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"Day Badges" (called 'tinnies' by some) are among the most collectible of all the pins and badges produced by Germany's huge Abzeichen or insigne industry during the Third Reich of Adolf Hitler. Most were made in large quantity and distributed very widely, with the result that many examples of each style still exist today and are often offered at relatively low prices. The badge we offer here is a different matter entirely!

This is an absolutely original 80+ year old DEUTSCHER VOLKSTAG badge for the GAUTREFFEN MITTELWEST in CHICAGO, Illinois, USA on JULY 24-25, 1938 under the auspices of the Nazi AV, or Amerikadeutscher Volksbund. In plain English that means that the badge was made for participants who attended the AV sponsored American Nazi Ethnic German Day Gathering in the Middle-West Region of America in Chicago in July 1938.

The typical 6 mm tall United States shields at the top and bottom of this badge are symbolic of America while the 25 mm tall bursting swastika was probably designed by the "Germans Abroad" section of the Foreign Lands Gau (Gau or administrative district 43) of the Nazi Party in Stuttgart, Germany. There is little doubt in our mind that this badge was manufactured in Germany by one of the large German tinnie makers for the Auslandsorganisation who likely supplied it on order to the German-American Bund members in Chicago.   

After receipt of the badges in Chicago, this badge was attached by its pin to a 2-¼ x 4-9/16 inch tan colored light card stock tag in the German language on which it says in red letters: Deutscher Volkstag verbunden mit Gautreffen Mittelwest am Sonntag, den 17. Juli 1938 im Riverview Park Western - Belmont - Roscoe (Ethnic German Day in connection with the District Gathering in the Middle-West Region of America on Sunday 17 July 1938 in Riverview Park, Western - Belmont - Roscoe stations). The card for this badge is serial number 2925. The badge measurements are in millimeters and the tan paper tag measurements are in inches.

An interesting historical aspect of the dating on this absolutely original German-American Bund badge is that the date on it shows that the Gautreffen was originally scheduled for 24-25 July 1938, but the paper tag confirms that for reasons unknown it was rescheduled for a single day - 17 July 1938. Equally intriguing is the fact that almost nothing can be found on the internet relative to the Gautreffen or gathering on either of these dates in Chicago, but we know it was held.

In May of 2019 we had the exceptional opportunity to purchase just outside Chicago, Illinois a very small quantity of these original Chicago Gautreffen badges on their previously unseen, but 100% original, tan paper tags as a single lot and stapled together. The lot was offered for sale by the son of the woman who had carefully hidden the badges away and preserved them since 1938. No one outside her family had ever seen them since the beginning of World War II.

PROVENANCE OF THIS BADGE

When we got the lot we removed the staple that held the tan tags together for over 80 years, so that we could photograph them and offer them for sale on the USMBOOKS website.

This is an opportunity to own an absolutely authentic, very rare example of the Chicago Deutscher Volkstag Gautreffen Mittelwest badge still attached to the original 1938 serial numbered paper tag on which it originally came at a realistic price. Fine condition, exactly as shown.

Other original Third Reich AO material for sale on USMBOOKS.com:

- the heavily illustrated hardcover 1940 Yearbook of the AO

- the heavily illustrated hardcover 1941 Yearbook set of the AO

- the heavily illustrated hardcover 1942 Yearbook set of the AO

- an original Third Reich luggage sticker Hotel Graf Zeppelin in Stuttgart, die Stadt der AO

We are happy to combine shipping to save you money!

When the United States declared war on Germany in the winter of 1941, any American who still owned one of these Nazi Chicago Day Badges was likely to toss it into the furnace or take special pains to see to it that it never resurfaced again. Most collectors have never seen an example of this badge and many are unaware that it even existed. We previously sold an example of this badge without the paper tag in 2008. The only other one we have ever seen offered for sale was in 2016 and that too was the badge alone, without any paper tag. That badge was offered for $695.00 and was widely discussed on internet military relic forums and chatrooms at that time.

Historic 'Bund' ephemera shown below is for reference only.