My small "Rákosi" Hungarian Collection

[XJC]

As a first post I thought I'd share a couple of images of pre-56 Communist Hungary collection.

After visiting Budapest a few years back I became somewhat ̶o̶b̶s̶e̶s̶s̶e̶d̶ interested with the 1956 revolution, and the era of 45-56, and naturally with it came the collecting. The majority of my items came from flea markets in Budapest, I've only ever found a couple of common badges in the UK, and they were hugely overpriced.

I also have a couple of tunics but as ever they're difficult to display.

[Watchdog]

Welcome to the forum and thanks for introducing some less seen items here.

The awards look to be of the typical (surprisingly high) quality of the "genre" (if we can say that about militaria) and I for one would welcome individual posts of each together with whatever you know about them.

I would be especially interested in the dagger. Is it cold war period or earlier?

I started a thread about Warsaw Pact daggers here;

Warsaw Pact daggers

and asked whether Hungary and Czechoslovakia (as it was during the period) used such items but didn't get much response. Do you know much about the subject?

There are a few areas of modern miltaria and history that don't get the interest here that they perhaps should because they don't include reference to "the greatest tank battle in history" just the potential for far more cataclysmic events

Still, there are those of us interested in more than "The Thousand Year Reich" (how did that go by the way? ) and I would love to see more of that dagger in particular even if it doesn' have a Swastika on it (they only borrowed that briefly, well long enough to get it dirty) so let's have a look.

Regards

Mark
PS Just taking the piss guys. As some will know I do include quite a bit of TR stuff in my collection but I don't go to a buffet and only eat the curry!

[HARRY THE MOLE]

That's a very nice collection, and thanks for showing. Welcome to the forum too... where you will meet a handful of people (like me) interested in Eastern Bloc collectibles - although for me it is mostly DDR.

Cheers,
Steve

[XJC]

Thanks for the response Mark (and Steve, the posts crossed over) I'll continue this thread with some individual posts about the items, and dig the tunics out too.
I like it as an area to collect because it's so obscure, there is still the hunt to it - I found when collecting third reich it just became about 'how much can I afford this month?' with nearly everything available if you had the cash.

Whereas if I found say a pre-56 Pilotka it wouldn't cost much but it's been five years and I still can't find one.
Also it gives me an excuse to visit Hungary a few times a year, drink their fantastic wines, and visit the flea markets.
All of the awards have come from flea markets, a number are a set from one man with the award docs to match, something I'll post later. Unless it's an absolute bargain and a rarity I never buy the awards from ebay - that's too easy.

But back to the dagger, I don't know if it's a genuine piece - it certainly has the feel and construction of the war time issue daggers, and I've never seen another one - if you were going to make the cast for a repro why would you only make one?
But on the other hand in all the reference books I have, and the museums I've visited... I've never seen another.
It's engraved to Lt Col. Alexander Nogradi (Nógrádi Sándor) and dated 1948 - which if genuine from my research points to one person who eventually became a general and even published his memoirs. Most books on the revolution reference him at points - he was head of the Party's agitprop section and part of a committee set up to to assess how to "use force" in response to the uprising. He was later part of the central commitee under Janos Kadar.
All interesting but is it genuine? or just a way to increase it's value? Haven't a clue. But a nice piece, none the less.
I'll respond in your other thread when I get a moment with a couple of these images and also some from the reference books I have - Sadly they're only in Hungarian and don't elaborate beyond "dagger" in the images.

[toot]

WOW!! I think you have tapped into a great area.

[Watchdog]

Thanks for the additional pics. That's a nice item and I agree it seems unlikely that fakers would go to those lengths and not produce more. However, I still wonder if it is a uniform "dress" item or possibly a unique "one off" presentation piece made using an existing piece from whatever source? Do you have a picture of it being worn in uniform perhaps?

So, it is post war dated but is that relevant to the dagger itself or to the "presentation"? Given where the date is and it's format I am inclined towards the latter.

The Warsaw Pact (Warsaw Treaty Organisation) only came into being in 1955 as a response to W.Germany being integrated into NATO so I am still no closer to understanding if Hungarian forces included officers honour daggers in their formal uniform as in other Eastern Bloc forces.

Either way I can understand why you like this one and I look forward to seeing more of your other items.

Regards

Mark

[XJC]

So far I've not seen a photo of one being worn, but if it were a private presentation piece then maybe they were't sanctioned for wear? I shall head back to my books and study the pages again.

The dagger definitely dates from 47 onward - the Gold symbol, hammer and wheatsheaf, is that of the communist Rakosi government (47 - 56) and was the symbol torn from the flags during the revolution, after 56 they changed away from the very "Soviet" symbol.


The figure is also the Liberty statue built on Gellert Hill, built by the Soviets to commemorate their victory over Facism.




I shall also have a look through some of the post 56 reference books I have to see if they did adopt the "standard" Warsaw pact dagger, to try to answer that question.

[Gunny Hartmann]

Very nice collection, thanks for sharing and welcome to the forum.

[HARRY THE MOLE]

That's a lovely presentation piece! So much nicer than TR daggers too. I suppose you could argue that the inscription is a little crude the way it is applied, but that does not necessarily mean that it is a fake either.

Cheers,
Steve