Third Reich S K G Awards
Once in a while a blog topic just comes walking in the door and is put in my hands like this one. A local friend of mine is a Third…
Once in a while a blog topic just comes walking in the door and is put in my hands like this one. A local friend of mine is a Third Reich collector and re-enactor. Illustrated below are his three mystery medals which I will share with you. All are made of aluminum bronze with good quality enamel; too good to be carnival medals. All three have really nice high relief silver portraits mounted in the center. The large cross on the triangle ribbon is inscribed “S K G PRA(E)SIDIUM”. The other two are prize medals named with ladies first names, Elfriede I and Else I and are also respectively dated 1938 and 1939 on the backs. The dark blue and white cross is the only one with a makers mark “AD. SCHWERDT, STUTTGART”
The only real clue is the initials SKG. After going through my German organizations book which is very old and incomplete I gave up and hit the internet. Based on what I could find I feel safe to say that the issuer of these awards is the Sport und Kultur Gemeinschaft (Sports and Cultural Community) which is still active today providing organized activities for all age groups in sports, music and theater. The group has branch offices all over Germany so I suspect that the red and white ribbons indicate these awards were issued in one of the Hanseatic cities. The raised portraits in the centers look like a jester or minstrel so I expect that these are theater branch issues. If anyone knows for sure please let us know.