RS Destroyer Opinions?

[rhudspith]

Sorting through some bits and pieces and decided to post some of the long standing items collected along the way which I am not keen on. Any opinons would be welcome.
Rob.

[rhudspith]

and the reverse

[Frank Heukemes]

Dear Rob,

I do not own a Souval destroyer, but several other Souval badges. With these you are always out on a limb but I guess you know that. My observations based on another WM badge (minesweeper that I have from Souval):

-overtly long pins are normal for this maker, also on wartime items

-the hinge is also right for wartime pieces

-the catch is not the notorious postwar Souval catch, but I would expect a roundwire or flatwire C catch on a small plate for Kriegsmarine Souval badges. But then again, why not yours, at least it could be possible.

-makers mark is somewhat different from the one I accept without doubt. Concentrate on the letter R. When the rounded top comes back to the vertical base, it almost has to touch ground. Yours doesn´t. Compare with my minesweepers mark. Also, the R seems to hang above the (virtual) groundline of the hallmark.

-Gold colour backs are fine for Souval WM badges (and so are silver backs btw). I think Lorenzo has a golden back minesweeper, mine is silver back. I remember Lorenzo´s badge also has my type of maker´s mark.

-the dark grey finish for the ship on the obverse might be unusual but I think ok for Souval as well, I think I have seen a similar finish on a good Auxiliary Cruiser from him.

Again, just my thoughts based on OTHER Souval WM badges. Btw, I do not know exactly what to make of the two round marks on the reverse (mold ejection marks?)

Cheers, Frank H.

[Lorenzo Brown]

Here's a comparison to an RS Destroyer badge on Weitze's site. They appear to be the same to me...What do you think?
I've never seen that oblong plate on the catch before. Like Frank says, they are usually round. Also I've never seen those "ejection" pad marks on a Souval badge before. However, in spite of that, I think your badge has a "genuine" appearance.

[Lorenzo Brown]

P.S. as a side note...I've been looking for a good RS Destroyer badge for a while...they are hard to find. Seems that if there were fakes out there you would see more of them...but you don't.

[Frank Heukemes]

Dear Lorenzo,

If you look VERY hard I think there are even the two round marks on Weitze´s badge in the exact same places!

Cheers, Frank H.

[Lorenzo Brown]

Yep...the one under the bow is a little easier to see, but the other one is very faint but does appear to be there!

[rhudspith]

Thanks for the input guys, I have always been unsure about this badge, it does have a late war look about it, the gilding and being made in zinc seemed OK. I also quite like the "ejection marks". I have seen these on Assman badges but don't recall any on old fakes. ( I have had the badge for nearly 30 year).

The only thing that puzzled me was the finish to the destroyer which has a sort of enamel look.

Rob.