Black and Silver Naval Wound Badges

[Bob Hritz]

These were just sent to me to authenticate, with a large amount of Third Reich era awards. I do not have the expertise to authenticatre or denounce these, even after reading every thread on these type badges.

The black badge is stamped steel. the silver badge has a small amount of iron content as it will react to a strong magnet, but not jump to it as will the black example. The silver example is a bit heavier and I atttribute that to a better alloy. Both are struck from the same die but the silver took a better strike, once again due to the finer alloy.

I am unfamiliar with the hardware for the pin,hinge, and catch.

Thank you for your assistance.

Bob Hritz

[Bob Hritz]

Versos

[Bob Hritz]

Hardware detail: black badge

[Bob Hritz]

Hardware detail: silver class badge

[Don D.]

Hi Bob, I'll give you some comments for what its worth. On the plus side I like the design, materials etc... The rust certainly looks old too. On the negative side they both appear flat which is odd since most period wound badges have some depth to them if you know what I mean. I can't discount them but I'd love to hear more opinions (and that is all mine is) on these.

[Don D.]

I was really hoping to hear more thoughts on these Bob. I have a different type which will show what I mean by depth but it is still comparing a granny smith apple to a golden delicious.

[Don D.]

This one is made of steel also. You have those in hand, what are your thoughts?

[Don D.]

Upon further reflection I'll go out on a limb and say I like them. I bet if you posted them seperately the larger pics would give them the 3 demensional look that is missing. I like the materials (steel), the construction and hardware, and I like the design. The rectangular links of the chain are what I'd expect to see since most the fakes (or purported fakes anyways) all seem to have roundish chain links. These are probably early issue pieces.

[Brian S]

These are both very nice. Not terribly valuable, but very very nice. Would very much like to see the hinge closeups from the back as a reference to another badge.

[Bob Hritz]

Brian,

Thank you very much.

please let me know which angles you would like to see.

Don,

I appreciate your help.

Bob hritz

[Tiger 1]

Bob,

I have to take an opposite view point from Don and Brian.

I do no care for these as being original. While the materials and pins seem to be okay, there are other problem areas. The crispness of the details are a major concern for me. The sword hilts lack consistant details with each other. The right sword crossguard is on a weird angle to the blade and does not match the other sword. Seems as if it was copied from a photo taken on a slightly oblique angle. The pebbling on the back ground is mushy. The pebbling on the reverse is even softer. The the eye and anchor swivel at the top is indistinct and not like period examples. As mentioned above the badges do not have any 'depth'. They are too flat. They do not match any of the variations that Bill Hammelman shows in his Wound Badge book.

For what it's worth they do not come close to matching the seven examples I have.

Compare the details with the fine example Don shows.

Just my opinion, but I do not care for them.

Tony

[Don D.]

Thanks for chiming in Tony. Let's see yours too. Hopefully we can devine the truth of things.

Perhaps Bob can also post good single shots of his.

[torstenbel]

I wonder if anyone new seeing this thread knows anymore about the two wound badges in question? I have recently held a very similar looking flat(ish) black one in hand and thought it to be good .... Cheers, Torsten.