I found a number of German WWII medals in my uncle’s footlocker a few months ago. I’ve been trying to figure out what they are, with limited success. I have nine that I know are German, and two that I don’t know what they are. I’ve scanned them in, but my photo editing program will not allow me to add text to the photos.
I know two of the medals, the one with a ribbon is a Third Reich social welfare medal. The red and white diamond is a Hitler Youth. The large square one seems to be a belt buckle, and the green one is attached to black felt.
The second group I don’t know what they are, though one says “Rebublica Mexicana 187(?)”.
I would like to know what I’ve got here so I can store them and label them.
Yeah, the “square one” is a belt buckle. Zinc. Alamost certainly a political/party member one. They sell for $50-100.
The “Republica Mexicana” is a silver mexican coin from the 1870s, but has been cut out with a jigsaw. This was popular to do with coins in the 1950s-60s. We put them out for $5-10.
One of the better sites out there, with great photos, is
As for the belt buckle (agreed on that ), could very well be a Hitler Youth buckle. The motto “Blut und Ehre” , meaning Blood and Honor, was the HY motto, and frequently engraved on HY daggers at least, would make sense for them to ingrave it on the buckles too.
The blue and white to the left is most likely Finnish, judging from the colors and the lion (google “finnish lion”), and the crown (of Swedish heritage, I suppose).
I’m pretty sure it is a Hitler Youth as the link that samclem gave me has the same buckle.
sam, thanks for the link, that site is much better then some of the other ones I’ve tried to look through. And of course the stupid white supremacists sites. I hope to get them all figured out soon.
The one on the left in this link (the 2nd one in the OP) seems Dutch - I recognize the lion and the crown (cf Dutch Coat of Arms). The 18 could refer to something like queen Wilhelmina turning 18 and assuming the throne in 1898.
:rolleyes:
Given that obvious truth, of which I am aware, I just thought that the crown and lion in this particular pin looked particularly Dutch. Check the link provided and you’ll see a striking similarity.
“particularly Dutch” and “striking similarity”
Sorry, I don’t see anything like that, only similarity I see is that both are lions wearing crowns, specially since our mystery lion is empty handed while the one in the Dutch coat of arms is holding a sword and a bunch of arrows.
Well, fair enough, the lion may be fairly generic, but look at some crowns on coats of arms and you’ll see that they’re pretty diverse, with this one looking pretty Dutch.
eta: only the middle lion in the link has the sword and the seven arrows, the other two don’t
), could very well be a Hitler Youth buckle. The motto “Blut und Ehre” , meaning Blood and Honor, was the HY motto, and frequently engraved on HY daggers at least, would make sense for them to ingrave it on the buckles too.
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