Hi guys,
Some of you may have been following this thread on a certain type of unmarked Bomber clasp posted by Patrick:
http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...d.php?t=452552
I too have a few of these unique type of clasps and feel that they are hands down, 100% original clasps. Ever since I first saw them, I liked them; the feel of the base metal, the hinge, pin and catch setup, the rivet, the finish and just the general "feel" of the clasp all seems perfectly fine for a wartime produced badge.
So for me at least, the originality of this type of clasp has never been in question. After studying these a bit more recently, it occurred to me that some of the features look very familiar and we may have some big clues to lead us to identifying the possible maker of these. So not only have I always like the feel and look of these clasps, but figuring out the wartime maker would just be icing on the cake. I believe that maker to be Assmann.
What first struck me about these clasps was the delicate and dainty hinge. Its a very slender and tall block hinge. The shape is quite unique and looks to be an exact match to the one used by Assmann on their early, egg-shaped wreath Pilot and Paratrooper badges. Not only that, but the exact same narrow hinge can be found on Assmann's Kriegsmarine Minesweeper badge.
These Bomber clasps also have a flatwire catch made from nickel silver. I don't think it is a coincidence that Assmann's Minesweeper badges also have a flatwire catch made from nickel silver. Finding a flatwire catch on an early, tombak-based badge is pretty uncommon and this is another good lead to Assmann. Although other makers like RSS & Schwerin used a similar catch, the other aspects such as the narrow hinge and rivet point away from them and more towards Assmann in my opinion. Additionally, we already know of an RSS Bomber clasp, so they can immediately be eliminated.
A final point of similarity to Assmann is the rivet. You will notice that these Bomber clasps have a unique way of rivetting the bomb to the clasp. It is simply flattened and always appears to be a neat, perfect circle. This is very consistent with Assmann's mid-war rivetting technique and can be found specifically on their Paratrooper badges, ROAGs, etc. No other maker of LW badges flattened their rivets like this. Likewise, no other flight clasp has perfectly circular, flattened rivets like this. Almost all the others have domed rivets, so flattened rivets like this are quite unique. This is another VERY strong indicator that Assmann was a likely maker of these in my opinion.
I think we can all agree that Assmann was the biggest name in Luftwaffe award production next to Juncker, so its logical that they would also be active in flight clasp production. I don't think this is enough evidence to say that Assmann was indeed the maker of these for sure, but its a good start and I hope you guys will agree. I will now show some compares, so bare with me. First up is the Bomber clasp were are discussing:
Tom
Some of you may have been following this thread on a certain type of unmarked Bomber clasp posted by Patrick:
http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...d.php?t=452552
I too have a few of these unique type of clasps and feel that they are hands down, 100% original clasps. Ever since I first saw them, I liked them; the feel of the base metal, the hinge, pin and catch setup, the rivet, the finish and just the general "feel" of the clasp all seems perfectly fine for a wartime produced badge.
So for me at least, the originality of this type of clasp has never been in question. After studying these a bit more recently, it occurred to me that some of the features look very familiar and we may have some big clues to lead us to identifying the possible maker of these. So not only have I always like the feel and look of these clasps, but figuring out the wartime maker would just be icing on the cake. I believe that maker to be Assmann.
What first struck me about these clasps was the delicate and dainty hinge. Its a very slender and tall block hinge. The shape is quite unique and looks to be an exact match to the one used by Assmann on their early, egg-shaped wreath Pilot and Paratrooper badges. Not only that, but the exact same narrow hinge can be found on Assmann's Kriegsmarine Minesweeper badge.
These Bomber clasps also have a flatwire catch made from nickel silver. I don't think it is a coincidence that Assmann's Minesweeper badges also have a flatwire catch made from nickel silver. Finding a flatwire catch on an early, tombak-based badge is pretty uncommon and this is another good lead to Assmann. Although other makers like RSS & Schwerin used a similar catch, the other aspects such as the narrow hinge and rivet point away from them and more towards Assmann in my opinion. Additionally, we already know of an RSS Bomber clasp, so they can immediately be eliminated.
A final point of similarity to Assmann is the rivet. You will notice that these Bomber clasps have a unique way of rivetting the bomb to the clasp. It is simply flattened and always appears to be a neat, perfect circle. This is very consistent with Assmann's mid-war rivetting technique and can be found specifically on their Paratrooper badges, ROAGs, etc. No other maker of LW badges flattened their rivets like this. Likewise, no other flight clasp has perfectly circular, flattened rivets like this. Almost all the others have domed rivets, so flattened rivets like this are quite unique. This is another VERY strong indicator that Assmann was a likely maker of these in my opinion.
I think we can all agree that Assmann was the biggest name in Luftwaffe award production next to Juncker, so its logical that they would also be active in flight clasp production. I don't think this is enough evidence to say that Assmann was indeed the maker of these for sure, but its a good start and I hope you guys will agree. I will now show some compares, so bare with me. First up is the Bomber clasp were are discussing:
Tom
. Again, I don't think its enough evidence to say for sure Assmann is the maker, but a strong lead.
Thankfully you are not saying it is FLL!
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