L/58 S-Boot Abzeichen - good?

[AJ]

hi,
Found this badge, but I know nothing about badges, I would like you, gentlemen for an opinion.
It's marked L/58
My guess it is a fake?

thanks
AJ

[Thomas Durante]

Postwar 60s fake from Souval IMO.

Tom

[Norm F]

Hi AJ,

Depends on what you mean by "fake". It's a "genuine" post-war made Souval stamped L/58. Supposedly, Souval and Umlauf made these repros with no original intent to deceive but now that they're about 45 years old or so, the original intention is almost irrelevant.

Here's another example but with a replaced main pin: http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...d.php?t=576004

Best regards,
---Norm

[Norm F]

Here's a double-marked L/58 Souval Minesweeper with "wartime compatible" hardware and the identical L/58 stamp and finish -- presumably from a similar era as the S-Boat but made with leftover wartime components.

Best regards,
---Norm

[Leroy]

...Supposedly, Souval and Umlauf made these repros with no original intent to deceive...

And according to Bob Hritz, who dealt with the Unlaufs directly, Souval many times charged more for the new stuff (because it was new) than the old original stuff.

[AndyC]

Postwar 60s fake from Souval IMO.

Tom

I,ll Agree sorry


Andy

[petopoint]

Rudy and his Bag of Door Knobs

A friend of mine also dealt with Souval in the Sixties. When his order of Repro Badges came in there would be a note along with other Badges that he requested my Buddy to forward to another US client. (At his expense, of course). Some of the stories I've heard about Rudy all had one unequivocal theme running through, ( His legendary penny pinching tightwad ways).

[Thomas Durante]

And according to Bob Hritz, who dealt with the Unlaufs directly, Souval many times charged more for the new stuff (because it was new) than the old original stuff.

Would have been nice if he also marked these badges "NEW" on the back. But then what would we need a discussion forum for??

Tom

[Leroy]

I believe Herr Umlauf was running the Souval company.

The important thing here is that there was no attempt to disguise what was going on. The company did not pretend that something was wartime if it was not. There was no conspiracy by the Souval company to defraud anyone. It was just business.

[echoe]

souval

"Umlauf" ... what a great name for someone running a repro enterprise.

[AJ]

Thanks

[wehrpasswilly]

S-Boot Abzeichen - good?

Hi mate - if you want to pass this on, I would be happy to purchase from you.

[Norm F]

I was just perusing Matthieu's thread on his great collection in the '57 forum and came across his Souval P/O badge from the same time period as the badges in this thread. Thought it would be good to add it here for reference showing the finish of that era, presumably 1960's.
http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...03#post4725803

Best regards,
---Norm

[Norm F]

L/58 stamp

[Norm F]

Just thought I'd update this thread with the addition of this excerpt from Souval's 1973 price list, courtesy of GCA. I suspect this list is probably approximately 10 years after AJ's badge was made but it gives an interesting glimpse into what Souval was charging in the 1970's anyway.

As you can see both the 1st pattern S-Boat and the Minesweeper were offered for 27,10 Deutsch Marks (about $20 U.S.). Gives you a better sense of the "true" relative values for S-Boats and Minesweepers.

Best regards,
---Norm