1960's French Naval Air Force Nuclear Test Site Mururoa Badge by FIA (Augis)

ARTIFACT: 1960's French Naval Air Force nuclear test site, Mururoa Badge by FIA (Augis). The badge shows an outline of the atoll in blue and a red mushroom cloud on the viewer's left with a ship and tree embellishments on the viewer's right. Along the top it reads: "MURUROA" and around the outer edge, the triangular shaped edges of the enameled center show the letters: "SITE CEP" (Centre d' Experimentations Nucleares du Pacifique). The edge at 3:00 shows a maker's mark: "A. AUGIS" as does the reverse, "FIA". France conducted somewhere around 180 nuclear tests between 1960 and 1966, which brought forth many protests from environmental agencies, including Greenpeace who reportedly claims that the testing contaminated the fish and water as far as Peru and New Zealand before the program was halted in 1974.

VINTAGE: Circa 1960's

SIZE: Approximately 1-3/8" in diameter

MATERIALS / CONSTRUCTION: Enameled, gilt brass

ATTACHMENT: Horizontal safety style pin.

MARKINGS: "A. AUGIS", "FIA"

ITEM NOTES: This is from a French militaria collection which we will be listing more of over the next few months. MABEX15 LBFEX1/16

CONDITION: 8- (Very Fine—Excellent): The badge shows minor to moderate surface wear, nearly all the enameled details remain intact.