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Lenin Profile Lapel Badge (Soviet znachok)
Object/Artifact
Small circular stamped-metal lapel badge. The obverse bears a high-relief, left-facing profile bust of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin — bald crown, mustache and short pointed beard, rendered to the collar and upper shoulders in a jacket — set against a finely stippled (granular) field and enclosed by a plain raised rim. No text, date, or device appears anywhere on the obverse; the design is portrait-only.
2025.2.18
Obtained in Cuba by Anna Veltfort and brought to New York City with her when she moved back to the US.
Lenin was among the most frequently reproduced subjects on Soviet lapel badges, which were mass-produced in the hundreds of millions and distributed or sold through kiosks, at workplaces, and at demonstrations (notably May 1 and November 7). Most pins issued in millions of copies were made of aluminum, with finer examples in enamel or precious metal. Within the collection's frame, such Soviet ideological paraphernalia reached Cuba during the decades of close Soviet–Cuban alignment, where it circulated and was worn or kept.
Anna Veltfort collection
2025.2
Anna Veltfort
Gift
Manufacturer/Attribution: Unmarked on the available (obverse) image; no maker mark legible. Soviet manufacture inferred from type and iconography (tentative). Designer of the profile die unknown — the left-facing Lenin profile is a standardized motif across Soviet Leniniana and cannot be attributed to a specific sculptor from this image. Date: Undatable from the obverse alone. The textless profile-bust type was produced in large quantities c. 1960s–1980s. Place: Soviet Union (tentative).
1.5 cm
Metal
Stamped light metal alloy, most likely aluminum. No enamel or paint.
Good
Vladimir I. Lenin
imagery
Anna Veltfort
owner
Havana
Cuba
Caribbean
Central America
acquisition
New York
U.S.A.
North America
preservation