12 Year RAD Long Service Award

Product Description: This 12 Year RAD Long Service Award is an outstanding and very attractive example of a medal that is not frequently encountered. It’s an early, high quality piece, made of a brass alloy (Tombak). The finish on this medal is fantastic, with beautiful matte frosting that contrasts with brightly burnished highlights. It shows little or no wear. The obverse of the medal depicts the shovel and wheat emblem of the Reichsarbeitsdienst on an oval field within a wreath. The polished swastika on the shovel retains beautiful original luster. The reverse also shows fantastic burnishing, with an almost mirror finish to the wording “Für treue Dienste im Reichsarbeitsdienst” (For loyal service in the Reich Labor Service). The finish on this award shows almost no toning and is very close to factory new appearance.  This 12 Year RAD Long Service Award is complete with its original brass suspension ring, and a short length of correct, cornflower blue ribbon. There is no manufacturer marking. The condition on this medal rates as near mint; it would be hard to find a nicer one.

Historical Description: Prior to WWII, the German military and civil authorities instituted a wide range of Long Service Awards to reward personnel for years of service. These awards were used by all branches of the German military, as well as civil and political organizations such as the police, the customs service, and the National Labor Service (RAD). There was also a general Long Service Award for civil service. Each of these awards was issued in the form of a medal that was suspended from a cornflower blue ribbon. Many of these were made in different grades denoting a specific number of years of service. They were worn on the uniform in the form of ribbon or medal bars, and up to two long service awards could be worn at the same time. In most cases, a device affixed to the ribbon bar would denote for which service the award had been issued; sometimes the medals themselves had devices on the ribbons, either in the form of pinned-on metal emblems, or else hand or machine embroidery applied directly to the ribbon. Some German Long Service Awards were very widely awarded, others were made and issued only in small numbers.

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