Tank badge - Opinion's ....

[leibregiment]

I have no doubt that mine is a copy of a very rare badge , albeit a good one the issue is when it was made.
To answer this we have to look at when these badges first came to light as a collectors item and who marketed them (and cost !).

[leibregiment]

2

[Ferg 1]

Interesting,interesting, I too have one of these types of badge. I bought mine from a dealer in London around 5 or six years ago. Like yours the silver was black when I purchased it ,mine is marked 800 on the pin and is not the same shape as your pin,catch is also a band type rather than a wire type. It is beautifully made ,certainly stamped not cast or electro formed but I am not at all sure whether it was made in the 20's, 30's or the 80's! The story from the seller was thus: He was or is a surveyor full time and dealer part time .He works alot in Germany more specifically Dresden and always picks up ' stuff ' to sell from various contacts he has over there. My badge along with 50 others ( yes,50 ) were liberated from an out of business jewellers somewhere in Dresden. They were all the same ,all black patina and pin marked 800. He bought 7 of them .
Now ...................... you can chose to believe that or not , I guess it is plausible but ummm. I will say that they appear in several different pin and catch formats and differing silver purity levels(800,900) So I don't know,but I have a pretty good idea!! Having said all that ,the quality of these is outstanding,it must of cost alot of cash to set up tooling for these if they are bogus. Like yourself I do like the badge even if it is doubtful. Mine was fairly cheap too.Regards,Ferg1.

[leibregiment]

Ok, an order is put in for lets say for 200 in 1942-3, quality control at its best....Allied bombing raid ....bits in storage until 1960-70...put together...no takers... sold cheap....

[Brian S]

Ok, an order is put in for lets say for 200 in 1942-3, quality control at its best....Allied bombing raid ....bits in storage until 1960-70...put together...no takers... sold cheap....

No, I'm sorry this is not a WWII run... Pin/hinge entirely wrong for WWI or WWII. Silver was only expensive for a very short time while the Hunt brothers bought up the contracts.

[Ferg 1]

I am showing my ignorance here ,but who are the Hunt brothers? I do not agree about the style of the pin not being WW1 or WW2, it is very much 1920's ,Look at the Maybauer pilot badges of the 20's. The shape is fairly typical. But these are faked as well of course. Ferg1

[Don D.]

adding another example to the discussion.

[Don D.]

It has been dropped on its head at one time. reverse has a pin.

[jambobbyb]

Hi Don i have no horse in this race so to speak but could we get a shot of the hinge and how its attached to the rear plus the catch and how that is also attached on the stamped example you just posted?
Cheers
James

[Don D.]

as requested.

[Don D.]

and from the other direction. Sorry about the crappy shots but it is dark here so I had to use the flash.

[jambobbyb]

Thanks for the pictures Don, Do you have a nickel silver juncker IAB to compare this one to? Looking at my IAB the hinge pin and catch are an exact match. Even down to the cut that holds the pin in being slightly off centre. I really like that stamped example to me it screams pre/early war juncker construction methods. It would even tie in to a time when the german population had a renewed interest in there military a lot of the old boys who would have qualified for the tank award would have once more been in uniform even if not as combat troops.
If im posting old news guys let me know

[Don D.]

I think I have one. I'll have to check tonight and if so compare it. I do have two early nickle-silver Juncker PABs somewhere....

[jambobbyb]

Don, 2 Nickel silver juncker PAB's! do you know long i have been looking for one of those beauties for????
If you need more shots/measurments of the IAB let me know but the set up appears to be an exact match.
James

[Don D.]

Here goes. The following series of shots comparing a Juncker PAB and a Juncker IAB with the reverse set up of the badge.