stamps and postcards);
• bibliophilia (collecting books, including rare ones);
• peridromophilia (retention of transport tickets);
• memomagnetics (collecting refrigerator magnets is an extremely popular hobby today) and others.

Icons. Collecting badges

Faleristics means collecting not only badges, but also orders and various medals. The term itself comes from the Latin word "falera" - a metal breast decoration that was awarded for military merit.

A breast badge is a small product (most often made of metal) with a specific design and inscriptions. Very often it is an attribute of honor and is awarded to certain individuals for specific merits or success in a particular activity. Collectors are especially interested in state badges and medals. In addition, individual companies can also produce badges.

Collecting badges was especially popular during Soviet times. At that time, almost every third person was doing this.

Types of badges

In faleristics, everything is divided into several types:

• for graduating from a particular educational institution;
• lapel badges of specific organizations;
• breast insignia;
• anniversary;
• official badges;
• military.

Collecting Badges: Prices and Features

Probably every family still has badges issued during the Soviet era. As a rule, these are aluminum products that are not of particular interest to collectors and falerists. Their real cost does not exceed 20 rubles per piece.

Collecting badges is a delicate matter. Here you need to clearly understand what the real cost of a particular instance is.

The price of badges depends primarily on four factors. This:

• year of issue;
• series circulation;
• the metal from which the badge is made;
• condition and appearance.

As a rule, Soviet badges issued after 1960 and with a price stamp are not particularly interesting to collectors. But badges made earlier than this date may potentially be of interest to the falerist. Especially if their circulation is less than one million pieces.

Many small edition pins that have an interesting history can cost several thousand dollars. And for individual exclusive pieces, collectors are willing to pay substantial sums - about 10,000 US dollars.

There is one useful resource on the Internet that can be recommended to anyone interested in collecting badges - "Hammer". The site molotok.ru looks like an online auction, where various lots worth from one ruble to several thousand dollars are raffled off.

Finally

Collecting badges is an interesting hobby that unites more and more people around it. You can start collecting a collection of simple aluminum badges from the Soviet period and gradually move on to searching for more expensive and rare items. In any of the options, collecting badges is a fascinating and very educational activity.

Self-identification is a very important thing in a competitive world, and even more so in sports. In addition to the bright personal qualities of an athlete, team chemistry is considered very important. Fyodor Cherenkov, Eduard Streltsov, Grigory Fedotov, Oleg Blokhin, Lev Yashin will forever go down in history not only as talented players, but also as representatives of certain teams, sports societies, and social strata.

Each team cares about its media exposure and recognition. Badges, as a marketing tool, and simply a stylish accessory, have become quite popular among fans and football fans. In addition to those who buy badges one-time, there are people who collect unique collections of different themes.

The general fascination with badges was called faleristics (from the Latin falerae, phalerae (falerae, plural; - metal jewelry that served as military insignia).

We are interested in faleristics in relation to football, and there is something to talk about here. In the USSR, the culture of issuing badges was developed at a very high level. Industrial plants took on the production of football and hockey series. The main centers of issue were Moscow and Kyiv. The badges differed in design, edition and manufacturer's mark.

An example of a series of icons is the “Footballer” set. Produced at the Kievprodmash Food Vending Machine Plant. Almost all the leading clubs of the Soviet Union championship are represented. The series is distinguished by the fancy colors of the uniforms - there are badges where “Spartak” is in red and blue, “Dynamo” is in red and white. In general, the varied color scheme of signs was characteristic of manufacturers from Soviet Ukraine.

And the next series was released in Moscow at the Pobeda plant, which produced a huge number of badges and was, perhaps, the leader in this industry.

In addition to football and hockey, the issue of badges in the USSR was associated with Voluntary Sports Societies - VSO. Such societies were created in the 1930s and united mainly young people and workers involved in sports and tourism. The attributes of each society were a flag, an emblem, a sports uniform - “colors” and a badge. With the help of DSO, sports and a healthy lifestyle were popularized, and qualified personnel were trained for the army and navy.

