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Lenin Centenary Lapel Badge, 1870–1970 (znachok)
Object/Artifact
An upright rectangular pin-back badge in gilt/golden-tone metal. The upper half carries a relief left-facing profile bust of Vladimir Lenin (bald crown, mustache and short beard) against a finely stippled ground. The lower half bears the relief dates "1870" and "1970" stacked on two lines. There is no other lettering on the face. A horizontal pin/needle fastener is fitted to the reverse.
2025.2.30
Obtained in Cuba by Anna Veltfort and brought to New York City with her when she moved back to the US.
The badge belongs to the USSR's 1970 centenary of Lenin's birth, an occasion marked by a vast output of commemorative medals, coins, posters, and lapel badges. Lenin (1870–1924), founder of the Bolshevik Party and the Soviet state, was the most reproduced subject of Soviet znachki; the "1870–1970" pairing identifies this as a centenary issue. This is the mass-issue lapel type, distinct from the state Jubilee Medal "In Commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of the Birth of V.I. Lenin."
Anna Veltfort collection
2025.2
Anna Veltfort
Gift
1970
U.S.S.R.
Eastern Europe
Europe
Inscription
front
1870 1970
"1870" / "1970" (relief).
Inscription
back
10K
Face: "1870" / "1970" (relief). Reverse: "10К" (transcribed "10K") — most plausibly the 10-kopeck retail price stamp standard on Soviet znachki (interpretation; the Cyrillic К abbreviates копеек/kopecks).
2.3 cm
1.3 cm
Single stamped metal plate with reverse pin/needle fastener.
Metal
Stamped metal with a gilt/golden finish — likely anodized aluminum or gilt brass (tentative).
Good
Anna Veltfort
owner
Vladimir I. Lenin
imagery
Havana
Cuba
Caribbean
Central America
preservation
U.S.S.R.
Eastern Europe
Europe
production
This is a lapel znachok, not the round 32 mm state medal.