Sniper badge -- opinions appreciated

[quankle]

Opinions appreciated on the following. Thank you.

[quankle]

reverse -- opinions appreciated

reverse -- opinions appreciated. thank you

[quankle]

close up of eye. Opinions appreciated

here is a close up of the eye. Opinions appreciated.

[merdock]

Hi,
Buying one of these has got to be the biggest gamble in3rd riech collecting.never seen a'' known'' real one?
Merdock

[quankle]

sniper badge

Bill Stump used to insist that they were neither made nor issued during the War. I have seen them traded by Steve Wolfe, Adrian Forman and Detlev Niemann (which did not change Mr Stump's opinion).

[merdock]

Hi,
If Bill had never seen one? and no sniper interviewed ever had one issued,they probably never did except on paper.
Merdock

[Leroy]

I was under the impression that Bob Hritz has a real one, on a uniform, and that it has been shown here at some point.

[InfanterieSammler]

Hi Quankle,

I'm not sure if you have formulated an opinion on this badge yet, but personally speaking, it would not be one for my collection.

I have not discussed this publicly before, but I will now...HSC had a super high-quality fake several years ago at the S.O.S. and IMHO, your badge is the same. There are only a couple of minor details different than originals (see below).

Best,
John

[InfanterieSammler]

Reverse

[quankle]

more

John, thank you for the note. I am not familiar with HSC (dealer? store?). Would appreciate any information that you might be in a position to share about the experience at the SOS. I am not wedded to the one pictured being good or bad, only to the best information that I can ascertain on these badges in general. It has been many years since my discussion with Bill Stump, may God rest his soul, and am really just wondering about the consensus of the collecting community since then. Much appreciated.

[InfanterieSammler]

John, thank you for the note. I am not familiar with HSC (dealer? store?). Would appreciate any information that you might be in a position to share about the experience at the SOS. I am not wedded to the one pictured being good or bad, only to the best information that I can ascertain on these badges in general. It has been many years since my discussion with Bill Stump, may God rest his soul, and am really just wondering about the consensus of the collecting community since then. Much appreciated.

I think if you do a search of the forum you will find some info on HSC...They are a French firm noted for selling for excellent quality fakes as originals.

If you are looking for a consensus when it comes to Sniper badges, you will be searching for a very long time. There is no more controversial badge in TR collecting. There is no question the badge existed and was awarded. There are newspaper announcements of the institution of the badge, I have seen a couple of Soldbücher with the entry for the badge, and I present you with this death card which specifically mentions this Sniper received the badge.

Good luck on your hunt for the truth...

John

[InfanterieSammler]

Front

[quankle]

more

Thank you John. If anyone has a contact for HSC, I would appreciate it as I would like to contact them about the subject. At the time of my discussion with Mr. Stump, I had a grouping that I acquired from Adrian Forman that included paper and a sniper badge. Mr. Stump had no issue with the paper, but was adamant that any and every sniper badge was post war. He believed that the award was created, conceptually, and issued, conceptually, but never actually manufactured during the war. I disagreed with him, but he was correct in just about everything else he said! Again, thank you for the notes.

[Leroy]

Look at this thread: http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...t=sniper+badge

There is an awful lot of good information on this forum.

[Jeff V]

Interesting thread Gentlemen. I would really like to discuss this further. I own two of these pieces bought from a reputable dealer. They appear to be the same as the one which started the thread. I will post some pictures of them.
When I bought these I did a bunch of research on these and they appeared identical to the "textbook example" John posted, which most people believe is an original, in every respect except for the darker colored wool backing. I chalked this up to a manufacturing difference but i was never completely sure so I blacklighted them, which they did not glow at all. Also, I burn tested a couple of threads and they burned clean. I can say they feel right by the touch, but who knows.
I do know that I respect John's attention to detail, so when he says these came from HSC it causes me some concern!
Anyway, here are my pictures and hopefully others can add some information one way or another on these patches.
best wishes,
jeff