Naval Freikorps badge

[eric]

Here is a beautifully made badge that is profusely hallmarked. Can anyone give me
the history on this piece?

obverse:
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?...074&p=54409116

reverse:
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?...074&p=54409147

hallmark:
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?...074&p=54409254

Many thanks!

[VerKuilen Ager]

This was the award of III. Marine Brigade Loewenfeld. If I can just be lazy and quote from Awards of the German Freikorps: "This highly trained unit of six to eight thousand men was organized in Kiel by Frigaten Kapitan von Loewenfeld. The basic cadre consisted of naval officers, cadets, and veteran sailors. World War I U-boat ace Arnauld de la Pierre reportedly led the brigade's storm batallion. Engaged in Berlin, Upper Silesia, and between Wesel and Munster in the April Ruhr operation, the unit was finally dissolved in June of 1920 at Sennelager.
In 1920 an award for members of the brigade was established in two classes. The first was awarded for six month's service, and the second class was given for three months. Service had to be unbroken. The central anchor and wreath design was the brigade emblem and the second class ribbon colors were the heraldic colors of the v. Loewenfeld family . . . 25 mm ribbon of yellow, with a 3 mm center stripe, and 1 mm stripe three millimeters from each edge."
The number 317 is not an issue number, as all are marked this way. Despite the award criteria, it's been my experience that the 2nd class is less common than the 1st, a fact that both Hüsken and Hartung seem to have agreed with when they applied values to these items in their catalogs.