A while back I found some old pins, which I included in a post but mostly glazed over. I was poking through my room today and came across them again. I held onto them because they were small, but also because I admired their design and high quality of craftsmanship.
Today I’m going to take a closer look at these pins, which I’m sure tells a little story about the previous owner.
This pin looks fairly militaristic. With some research I found the same one online which provided with a bit of information. The only writing on the front is the letter “EIS,” which apparently stands for Ecole Interarmées des Sports, which is a sports school in France that seems to be closely tied with the military.
A couple of skiing pins, I’m guessing for tournaments in Grenoble and Annecy. I really like the image on the Annecy pin. Both are marked “Augis” (a pin and medal making company) and Lyon.
A couple more pins, likely for skiing. The Flaine one is also made by Augis. I’m not sure what ACSQ stands for, but anything that ends in Q I reckon is probably from Quebec.
This little medal is marked “Champion de France – ASSU 1970” on the back.
A gold medal with no imprints on it. It’s not real gold – a bit has chipped off in a couple of places. It might be gold plate though. There’s a little symbol on the front which looks like a joined up A and L or maybe a U and L. On the back is faintly engraved “Stokes Mele,” or at least that’s what I think it says. I can’t find that on Google though, so who knows.
Finally, this is a 1968 Grenoble Olympcs Participation pin. The guy on Ebay is trying to sell it for over 100$, so this might be a good find after all. There’s something to be said for looking through your old stuff!