A small list of All-Union DSOs familiar to everyone:

• "Burevestnik" (university students and teachers)
• "Vodnik" (water transport)
• Zenit (some high-tech industries)
• "Wings of the Soviets" (aviation industry)
• "Lokomotiv" (railway transport)
• "Spartak" (services, culture, catering)
• "Torpedo" (automotive industry)
• “Labor reserves” (vocational schools and technical schools)

Soon the republican DSOs were united into 2 all-Union ones - “Labor” and “Harvest”. 30 republican societies, 2 for each union republic: one united city dwellers and industrial workers, the second united peasants and rural residents:

• RSFSR - “Labor”, “Harvest”
• Ukraine – “Avangard”, “Kolos”
• Belarus - “Red Banner”, “Harvest”
• Kazakhstan - “Enbek” (Trud), “Kairat”
• Uzbekistan - “Mekhnat” (Labor), Pakhtakor”
• Kyrgyzstan - “Alga” (Forward), “Kolkhozchu”
• Turkmenistan - “Zakhmet” (Trud), “Kolhozchi”
• Armenia - “Ashkhatank” (Trud), “Sevan”
• Tajikistan - “Tajikistan”, “Khosilot” (Harvest)
• Azerbaijan – “Neftchi”, “Mehsul” (Harvest)
• Georgia - “Gantiadi” (Dawn), “Kolmeurne” (Collective Farmer)
• Moldova - "Moldova", "Kolkhoznikul"
• Latvia - “Daugava”, “Varpa” (Kolos)
• Lithuania - Zalgiris, Nemunas
• Estonia - “Kalev”, “Yüd” (Strength)

This set was released specifically for the DSO of 17 characters. Each society personified a sporting discipline.

Here are some more examples of football and hockey series.

These are just a few sets from an extensive range of badges.

90s

The time of the USSR is irrevocably gone, and with it the culture of badges has sharply taken on a more commercial tone. The factories actually stopped producing badges; they were replaced in the 90s by enthusiastic manufacturers who produced sets at their own expense. One of the most striking series is “Russian Football”.

35 signs (Khimki is missing from the photo) reflected the entire flavor of Russian football in the early 90s.

Or a wonderful set of teams from the 1992 championship.

What now

The focus of collecting has moved towards individual design and limited edition, limited circulation. Mass popularity is no longer at a premium. The themes of casual and fanaticism and fashion brands have taken root very well. Club emblems and badge designs began to be stylized to match regional movements and fan groups.

An example is the “Confrontations” series released by the project

What is the name of the person who collects (accumulates) badges??? and got the best answer

Answer from Secret[guru]
Faleristics:
* Collecting orders, medals, badges, any badges, including honorary, anniversary, departmental, graduation from educational institutions, etc.;
* the science concerned with the study of the history of these objects, their systems (for example, the system of awards in one country - see the British system of awards) and their attribution.
People who collect badges are called falerists.
phillumenist
He is engaged in phylumenology and enjoys collecting match labels, boxes, and jars.

Answer from Alexey Viktorovich[newbie]
Collector

Answer from Karenina[newbie]
falerist

Answer from Yatyana[guru]
Faleristics:
Collecting orders, medals, badges, any badges, including honorary, anniversary, departmental, graduation from educational institutions, etc. And the one who collects is probably a falerist.

Answer from Rrrrrrr rrrrrrrr[guru]
Collector

Answer from LENA[guru]
falerist

Answer from Karina[newbie]
collector

Answer from Alexei[expert]
falerist

Answer from Pavel Sidorenko[active]
Faleristics, or collecting badges, respectively, falerist

Answer from Look mom[guru]
Falerist
Faleristics - metal jewelry that served as military insignia, from the Greek. - metal plaques, trinkets), an auxiliary historical discipline that studies the history of orders, medals, insignia and is traditionally included in numismatics, in a broad sense - collecting breast badges and signs, as well as tokens (usually souvenir, anniversary, commemorative, much less often – service, membership, badges, etc.). As a type of collecting it became popular in the 1st half of the 20th century. (in the USSR - from the late 50s) with the expansion of international relations, the development of tourism and the mass production of various souvenir, commemorative and other badges by both national and local (in capitalist countries and private) enterprises (in the USSR about 1 yearly ,5 thousand species). Usually has a thematic nature: heraldry, portraiture, history, sports, transport, architecture, etc. Unlike philately, philocarty, philophony does not rely on a strict system, because it does not lend itself to international or national cataloging. In the USSR, materials on Philately are published in the collection "Soviet Collector" and the bulletin "Philately of the USSR".