Minesweeper on E-stand

[Norm F]

Hi Guys,

There's a minesweeper on E-stand worth discussing.

It's described as an "unmarked Schwerin" but it's clearly not a Schwerin in my opinion. The obverse design is the type II, Juncker-type wave pattern in contrast to the type I, Schwerin-type, and has the typical and unique eagle design of the unmarked "Juncker".

Yet, it has several anomalies: the trimming is a bit crude and the variant hardware is Schwerin-like, different from the usual, which no doubt led to the confusion.

I've seen a couple of other examples of these cruder "Juncker" variants as has Richard T. I believe, but this is the first one I've seen with that Schwerin-like hinge block and pin.

Best regards,
---Norm

[Norm F]

Here's a very similar badge that was on John T.'s site but with the more usual Juncker hinge block and pin, but the same variant flat wire catch instead of the usual round wire catch.

[John R.]

I agree Norm. Not a Schwerin IMO but a period badge. Looks like a variant Juncker to me.

John

[Martin W]

Norm,

i am not sure what to make of this one myself.

The obverse looks Juncker and the reverse set up looks Schwerin.

Still,like John i think this is a period badge and probably from Berlin?

Regards,Martin.

[Norm F]

Yes, I think they're period too, and in my mind they are certainly late tombak Junckers just around the time of the switch to zinc. No other maker used this specific design of eagle combined with the common Type II, 8-wave pattern, both of which are entirely different from Schwerin whose 7-wave minesweepers were never unmarked.

Here's another one, previously posted by Richard T. with even more defective trimming. These cruder production examples generally have the same flat wire catch as used on the Juncker Coastal Artillery badges, and on the Juncker zinc minesweepers as well. It's possible that Juncker was using up defective leftover tombak strikings after the transition to zinc, combined with whatever hardware was available at the time. And regarding the Schwerin-like pin, Schwerin and Juncker were both in Berlin and had access to the same hardware providers. In fact, they were the only two KM badge producers to ever use dome-headed hinge-pins.

Cheers.
---Norm

[Norm F]

Here's another example which shows the same finish on the reverse as Matthias' badge that opened the thread, but this time with the more usual Juncker hinge block and pin. It also shows the same excess flashing on the inner right margin of the wreath.

[Norm F]

And here's the flat wire catch from that same minesweeper, next to the catch from a late tombak C.E. Juncker-marked Coastal Artillery badge.