Pins

## General information about pins as an industry

Pins can be deservedly considered, in fact, one of the personifications of Soviet culture as a whole, without which the Soviet era is simply unthinkable. Remembering it, many will probably first think about pins. The production scale in this industry is amazing, there are tens of thousands of types of pins, you can study the history of the Soviet Union in great detail by them, given that in addition to more abstract souvenir pins, they were also produced on the occasion of any special events, dedicated to different national achievements, holidays, anniversaries, etc., had different famous personalities depicted, astronauts, writers, communist leaders, also cities, sights, factories and much more. Many aspects of Soviet life are displayed in pins, and of course, among them there was a place for the most iconic cartoon of the USSR "Nu, Pogodi!" The children's theme is certainly very extensive and rich, it features many characters from various cartoons, but "Nu, Pogodi!" stands apart among everything else and the pins for this cartoon alone exceed the total number of absolutely all the pins on the children's theme combined. At the moment, more than 500 of them are known, and new examples constantly continue and continue to appear.

These pins are extremely diverse in execution, they are made of a variety of materials, using very different unusual styles, colors and ideas. The vast majority of pins somehow copy the most popular scenes and motifs from the cartoon, for example, Volk playing the guitar, sportsman Volk lifting the barbell, Volk-sailor, etc., they simply interpret them in a rather peculiar and very different manner from the cartoon, but quite often there are also very unique original scenes, which are purely the author's fantasy, which is not related to the plots of the episodes.

A great number of enterprises were engaged in pins production, not only on RSFSR territory, but also in other republics of the USSR, including even such distant places as the Baltic states and Moldova. Manufacturing enterprises were both specialized factories focused on the production of such products as pins (souvenir factories, factories of art products, jewelry workshops), and factories that seemed to have nothing to do with souvenirs, and for which such products were planned secondary products , and this does not mean that the latter were necessarily worse than the first. As a result of the state program, which obligated all enterprises to produce consumer goods, automobile and aircraft factories, factories of electronics and tools, metal, glass and plastic products, and many others were involved in pins production. Often, the material for consumer goods, including pins, was waste from the main production at the enterprise, so it is not surprising that automobile and aircraft factories produced mainly metal pins, and plastic products factories - plastic ones.

Quality of pins varies greatly, pins production quality of one manufacturer could be flawless, while in another's case it's almost impossible to find a pin without a visible manufacturing defect upon closer inspection. The same goes for the styles themselves. Some manufacturers released pins with highly detailed scenes and beautiful characters made as close as possible to the cartoon original, while others looked very primitive and rude, and the characters were very different from their cartoon prototypes, as if the sketch of the pin was drawn by a person having absolutely no artistic skills. Quality of most consumer goods in general was one of the weakest points of the Soviet economy, especially in the second half of the twentieth century. First of all, due to the attitude of the people themselves to these goods as something second-rate and not worthy of careful attention and extra efforts. These goods were often produced carelessly, technical control department also turned a blind eye to all this and did not put forward increased requirements for consumer goods, passing these products on sale with quite expected negligence. The state itself, in turn, also exacerbated the situation by neglecting its own economic program, often very reluctantly providing enterprises with additional materials for consumer goods production. Not to mention other classic problems, such as the very principle of a planned economy, which forced enterprises to sacrifice quality over quantity of products in order to meet production plans, often simply leaving enterprises no choice but to rush without diligence and accuracy in production, as well as centralized monopolization of the entire economy by the state, which discouraged manufacturers from taking the initiative and improving product quality and fighting for consumer interest in the absence of competition.

Nevertheless, all these pins, like all other products, are somehow part of history, even despite the obvious negligence and seemingly low aesthetic value in their execution. They are often very unusual, funny, not like anything produced in the 21st century after the collapse of the USSR, and for this exotic look alone, they already deserve attention, interest and study from a cultural point of view.

## Kinds of pins

As already mentioned, pins were produced from a wide variety of materials, each of them had its own technical and aesthetic advantages and disadvantages, each type has a wide range of pins and its own separate large series. Below are detailed descriptions of all types of pins, their technical characteristics, as well as the main well-known series found in a particular category.

