1966 World Figure Skating Pins: Swiss Gold.

Last Updated on May 10, 2025 by Netropolitan Museum

Alpine ice and skating artistry preserved in gold.

If there is never to be another European or World Figure Skating Championship event contested in Davos, Switzerland—which seems likely after nearly a 60-year absence from the city to date—then the pins issued for the 1966 World Figure Skating Championships held there were an outstanding way to end an impressive run. The pins are among the most beautiful and substantial ever made to commemorate an International Skating Union (ISU) event, showing both the sleekness and smartness of Swiss design that rose to prominence in the 1950s and had its glory days in the 1960s.

Pins Gallery: 1966 World Figure Skating Championships

The large, slightly convex logo pin, shown first in the gallery below, is on a warm gold base metal with a stylized figure skating pair in relief filled with blue, yellow, and white enamels. One could easily see a gold medal in the shape and design of the pin. The event name and location, also done in relief, are marked simply around the circumference: “Davos World’s.” Note that the pin is undated, an unusual design decision, and is the only undated pin from a World Championship in the 1960s known to The Curator. Also note the incorrect use of the apostrophe in “World’s.” The formal event name is World Figure Skating Championships, often casually shortened to “Worlds” by skaters, officials, and enthusiasts. However, “World’s” implies possession (as in the world’s best skater) and is not a plural form. Unless the intent was to suggest something like the “World’s Championship”—an uncommon reference and one that leaves too much interpretive room—this punctuation is incorrect. So one is left to wonder, “World’s what? What belongs to the world?”

Next in the gallery is a version of the logo pin issued to judges for the event, made unique by the addition of a matching bar inscribed “Judge.” It is not known if the bar was meant to be displayed above or below the main pin, but other specially issued pins from the era—which were generally one piece rather than two—typically placed the identifier at the bottom. Accordingly, the Davos pin is displayed that way in the gallery.

Well-situated in the Swiss Alps, Davos may be the most sophisticated and renowned winter sports destination in the world. And although widely known for being among the largest ski resorts in Switzerland, Davos has a rich association with the sport of figure skating. For many years, the ISU was headquartered there, before relocating to Lausanne. The European Figure Skating Championships and World Figure Skating Championships have been hosted in Davos an impressive 21 times combined.

This blog was originally published at The Netropolitan Museum of Figure Skating Pins on September 5, 2020, and has been updated with new and expanded information.

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Flashback: 1966

• Future skating legend Kurt Browning was born in June 1966 in Rocky Mountain House, Alberta, Canada. Known for his charisma and technical brilliance, he would go on to become the first skater to land a quadruple jump in competition—helping to reshape the landscape of men’s figure skating.
• At the 1966 U.S. Championships in Berkeley, California, 16-year-old Atoy Wilson made history as the first African-American to win a national figure skating title, taking gold in the novice men’s event. Nearly 60 years later, Wilson would be the first inductee in the “Trailblazers” category of the U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame.
• The 1966 World Championships in Davos were the last where skaters performed both compulsory figures and free skating outdoors on natural ice—and often under unpredictable alpine weather, from blinding sun to sudden snow. It marked the end of an era and a turning point toward the modern, indoor format.
• In an early skating scandal—and after two years of deliberation—the International Olympic Committee (IOC) finally settled a pairs skating controversy from the 1964 Olympic Winter Games. U.S. siblings Vivian Joseph and Ronald Joseph were retroactively awarded the Olympic bronze medal after the disqualification of the original silver medalists from West Germany for a violation of amateur status—an uncommon post-Games correction that also elevated the Canadian team to silver. The saga didn’t end there, however, for in 1987 the IOC reinstated the German team’s silver medals and corrected the record books to show both the Germans and the Canadians (the original bronze medalists) as silver medal winners, with the Josephs as the bronze medalists, which was their original rightful place.
• Touring ice spectaculars like Holiday on Ice were at the height of their global popularity in 1966, drawing enormous international audiences. With elaborate staging and theatrical flair, these shows helped turn figure skating into a worldwide entertainment phenomenon, bringing the sport to places far beyond traditional arenas and competitions.

From outdoor World Championships to barrier-breaking athletes and international ice shows, 1966 captured figure skating in a moment of transformation. It was a year where history was honored, boundaries were challenged, and a new generation was born.

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