May I have a few opinions on this Airship badge

[lakesidetrader]

Has this a chance?

[Lubo]

I kind of like it for what it is and how it looks to be made, if it is real, it will be the one and only zinker of the type I’ve seen! I love how the crown appears to be tombak, IMO it has a fighting chance!

[101combatvet]

I don't like it, sorry.

[VtwinVince]

If it's a fake, it's very clever. Ferg, we need your help!

[Ferg 1]

Well these are muddy waters indeed , the quantity of these badges on the market that all purport to be the real thing is staggering . The trouble is that the quantities of bogus badges is now so great that we tend to look at all of them with a jaundiced eye. The confusion reigns on happily , a well known medal dealer has a couple of examples that are almost identical to this badge ,less crown . I say almost because the detail difference is so tiny that most would miss it ,but it’s there and is certainly different die detail . I say this because the same badge is categorised in the baldes reference as a collectors copy . The badge in this thread however is also in the book under original . That being said , I have to say that certain badges in his collectors copies section do not,to my mind , constitute as copies . Anyway,I digress. The badge under question here is ,as stated , unusual to see in zinc .which to me is a good sign . These examples whether original or not always seem to have a separate crown attached in a rather over engineered way. Crown seems not to be zinc but some other ,Nickle or tombac maybe. I feel it stands a good chance of being probably a 1940’s example ...maybe but I could be wrong 🤭
Ferg

[jaba-the-hunt]

Personally I don't like it. I saw this variant with and without crown several time on stock of some dealers. I gues this was also post here on anther forum and the oppinions were negative.
I still not buy this or other similar badges. It is a high risk that this is not a origian badge and a very low chance to be a good one.

Kind regards
Alex

[Medal Men]

This is mine

[Ferg 1]

Sorry , I am afraid this Meybauer just posted is not all it seems, these are doing the rounds on eBay with tedious regularity . They are dangerous to the collectors less familiar with these airship badges . As I said ,these are seen on German eBay almost every week .
The way to tell on these is the casting flaw on the top centre arch of the crown , right top has a collapsed arch segment . There all the same ,bad badges !
Ferg.

[Medal Men]

Thanks Ferg, I’ll have to let the seller know. He must not know about this fake.

[Gary B]

Medal Men,

Here is a Meybauer for comparison.

Gary B

[Medal Men]

Stunning Gary!

Just to close the circle the seller took it back and gave a refund. Thanks as always