Stick Pins

Stick pins were worn by little old ladies in their hats back in my grandmother’s day or so I thought until I got into collecting German medals. The Germans must have really liked those dangerous looking pins and after trying to use the tiny hinged pins on some of our modern day lapel pins I can understand why. Most of the German versions that I have seen carry miniature military medals and decorations or organizational insignia like the wound badge and veterans pin in the group illustrated below. The most impressive ones have a group of medals like the WWI group below. The smallest I have ever seen is the observers badge below which is a tiny 5.4mm wide and 9mm tall, which is about half the size of a Wisconsin mosquito. The one which really surprised me was the Wisconsin National Guard stick pin. I don’t know what the story is behind it. I imagine it is a private purchase item worn by a proud guardsman on a civilian lapel. It is interesting to note that this pin has a safety cap on the end which makes it safer to use and harder to lose.