1948 European Figure Skating Medal: Before the Czechoslovak Coup d’État.

A high-quality, heavy participant medal marked the Prague event

Just about 30 days before the Czechoslovak coup d’état that led to more than 40 years of hard-line communist rule in Czechoslovakia, the 1948 European Figure Skating Championships took place in Prague, with a handsome medal made for participants and select others. This was the same year that Dick Button of the United States and Barbara Ann Scott of Canada won the European titles (Scott also having won in 1947), and it subsequently became the last year that skaters from a non-European nation were sanctioned to compete at the event.

Medal Gallery: 1948 European Figure Skating Championships

On the face of the large and impressive bronze-color medal is a cartographic outline of Europe in relief, with the event location in the center in block letters: “Praha.” Around the circumference is the event name, also in block letters: “Mistrovství Evropy v Krasobruslení” (“European Championships in Figure Skating”). Below the outline of Europe, one can see what appears to be the maker’s mark: “St. Suk.” The Curator of The Netropolitan Museum of Figure Skating Pins was unable to unearth any details about St. Suk, but it would have been a skilled foundry based on the quality of the medal. If you have information about this maker, or different information on what the mark represents, please contact The Netropolitan so this blog can be updated.

The design of the medal is utilitarian in style, similar to the political climate of Czechoslovakia at the time, and it sadly became even more similar as communist totalitarianism cast its restrictive net. As sometimes is the case on other pieces made to commemorate major figure skating events, there is an absence of any specific skating-related theme such as a skate blade, boot, skater, or ice tracings. The medal for the 1948 European Figure Skating Championships marks the occasion, however, with a clear homage to the continent and host city.

Through 1948, Prague had hosted the European Championships three times within a 14-year period, but after 1948, it would be a 40-year stretch before the event would return to Prague. See the blog about the pins from the 1988 European Championships.

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