A very pretty 1970s souvenier pin badge from former Czechoslovakia. The badge face is 1.9cm high and has a long, stick pin style fastener to the rear.
This is a collectible tourist souvenier pin from the town of Neratovice and features the official coat of arms with a classic piece of glass chemistry equipment.
These kinds of tourist pins were collected by tourists back in the communist days, when foreign travel was out of the question for most citizens.
You would buy a pin and wear it as a souvenier of your visit.
These days there are no towns or attractions that produce these pins, which is a shame and makes these old examples very special.
The heraldic crests themselves are usually steeped in history, most of the towns and cities in the Bohemia and Moravian areas started appearing around 700 to 800 years ago and the crests tell of battles against the Swedish or the invading Turks, of defending angels and Christ's Holy Grail. The heraldic crests today remain the same but people tend to forget the origin and history of them.
