The insignia of the village chief of the Kalisz governorate according to the pattern used since 1904.
Dimensions of the badge: 48 x 49.5 mm.
After the January Uprising, Tsar Alexander II decided on the necessity of unification of the administrative system in the western gubernias with the system in force in the rest of the empire. Among the peculiarities that remained in the territories of the former Kingdom of Poland, one should point out the regulations on rural self-government. On the basis of the February 19, 1864 decree on the device of rural communes, rural self-government was established in the western governorates. It consisted of a village assembly and an executive body, which was the village head. The introduction of the regulations in question was intended to introduce a rift between the manor and the peasantry. For this reason, the reeve was not subordinate to the nobleman in the manor, but to the head of the community. The regulation of reeves was a direct consequence of the January Uprising, and for this reason it is an interesting souvenir that connects directly to Polish history. At the same time, the gubernia coat of arms visible on the obverse allows it to be easily attributed to a specific region.
