1960s DPRK North Korean Volleyball Sports Badge – Rare Original Issue

Description

Original Item – Only One Available. A rare early Democratic People’s Republic of Korea volleyball badge, dating from the 1960s and representing the organized sports culture of North Korea during the country’s first period of serious international athletic development. The DPRK Olympic Committee received full IOC recognition in 1962, and volleyball was already sufficiently prominent that the North Korean state included the sport in its 1964 Tokyo Olympic commemorative issue, specifically depicting a women’s volleyball match. The sport would become one of North Korea’s notable international disciplines, culminating in the DPRK women’s team taking Olympic bronze in 1972. This badge belongs to the earlier generation of insignia from which that sporting tradition developed, rather than the lighter and more commercial commemorative pins encountered from later decades.

The badge is a multicolor enamel rectangular issue, its composition centered unmistakably on volleyball. A gilt sporting emblem depicts hands controlling a paneled volleyball, positioned immediately above a broad blue-enamel volleyball net extending across the lower half of the badge. Above, narrow blue and red enamel fields incorporate North Korean state symbolism, while the large pale field gives the central volleyball device unusually strong visual prominence. The construction is characteristic of early DPRK enamel work: individually separated enamel fields and a simple long wire-pin fastening rather than a modern clutch fitting. The reverse is especially important, carrying the Korean inscription “조선민주주의인민공화국” — “Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,” directly identifying the piece as a North Korean state-period issue. 

Early DPRK sport-specific badges are considerably less familiar on the international market than military orders, political insignia and later North Korean souvenir badges. The combination of a clearly identifiable volleyball design, full state-name inscription on the reverse, heavy early construction and 1960s styling makes this a particularly appealing example. For a collection of DPRK insignia, Cold War sports memorabilia, Asian volleyball history or early North Korean enamel badges, this is a scarce and highly distinctive original piece.