### Enamel

Enamel metal pins are the most basic and oldest pin making technology, their number far outnumbers pins made using other techniques specific only to the 20th century, such as sitall or plastic. Manufacturing principle in general terms is easy to understand: the pin is cast or created by stamping from a piece of metal, pin design is arranged in such a way that it has pits and protrusions, pits are filled with colored enamel, which is essentially glass, and protrusions play the role of partitions-sides , separating different color borders and looking like contour lines in the final product, although sometimes wide planes of unpainted metal are also left, sometimes with complex relief. In the first half of the 20th century, Soviet pins were more difficult and expensive to manufacture, materials such as brass, copper and bronze were the most common, pins were often made by casting instead of stamping, and they were painted using the most complex hot enamel technique. In post-war period, quality and cost of pins decreased markedly, heavy metals became very rare, giving way to light and soft cheap aluminum, casting was replaced by stamping, and hot enamel was replaced by simpler cold enamel. During this period, the neglect of the quality of manufactured products was on the rise and defective pins with poorly applied enamel were more common. Nevertheless, all these badges are still of great aesthetic and cultural interest, on the territory of the USSR there were several hundred manufacturers of metal pins, some of which released entire series dedicated to "Nu, Pogodi!" cartoon.

Known series:

#### Smolensk Aviation Plant (SAZ), Smolensk, RSFSR

Currently the largest and most famous Nu, Pogodi! pin series among enamels. The pins are distinguished primarily by their large size, as well as a recognizable style with especially thin contour lines, bright color palettes and a special frame; instead of the standard solid contour line, SAZ series uses a dotted line. The series does not have a fixed palette, although many pins in the series have their common and most frequently seen palettes, each has so-called "mixed color" variations with randomly selected colors, often very strange and bizarre. Obviously, pins had a certain standard pattern, but workers were allowed to deviate from the template and improvise. This is common among enamel pins, but in the Smolensk series, the variety of improvised palettes has reached its apogee. Another very specific and recognizable feature of the series, which has become its shtick, are characters' eyes. They are almost never painted in standard colors with normal whites and black pupils. Most often, the white of the eyes is painted with emerald green enamel, and pupils are red. It's seen on pins with a standard coloring, so most likely it was already included in the original color template. SAZ series includes more than two dozen pins, including 20 pins of the main issue and an indefinite number of extremely rare pins that have the SAZ stamp, but the price is erased, their style is rougher and very different from the classic canons of the main series, and most likely these pins were made by the factory workers for themselves and produced in an extremely limited edition. The most notable of them is Volk-Fireman pin made for the 100th anniversary of the Smolensk fire department.

#### PA of the name of V.I. Lenin, Balti, Moldavian SSR

The second largest and most diverse series after Smolensk. These pins were produced on the factory of the name of V. I. Lenin, another name is the Production Association of the name of V.I. Lenin, in a Balti city, Moldavian SSR. Founded in 1948, this factory was the largest enterprise in Balti during its heyday and one of the pillars of the city's economy. The main products of the factory were devices for military ships, as well as civilian equipment, produced at the request of the Ministry of the Shipbuilding Industry. In addition to the Soviet Union, the factory also provided 14 other countries with echo sounders and other devices. Nu, Pogodi! themed pins produced at this factory are of high quality both technically and aesthetically, the characters are depicted very close to the original, the enamel is applied evenly without serious flaws and defects, most of the pins are made of anodized aluminum with galvanized coating, which gives them a beautiful silver sheen. Also, the factory produced metal key chains made in the same style as the pins, in total five varieties were produced.

#### Alma-Ata factory of souvenir and gift products "Souvenir", Alma-Ata, RSFSR (Kazakh ASSR)

This factory is distinguished by a very small, but very prominent series of five pins. Its distinguishing feature is the unique non-standard shape of pins, seen only from this factory. Instead of the standard round or rectangular shape, these pins have a cloud-shaped outline, and each pin is different from others. Pins depict five different scenes from the first, third, and fourth episodes. Also, that souvenir factory produced two types of rectangular monochrome pins, with Volk chasing Zayats and a pin with muscular Zayats, or rather a muscular reflection of Zayats in one of the curved mirrors of a hall of mirrors from the second episode.

#### Poltava experimental factory "Dynamo", Poltava, Ukrainian SSR

Pins of this factory are very different from each other. There are four pins with factory's stamp that copy pins of Smolensk Aviation Plant series in a rougher manner with thick outlines (Sailor Volk, Zayats waving to Volk and two variations of Volk playing guitar), two pins with original design where Volk and Zayats ride a boat and play hockey, as well as one plastic zayats pin.

#### Mechanical factory, Dnepropetrovsk, Ukrainian SSR

This factory is primarily known for two cut-out pins in a form of Volk and Zayats heads, made in four variations: standard cut-out pins, standard cut-out pins hanged on a cinema film shaped bar with "Nu, Pogodi!" writing included in a series of pins with Soviet cartoon characters, rarer versions of bar hanged pins with smaller head size and slightly modified design, and large round pins where Volk and Zayats heads from the standard cut-out pins are put on a grainy background. Also, exactly the same heads were used in the manufacture of paired souvenir bottle openers.

