HSF Badge From Vet's Display Board - can it possibly be real ?

[GREG E.]

This HSF badge has great provenance, having been acquired from the son of the WW2 veteran that once proudly had it mounted and displayed in a special frame hanging on the wall in his den. However, as we all know, legitimate provenance is a good thing, but it is not the final word in determining authenticity.

Before I make a fool of myself by listing this HSF badge for sale on the E-stand, I would appreciate receiving some input from fellow forum members concerning this piece. Kriegsmarine badges are definitely not my forte, so please forgive me if I think that the badge may possibly be a late-war zinc S&L product...

[GREG E.]

HSF Badge - 2

Obverse & reverse...

[GREG E.]

HSF Badge - 3

Details of hinge & catch...

[BubbaZ]

I think that the badge may possibly be a late-war zinc S&L product...

Hi Greg, it's suspicious so called flat-back HSF, maker is unknown so is production period. No legitimate provenance for flat-backs so far.
Cheers,
Hubert

[Norm F]

Hi Greg,

Hubert's reply is a good one-line summary. There are some interesting speculative threads on the "flatback" maker including these ones:

High Seas Fleet Badge - Vet Pickup - Help Identifying Maker

U-boat badge.

Although they never seem to appear in any decent German vet groupings, yours is the second one to appear in a U.S. vets souvenir grouping - an observation that may turn out to be significant.

The flatbacks range in quality from decent to pretty awful and the speculative theory is that either a Pforzheim maker or Rettenmaier in nearby Schwäbisch-Gmund produced these badges, perhaps in late wartime (possibly after the bombing of Pforzheim) but with assembly and/or production continuing into the post-war period for the souvenir market (like in Lüdenscheid and Vienna). At this point, it's only a theory to account for all the circumstantial evidence to date and still remains to be proven or disproven.

Best regards,
---Norm

P.S. I see you've posted the Luftwaffe badge already and received a comment suggesting it was a Deumer with extra solder applied. It would be interesting to also post the Heer badges for comments.

[Norm F]

Another link to a good speculative thread on the "Rettenmaier theory":

New Addition - Possible new maker connection

Best regards,
---Norm

[GREG E.]

For Comments...

Here's a link to the IAB:

http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/forums/showthread.php?t=654948

P.S. I see you've posted the Luftwaffe badge already and received a comment suggesting it was a Deumer with extra solder applied. It would be interesting to also post the Heer badges for comments.