Brigade Ehrhardt Sleeve Badge - Repro?

[TobyR]

Hi Everybody,

I just wondered what you make of this - Brigade Ehrhardt Sleeve Badge (2nd pattern)? Personally, I'm growing more sceptical about it, every time I look at it, unfortunately, I don't have an original to compare against, nor have I previously seen one. Consequently, your opinions would be much appreciated. It came with a GKSC collar insignia, which I believe is genuine and was probably added to support the 'authenticity' of the sleeve badge.

Thanks for looking.

All the best,
Toby.

[TobyR]

reverse:

[TobyR]

Close-up of the reverse:

[TobyR]

And the GKSD collar insignia:

[TobyR]

And the reverse:

[Christian L]

to the ehrhard badge
i don't like the backing material and the badge itself.
i wouldn't buy it - but wait what others say
christian

[VerKuilen Ager]

The G.K.S.D. looks pretty good. The Ehrhardt looks to be a completely recut repro (as opposed to something made directly from an original). Compared to an original, the most obvious difference can be seen in the lettering. For example, all the little diagonal "frills" that shoot off the corners of many of the letters (for example, look at 2 and 7 o'clock on the center "h") do not appear at all on the original. Some of the letters are formed quite differently as well and there are numerous differences in other areas of the design.

Over the years, I've owned or examined a number of these (both the first and second versions) and none had a backing. I've also seen a couple of these on uniforms and they were directly sewn to the sleeve. Period photos that are clear enough to be of help suggest the same thing. That's anecdotal of course, but sewing on some backing is cheap hype and is decent camouflage for the reverse as well.

I've noted this here before, but perhaps it bears repeating. The number one clue to look for in Freikorps material is aging. Of the items I obtained for my collection back before anybody gave a hoot about making repros of this material, hardly any are minty. Most show moderate to severe aging. A few are only in poor to good shape because I could never find a better example. That's not to say that excellent to mint examples don't exist, but any time you see minty pieces you should start tip toeing carefully. This stuff is starting to push 100 years old and it would almost have to have been sealed in a time capsule to be unscathed at this point.

[TobyR]

Christian and VerKuilen,

Many thanks for taking the time to reply.

Re. age, that is one of the first things that struck me, how clean it all looked. Also, under a loupe, the reverse looked to have been chemically oxidised. The only thing I felt a possible plus was that the edges weren't sharp, although, this could of course be easily overcome.

VerKuilen, would you have a photo of an original you could post please, so I could compare?

Thanks again.

All the best,

Toby.