If you have spent any amount of time on eBay running searches for Olympic pins, then it is quite likely that you have previously seen one of these pins (or several variations of it). This pin, and many others like it, are routinely advertised as Soviet Union olympic hockey pins. So, you may ask, "What makes this an Olympic hockey pin?" It is clear from the tell-tale rings that the pin has something to do with the Olympics, and the familiar winter mountain image is that of the 1956 Cortina, Italy Olympic Games, but what makes it a hockey pin? For quite some time I had these same questions. Then, about a year ago I had an opportunity to review a document that was written in English but also included a Russian translation. Using the text from this Russian document, I reviewed the Russian letters/symbols on the pin above and found the same characters in the Russian text document. After stringing together several Russian letters in the same order as depicted on the pin, I used an online translation program to convert the Russian phrase to English, and here is what I got:
I know this method is far less than scientific, but I am pretty at ease now that this is in fact a Soviet Union hockey pin commemorating the Soviet Union's gold medal victory at the 1956 Winter Olympic Games in Cortina, Italy. Now, I just need to translate the dozens of other Russian text pins in my collection--but that can wait for another day.
If you have spent any amount of time on eBay running searches for Olympic pins, then it is quite likely that you have previously seen one of these pins (or several variations of it). This pin, and many others like it, are routinely advertised as Soviet Union olympic hockey pins. So, you may ask, "What makes this an Olympic hockey pin?" It is clear from the tell-tale rings that the pin has something to do with the Olympics, and the familiar winter mountain image is that of the 1956 Cortina, Italy Olympic Games, but what makes it a hockey pin? For quite some time I had these same questions. Then, about a year ago I had an opportunity to review a document that was written in English but also included a Russian translation. Using the text from this Russian document, I reviewed the Russian letters/symbols on the pin above and found the same characters in the Russian text document. After stringing together several Russian letters in the same order as depicted on the pin, I used an online translation program to convert the Russian phrase to English, and here is what I got:
I know this method is far less than scientific, but I am pretty at ease now that this is in fact a Soviet Union hockey pin commemorating the Soviet Union's gold medal victory at the 1956 Winter Olympic Games in Cortina, Italy. Now, I just need to translate the dozens of other Russian text pins in my collection--but that can wait for another day.
And what would you say that these are worth? Thanks in advance.
ReplyDeleteAnswer to Anonymous: Generally speaking, you may be able to find these pins in the range of $2.00 to $4.00 USD (shipping not included). Unfortunately, except for avid hockey or Russian pin collectors these pins do not usually hold much value because of the light weight material from which they are made and the type of clasp on thr back of the pin. I have most frequently seen this series of pins on ebay grouped with other Russian pins, so the individual per-pin price is often difficult to assess. However, speaking for me, I would probably not pay more than $5.00 for one of these pins.
ReplyDelete