Can you identify this swastika plate

Mike in Ky

Greenie
Mar 16, 2006
16
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I dug this at an old 1800's home site. It is 1 3/8 inches tall by 2 3/8 inches wide. If you look on the back side you can see solder marks on each side. It also looks like it may have been plated at one time. I don't think it is a swastika from Hitler times. Can anyone positively identify this piece?

Mike
 

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I have to concur with the conclusion that it's a WWII era belt buckle. I have never seen a good luck belt buckle before. May be it is hand made. Is the swastika raised on only one side with the back having an impression or is it flush?
If it is flush that would point to a hand made item. Could be a one of a kind.
Either way it's a stunning find!
 

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I am leaning toward the "Good Luck " symbol on this one...Many people had them nailed to their doors...etc for Good Luck and Peace ....Not the swatsika symbol we are accustom to .....
 

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BIG61AL said:
I have to concur with the conclusion that it's a WWII era belt buckle. I have never seen a good luck belt buckle before.
No buckles of the above type were made during WW-2. I have collected German items from WW-1 and WW-2 over the past 30 years and nothing was made in the style illustrated. As I stated earlier, I think it is pre 1932. I have included a standard army enlisted buckle. The officers was round... I will be glad to show the officers version if needed. I think the plate is off a Calling card case, cig. case or compact.
DG
 

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Mike in Ky said:
This isn't the same type of swastika that the Nazi's used.

gypsyheart said:
Not the swatsika symbol we are accustom to .....

Are you referring to the rotation or orientation? Neither can be used to rule out good luck swastikas, which are found in both clockwise and counterclockwise rotation— sometimes on the same token, as shown below— and both tilted (arms at 45˚) and "on the square" (90˚).
 

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Similar counters were used for various needs in air stations and hospitals.What is written on a badge with figures?
 

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I spent a year in Northern Ontario living in Kirkland Lake, and nearby was the town of Swastika Ontario. There was a drug company there back in the days of WWII that used the symbol in their advertizing, their matchbooks said things like "Hitler go to Hell, we had it first" and other anti Nazi slogans. Some say that it was a resident or visitor to this town that gave the idea of the symbol to the early Nazi party, but for the town, it was the "good luck" symbol, not nazi. See below.

"For many of us the swastika is associated with some of the most tragic events that have ever occured. There was a time, however, when most people thought of that symbol in a much different light. Derived from Sanskrit, the ancient and sacred language of Hindus in India, svastika means "conducive to well-being" and for thousands of years has been used as a good luck symbol in many cultures all over the world. Many Indian nations in South, Central, and North America favoured this symbol, and several early 20th century companies featured it on their products. In Canada, some hockey teams, the symbol emblazoned on their jerseys, were called "The Swastikas." In northern Ontario, the residents of the small community of Swastika resisted pressure to change the name of their town during the Second World War, contrary to what took place in 1916 when the residents of Berlin, Ontario voted to change the name of their city to Kitchener."
From http://www.rpsc.org/Library/Swastika/Swastika.htm
 

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It could just be a piece of "trench art". Bored soldiers on both sides used to make things out of scrap metal on the battlefield to send home as souveniers. I have some great pieces from WW1 and WW2.
 

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Harry_Morant said:
It could just be a piece of "trench art". Bored soldiers on both sides used to make things out of scrap metal on the battlefield to send home as souveniers. I have some great pieces from WW1 and WW2.

may be..but i think that this not tranch art...
 

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