Unusual Little Silver 'Pour le Merite' Badge / Brooch - 'The Blue Max'

[Robin Lumsden]

I've just picked up this little badge or brooch.

It's about an inch across and enamelled.

The marks on the reverse show that it is in solid Irish silver, assayed in Dublin and made in 1966.

The iconic movie 'The Blue Max' was also made in 1966 ................ and it was filmed entirely on location in Ireland !

Too much of a coincidence, I think.

So ................. could this be some sort of souvenir keepsake badge produced for those working on the film ?

The form of the PLM on the badge is very similar to that of the film prop PLM used in the movie (seen in the screenshots below for comparison). Maybe the same Irish firm made both the badge and the film prop.

The hallmarks show that the maker of the badge was the Jewellery & Metal Manufacturing Co. Ltd. of Ireland.

Anyone else seen anything like this before ?

[Chopperman]

Robin,
I've never seen one of these before but I think you are on the right track.
I was only 10 when the movie came out but I do remember that when we bought
our tickets to see it, all of us kids were given miniature plastic PLMs. However I think
that they were gold colored and not silver and had a ribbon ring, not pin back.
I wish that I would have kept mine. --Anyway, point being is that the movie company
did have PLM items made.

[MAP]

No idea what it is but being made of silver and hallmarked, I'm sure it wasn't made just as a trinket. The "movie" connection is more plausible.

[Adrian Stevenson]

Never seen one before. How interesting.

[thecyclist64]

The company dissolved in the 1980's, so it wont be possible to ask them.

Jewellery and Metal Manufacturing Company of IE, Ltd (Closed) in IE | Key Information | DueDil

[Robin Lumsden]

The silver and enamel quality of this little Irish badge from 1966 actually compares quite favourably with an original miniature PLM.

But ............ it's missing the double hyphen (=) under the 'e' of 'Merite' ................. exactly like the film prop PLM used in the movie.

That's why I think this little badge and the PLM used in the film were produced by the same firm in Ireland.

[Robin Lumsden]

In 1967 ................. only a year after the little Irish badge was made ................... the official PLM holders' veteran organisation had their own replacement PLMs made ................ again, without the hyphen !!

Air ace Josef Jacobs wore the 1967 version with crown, shown here.

So, I think this wee badge, minus its hyphen, is in good company !

[drmessimer]

In my opinion, the pin is a broch and has nothing to do with the Movie. The maker stamp is AMICO, American Military Insignia Company, that was in business from 1910 to the late 1970’s. The two points that bother me with respect to the movie prop theory are, the badge is a pin-back, whereas the medal was worn around the neck. But if it were a theatrical costume prop, the pin-back might have been a concealed method to hold it in pace at the actor’s neck. The second point is that the medal under discussion is, in appearance, terribly inaccurate, the real PLM was gold, while this one is silver. A lesser point, and possibly irrelevant, is that Robin says the medal we are looking at is about an inch across, whereas an original is 40 CM; slightly over 1.5 inch. I pretty sure that if it were a costume part, it would have been more accurately made. Accurate reproductions have been available on the open market since the 1960’s for about $15. The Broach was probably sold for about the same time for about that price.
Robin is correct that the film was shot in Ireland, specifically at Ardmore Studios. But that alone does not support the conclusion that it was a costume prop for the movie. I don’t like to swim against the tide, but I really don’t think this copy was a part of the movie. I think it is a piece of costume (not theatrical) jewelry, made at the same time the movie came out, with the purpose to capitalize on the public interest the film created in the Pour Le Mérit. You may now beat me about the head and shoulders. Dwight

[Robin Lumsden]

Jacobs, with his 1967 hyphen-less cross ...............

[Robin Lumsden]

Dwight.

I'm certainly not going to 'beat you about the head and shoulders'!

But I didn't suggest that this thing was actually a prop for the movie.

A souvenir for the cast or crew ................ possibly.

Or even possibly something just made by the badge company to commemorate its part in supplying props for the movie.

I didn't suggest it was an actual film prop.

The mark is definitely an Irish silver hallmark ................ not AMICO.