1954 World Championships at The Netropolitan Museum of Figure Skating Pins

Once upon various times, Oslo, Norway, was known as Ånslo, Christiania, and Kristiania. Today, Oslo is perhaps best recognized in skating circles as the birthplace of the many-times Olympic, World, and European champion, Sonja Henie. For a country that produced one of the world’s most well-known on-ice athletes, it’s odd that the last world figure skating event held on Norwegian soil was the 1954 World Figure Skating Championships in Oslo. A near lifetime ago.

So if the World Figure Skating Championships never again return to Norway, the land of the vetter—which might be the case, after a nearly 70-year absence and counting—then the pin made to commemorate the 1954 event marks the occasion well. Figure skating pins aren’t often terribly unique, so the two-part pin, consisting of a main top portion and a suspended lower portion, makes it one of only a few ever issued in that style for a World Championships. The design is bold yet delicate. The top circular portion features the stylized lettering “SKK” in white outlined in the base silver metal color on a brilliant blue background. SKK is likely the abbreviation of the host club for the championship. (If anyone knows definitively what SKK represents, please contact The Netropolitan.)

So if the World Figure Skating Championships never again return to Norway, the land of the vetter … then the pin made to commemorate the 1954 event marks the occasion well.

Suspended from a fine-link chain is an old-style skate blade of smooth silver, with the event name and year in relief on a banner below: “VM” and “1954” (“VM” representing “Verdensmesterskap” or, in English, “World Championship”). The pin measures approximately 7/8″ x 1-3/8″ (2.2 cm x 3.5 cm) and is finely proportioned with excellent design and production values.

The “dangling skate blade” style of figure skating pin appears to have been popular in Europe for many decades, and perhaps particularly so in Scandinavia, as historical photographs show both figure skaters and speed skaters wearing pins and medals with a skate blade either anchoring the top from which other elements are suspended or at the bottom as the suspended element itself. No matter the position of the skate blade, it serves a clear function: to clearly mark out the sport for which it was awarded.

Enjoy this week’s figure skating pins blog: Dangling Skate Blade. 1954.

1954 World Figure Skating Championships Pin Gallery

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