Uzbekistan, Republic. A Badge for Labourers of the Great Fergana Canal Construction Project, Numbered, c. 1939

(c. 1939 issue). Constructed of silvered and gilded bronze with multi-coloured enamels, consisting of two labourers with building tools in their hands standing beside white enameled cotton balls underneath a red enameled flag superimposed by a rightward facing bust of Josef Stalin, dated “1939”, with a screw-back consisting of a threaded post and aluminum nut, the nut is maker marked and numbered “7231”, measuring 31.6 mm (w) x 45.9 mm (l), in better than very fine condition.

Footnote: The Great Fergana Canal was constructed in 1939 by 160,000 Uzbek and Tajik workers, and is 270 kilometers long. The main purpose of this canal was to irrigate the cotton fields of the Fergana Valley by the waters of the Syr-Darya River.