Polish Death Hussar's medal 1920 Pulku Huzaruw Smierci

[lech87]

Hello guys, I just joined to show this Pulku Huzaruw Smierci / Polish Death Hussar's medal and to ask for the humble opinions of the other members about potential authenticity and origin. I realize that these were commonly faked as they have been rare and desirable, but the images of those which I have seen online appear incredibly cheap and obviously fake. This one may well be fake but that being said someone with great skill took a lot of time and effort to produce this medal. It appears to be silver plated, with lustrous and toned surfaces. The black enamel work is excellent and the details on the skull and bones are superb. The medal is concave, two piece and the skull is pinned by two copper wires. The screw appears to be bronze. There are two screw disc fasterners, the inner screw disk is marked "WWABINSKIIS--", which I presume is the mark of the firm of Wabia Wabinski. It measures 3.5x3.5cm. Please excuse my poor photography. Let me know what you think! Dzieki!

[lech87]

Huzarow*

[A.J. Zawadzki]

Yours is an interesting version that I have not seen previously.. It may be a veterans organization badge. I cannot say for certain. Here is one claimed to be original. Sold at auction for 20,000PLN.

Regards,
Tony

[lech87]

Yours is an interesting version that I have not seen previously.. It may be a veterans organization badge. I cannot say for certain. Here is one claimed to be original. Sold at auction for 20,000PLN.

Regards,
Tony

Thanks for the info A.J., interesting indeed. Regarding that one which sold at auction, "claimed to be original". 20k PLN?! It looks so cheap, I wouldn't have paid even 20 zloty. I'm no expert but I know that Polish 2nd Republic awards tended to be of high quality, and the poor workmanship and skill of whoever made that piece are apparent. I'm going to properly photograph my cross and post more photos in the coming days, my last photos simply don't do it justice.

[Krakow1]

Page from newest Sawicki Book.

[A.J. Zawadzki]

Here’s another one of these Dywizjon Huzarów Śmierci badges sold at a past DESA auction. It appears to match the one in my prior post, and also in Krakow1’s Sawicki catalogue excerpt. I agree that the quality is not up to the typically very high standard of the majority of pre-war Polish regimental and commemorative badges.

Again, the badge you posted has the letters on the cross arms leading me to suspect that it might be vet’s organization badge.

Regards,
Tony

[lech87]

Here’s another one of these Dywizjon Huzarów Śmierci badges sold at a past DESA auction. It appears to match the one in my prior post, and also in Krakow1’s Sawicki catalogue excerpt. I agree that the quality is not up to the typically very high standard of the majority of pre-war Polish regimental and commemorative badges.

Again, the badge you posted has the letters on the cross arms leading me to suspect that it might be vet’s organization badge.

Regards,
Tony

Gentlemen, thank you for your input. Krakow1, thank you for sharing the page from the Sawicki book. Looking at the original medal's certificate which he shows, with a printed drawing of the award- I can't help but notice how similar the skull and bones, as well as the sword hilts, handles and pommels are to the medal in my possession- and how dissimilar they are to the one photographed and displayed in the book.

Tony, thank you and I appreciate your opinion. Although those purported originals are similar, none match, they have small differences if you study the photos closely, each skull has different numbers of teeth, differences in the noses and the eye sockets, and obvious differences in the crossed bones. The sword hilts and handles also vary, yet the crosses are similar. This suggests to me that they were made by different people, or at different times, none using the same casts or dies. They're also rough around the edges.. as you said, not typical of the very high standard of production quality of Polish awards of this time.
Can you please elaborate what you meant about it perhaps being a vet's organization badge, and why the letters on the cross arms would lead you to suspect this? Private purchase? Interwar period veteran's organization?

Thanks again guys

[A.J. Zawadzki]

I have not compared the two badges that sold, nor looked them over too closely, but it is interesting to hear that they are different from each other. All I can say is that hopefully the buyers did their due diligence before dumping that amount of cash.

As to my suggestion that this is possibly a vet's organization badge, two reasons:
- it’s not uncommon to see letters on the cross arms of vet/commemorative badges representing the acronym for the organization
- we know the Huzarów Śmierci badge has plain cross arms (as evidenced by the image on the award document), ruling out yours as the official badge.

Sorry that I can’t shed any more light on your badge. It’s a great looking badge nonetheless. Please keep us posted with any information you dig up.

Cheers,
Tony

[lech87]

I have not compared the two badges that sold, nor looked them over too closely, but it is interesting to hear that they are different from each other. All I can say is that hopefully the buyers did their due diligence before dumping that amount of cash.

As to my suggestion that this is possibly a vet's organization badge, two reasons:
- it’s not uncommon to see letters on the cross arms of vet/commemorative badges representing the acronym for the organization
- we know the Huzarów Śmierci badge has plain cross arms (as evidenced by the image on the award document), ruling out yours as the official badge.

Sorry that I can’t shed any more light on your badge. It’s a great looking badge nonetheless. Please keep us posted with any information you dig up.

Cheers,
Tony

Yes, each one of those purported originals are different, one even has a right eye socket twice the size of the left. Agreed, due diligence is important before such a fleecing, I hope those buyers are happy with their Mexican style skull badges.

I see, interesting suggestion. I'm not aware of a veteran's organization by the letters of P.H.S., please enlighten me if anyone else is. It is curious that my badge is almost identical to the likeness drawing on the award document, save for the letters P.H.S. being on the arms of my cross, which I presume stands for Pułku Huzarów Śmierci. If anyone cares to, please carefully compare the skull and bones on my badge, as well as the sword handles and hilts, to the drawing of the original on the award document- and then compare to the purported originals, like those sold at auction and in the Sawicki book.
I won't be as quick to rule out my badge, although I probably would have already done so if it wasn't of such high quality, perfect symmetry and hallmarked by W.WABINSKI, who was known to make high quality Polish awards and medals during the Polish Second Republic.

Thanks Tony, I appreciate your input and thank you for your time. I will hopefully have more information to post in the near future.

Best,

Lech

[A.J. Zawadzki]

Hi Lech,

. . . I presume stands for Pułku Huzarów Śmierci . . .

Unlikely as the Hussars of Death was not a regiment, but rather an ad hoc assembly of several smaller units that as a unit was incorporated into two regiments at different times over the period of its existence.

. . . hallmarked by W.WABINSKI, who was known to make high quality Polish awards and medals during the Polish Second Republic . . .

We’ll need to assume that the Wabinski marked backing plate is original to the badge. As you know, backing plates like this are unusual for ‘pocket’ badges, and are more commonly found with hat eagle badges. Also, Wabinski was not a maker but rather a retailer who obtained his wares from various domestic and foreign sources to sell to customers out of his Warsaw based shop in the Hotel Europejski . But they were well made quality items, such as your badge. I’ll keep my eyes peeled for more information.

Cheers,
T.