This just turned up in a very mixed local box lot. The ribbon is silk, and from other items, I assume it is a 1920-39 version, but I thought those had a serial number?
Obverse
Obverse
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It doesn't appear to be silver. A cursory inspection turned up no marks. Scanned for my friend Jim. -
I've seen this safety pin and Japanese style hook and eye on these before.Comment
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The "Japanese" style fold over and hook is the standard Polish style. See, e.g.,:
This is a current Republic, post-1992 piece:
Yours looks like a Communist-era restrike/fake, or possibly a government-in-exile piece (although most of these were Spink made so should be of higher quality. The ribbon, however, may be early (WW2-era, perhaps).
DaveComment
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When I lived in London for four weeks in the late 1980's, I had the chance to visit almost every location where Polish WW II vets hung out. I even found two or three shops run by Poles that were selling all sorts of Polish WW II militaria - a curious mix of primarily Second Corps original badges and patches along with very recently and cheaply made decorations (that did not need a black light to glow like Peter Max posters!). Some sites sold repro Virtuti Militari crosses that were post-war copies made by Panasiuk.
My impression at the time, based on conversations with various Poles, was that the Panasiuk crosses (and maybe some other copy badges made by Panasiuk and a company in Torun, Poland) were actually issued by the remnants of the still functioning Government in Exile as replacement pieces to eligible vets living in the west.
Before I went to London, a publisher friend of mine told me that when the Polish forces in England were disbanded a year or so after the war ended, some warrant officers simply put all unissued medals, badges and cloth insignia into storage rather than see it all destroyed. Judging from the sheer quantities that I found in London in the late eighties, I think that the warrant officer story was true...Comment
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