I was recently gifted this lovely pin for which I have guessed originally came from Bulgaria during the space race with the Soviet Union.

I am wondering if any of you can add more context to this pin like: on what occasion was this pin made for? A specific event or space in general? Also I would love to know what the blue globe logo is suppose to be.

Thank you!

by AteAssOnce

7 comments

  1. I have now realized it is midnight where you guys live so responses will be slow lol

  2. The primary origin can’t be Bulgarian. Spelling of Bulgaria is in ruzzian. It might have been given to Bulgarian though.

    Also the pin looks quite uncharacteristic for cold war era. Bulgarian flag has more central and “higher” place than USSR’s one.

  3. If i have to guess would says its from the 1988 summer olympics because it has ’88 written on it and volleyball ball.

  4. My best guess is that it’s actually related to basketball. As someone previously mentioned it is most likely Russian due to the spelling. CCCP for Russia does indicate that it is from that time period.
    I am confident that it is a basketball on the pin but I have no clue where it might be from or the history behind it.
    It is likely a gift from a Russian basketball team to a Bulgarian one. Most likely CSKA (Moscow) to CSKA bulgaria.
    This is a complete guess so I am probably way off.

  5. Тва е баскетболна топка и 88ма година.

    Знам щото и аз имам такава. Викай ми балгарския майкал жордан

  6. All of the comments here are wrong. This is an “Interkosmos” pin commemorating the second joint mission between Bulgaria and USSR with the second Bulgarian astronaut. It was done in June 1988. This is a space race badge, so you were correct. The only difference is that the badge isn’t Bulgarian in origin.

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mir_EP-2

    Edit:

    [I actually managed even to find one for sale in some random russian website. ](https://meshok.net/en/item/296607494_%D0%97%D0%BD%D0%B0%D0%BA_%D0%B7%D0%BD%D0%B0%D1%87%D0%BE%D0%BA_%D0%98%D0%BD%D1%82%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%BA%D0%BE%D1%81%D0%BC%D0%BE%D1%81_%D1%81%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%BC%D0%B5%D1%81%D1%82%D0%BD%D1%8B%D0%B9_%D0%BF%D0%BE%D0%BB%D1%91%D1%82_%D0%A1%D0%A1%D0%A1%D0%A0_%D0%91%D0%BE%D0%BB%D0%B3%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%B8%D1%8F_1988_%D0%B3%D0%BE%D0%B4_%D0%BA%D0%BE%D1%81%D0%BC%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%B0%D0%B2%D1%82%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%B0_%D0%9B%D0%9C%D0%94)

    So ignore all the random bs theories by the kids here, OP. Merry Christmas!

  7. I highly doubt that the blue circle represents a ball. My suggestion would be that it’s a globe and the pin is related to the flight of the second /and last/ Bulgarian cosmonaut Alexander Alexandrov that took place in 1988.

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