Westwall Medal Surprise!

[Tom Yanacek]

Hi guys,

I bought this Westwall Medal today at a small military show. I did not need another zinc Westwall Medal but I bought it anyway for two reasons:

1. It was cheap.

2. It had a long piece of original ribbon, which is not easy to find these days.

When I got home I pulled the ribbon off of the medal. I wanted to treat the medal with oil as there were a couple spots of zinc corrosion on it. As I was doing this I was surprised to see a maker marking on the suspension ring. The marking is the Lieferant number '4' for Steinhauer & Lück of Lüdenscheid. I know that this manufacturer did, in fact, produce Westwall Medals, but I've never seen a marked one before. This was an exciting find for me although, at the same time, I am skeptical of finding a marking on medals that are rarely marked (like the Westwall). And especially when we are dealing with a split suspension ring as opposed to one that is brazed closed.

Best regards,
Tom

[Tom Yanacek]

Larger pictures, front and back:

[Tom Yanacek]

Here is the '4' on the suspension ring:

[Tom Yanacek]

If anyone else has a Westwall Medal marked '4' or one that came in a Steinhauer & Lück packet, please post some pictures as it would be nice to see if the details match up.

Thank you & best regards,
Tom

[Tom Yanacek]

Found an interesting statement by Nigel N in an old thread about the Westwall Medal:

"... the early bronze westwall medals are nice quality pieces, and still inexpensive! the medals are rarely maker marked, i know Steinhauer & Luck were one of the makers of these medals, i guess there were others too, but the few mm'd ones i've seen, have been marked "4" for S&L -Nigel"

I'd sure like to see some more examples of these '4' marked Westwall Medals.

Best regards,
Tom

[Tom Yanacek]

Aha!!!

Aha! I found a thread by Totenhead, where he shows a '4' marked Westwall Medal.

http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...stwall+packets

[Tom Yanacek]

I did a side-by-side of Totenhead's Westwall (left) and mine (right). The medals match up detail-wise.

Here is the front compare:

[Tom Yanacek]

reverse comparison:

[FwSchultz]

Unfortunately, I sold two Schutzwall-Ehrenzeichen in paperbag of issue made by Steinhauer & Lück Lüdenscheid last year.
They looks similar to yours but when I remember right there was no markings on the ring.

[Antonio Scapini]

Great find indeed Tom, this is indeed a scarce piece to find marked!

[BROBS]

Yes good piece indeed and original.
Yours is in great shape.

-Brian

[Tom Yanacek]

Thank you!

Thanks for the comments, guys. I was beginning to think that I was just talking to myself on this thread.

Best regards,
Tom

By the way: Here is another thread I just found, showing a '4' marked Westwall:

http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...arked+westwall

[Tom Yanacek]

So now here is a comparison of three S&L marked Westwall Medals. They all match up well as far as details and the marking on the suspension ring.

[Tom Yanacek]

Here are the marked suspension rings:

[Skyhawk]

Hi,

Looks like you have the "real deal"!

Great find, especially in the US at a small show!

Best,

Jeff