GERMAN NAZI SA SPORTS BADGE IN SILVER #340218

Description

Offered is a very good condition S.A. (brownshirts/stormtroopers) sports badge in silver. Pre war quality die struck construction, with excellent sharp details. Slightly vaulted. Maker marked to rear underside of pin. SA party member number stamped ‘340218’ to rear. Measures 45mm x 58mm.

The SA Sports Badge was a decoration of Nazi Germany that was issued between the years 1933 and 1945. It was a political version of the much more generic German Sports Badge, which was also issued in great numbers by the Nazis. The SA Sports Badge was instituted on 28 November 1933 by then SA chief Ernst Röhm. It was originally only issued in bronze through the year 1935. The on 15 February 1935, Hitler decreed that the badge be officially recognized. It was thereafter issued in three grades (bronze, silver, and gold). No longer was the physical fitness badge to be awarded only to SA members, but to youth of all German military and paramilitary organizations. Originally the badge grade was awarded on degrees of “proficiency”. Then in 1936, a points system was established. In 1937, the requirement for the holder of the award was upgraded. Each recipient had to pass an annual proficiency test to retain the badge.