Germany, NSDAP. An Award Document for an Honour Badge of the Old Guard to Josef Dietrich

(Verleihungsurkunde für Ehrenzeichen der Alten Garde). A rare and important award document for an Honour Badge of the Old Guard (also known as the General Gau Honour Badge), constructed of off-white card stock with black ink, named to Josef Dietrich of Berlin, distributed at Bayreuth on 10 September 1933, featuring handwritten black ink signature of Stellvertreter des Gauleiters Ludwig Ruckdeschel, flanked by a red ink NSDAP stamp, measuring 98 mm (w) x 128 mm (h), with minor soiling evident to the obverse, a desirable award document in overall extremely fine condition.

Footnote: This badge was awarded at the discretion of Gauleiters of Sachsen, Bayerische Ostmark, Halle-Merseburg, Hessen-Nassau, Magdeburg-Anhalt, Mecklenburg, and Lübeck, for exceptional services to the party during the Kampfzeit (the early party struggle for power). It recognizes NSDAP membership obtained when the party was re-founded in 1925 following its proscription in the wake of the failed Munich Beer Hall Putsch.