#### "Metalloshtamp" plant, Novokuznetsk, RSFSR

A series of seven pins, made of pure aluminum without electroplating, the style of pins is very rough and sharp, but still very close to the cartoon original. Actually, all pins of the series are redrawings of scenes from the cartoon (Sportsman Volk with a camera, Volk in a chicken coop, Volk with a fishing rod, Volk holding scraps of clothing, Volk showing V gesture to Zayats (used in Russia for playing with children while reading "Horned Goat" children rhyme), Volk with a top hat and Zayats running away from Volk). Interestingly, according to the official publication of Y.Korzhik "Catalogue of trademarks and stamps on pins" of 2001, stamp of this series was used until 1978, after which it changed to another logo, from which it can be concluded that this series could not be released after 70s.

#### Pins made in corrective labor colonies

It is no secret that the labor of prisoners in places of deprivation of liberty was actively used in a wide variety of production areas, including souvenirs and pins. Oddly enough, a very large number of Nu, Pogodi! pins was produced by the prisoners of penal colonies and their quality is not inferior, and sometimes even superior, t pins produced at factories, most likely because prisons do not have such a strict production plan as standard enterprises, and prisoners of colonies have much more free time at their disposal, which makes it possible to work on products more carefully. Most colonies used a common product labeling system. Their logo is an equilateral triangle divided inside by three lines converging to the center into three equal parts. Colonies had the right to release their products anonymously, in which case that triangle is left blank. This is a general symbol that does not belong to any particular colony, and products of absolutely any colony of USSR could be produced with such a marking; it is impossible to determine the manufacturer of such products without any additional information. If colony doesn't need an anonymity, then a three-digit individual code consisting of letters and numbers is placed inside the three parts of the triangle, by which it's possible to identify a colony. There are other individual colony markings, but they're not seen among Nu, Pogodi! pins anyway.

At the moment, prison made Nu, Pogodi! pins can be divided into three categories according to their stamps:

Anonymous. Most of them are pretty common pins with a Volk face in a neckerchief made in a wide variety of color variations. The pin is large, beautiful, Volk portrait is detailed and very close to the style of the original cartoon, the quality of the enamel is high, although there are minor defects, the most prominent feature is the very thick epoxy resin coating, which labor colonies had in very large quantities, as can be seen from many other prison souvenirs made using this material. None of the other pin manufacturers other than colonies have used epoxy to coat their items. It is curious that this particular portrait of the Wolf with the same facial expression and a polka dot scarf is repeatedly found on other products: a New Year's card, an envelope using her image, on the package of children's soap "Well, wait a minute!" and even the Georgian timetable. It is not known who is the original author of this portrait and how he became so popular. There are also two other badges bearing the hallmarks of anonymous colonies, one with a portrait of a Hare covered in the same thick layer of epoxy, and a standard aluminum badge with the heads of a Wolf and a Hare without epoxy.

Triangle code BO3. The enterprise at the colony OD 1/2 in the city of Vladimir. These icons are very different from the previous ones and have their own unique features. Firstly, most of the badges are drawings made by hand using paint and a brush, just like the badges described above, they are covered with a thick layer of epoxy, so that the drawing is reliably protected from external damage. The edges of the badges have the shape of polygons, their sides are of unequal length, which clearly indicates that the edges were also grinded by hand. There are three types of badges of the Vladimir colony, where stamping is also used. One shows the faces of the Wolf and the Hare with relief features, as well as the protruding inscription Well, wait a minute! The badge with the Wolf covering the eyes of the Hare in a stuffed costume has a large number of thin grooves filled with black enamel acting as outlines, as well as large recesses for the color of the Wolf's robe and the Hare's clothes, which is a rather rare technique among the bulk of the badges, where the outlines are formed by metal sides, and only wide planes are filled with enamel to simplify production. Another badge with a wolf carrying a guitar behind his back is the only one of its kind in terms of technique. His palette is quite rich, but only black is enamel poured into grooves pressed through by stamping. The rest of the colors are paint applied to the protruding flat planes of the badge, obviously by hand. Such a combined technique is not found anywhere else on any of the existing badges.

Triangle code TO1. The enterprise at the colony y / c - 34/1 in the city of Tyumen. Only one type of badge with the stamp of this colony is known. It has the shape of a convex rectangle, presumably a stylized TV screen, from which a smoking Wolf protrudes. Unlike all of the above icons, which are quite rare to some extent, these icons are very common and are found very often in a wide variety of color variations.