800 Wound Badge

[Mike Kenny]

Hi,

An 800 marked Wound Badge (800 stamped on a wide pin) arrived today however it appears to have the remnants of very dark grey painted in the recesses. I'm thinking that is a black painted finish that has faded. It is not heavy tarnish as brush marks are apparent on the reverse of the helmut.

I have no problems with authenticity and it has the form of a Hamelman "Type III" badge.

Has anybody heard or come across a black wound badge in genuine silver before?

Regards
Mike K

PS: I'd post photos (and will if requested) but I don't think the finish would be apparent in the scans.

[Rick Research]

Nope, never heard of a silver black--or even a silver gilt one either. Might that be some sort of icky cleaning material coating?

From comments on the Iron Cross fakes currently being made, those are falsely stamped with silver marks when they aren't silver:

is yours really silver or not? (The not for the squeamish and sure as hades not at shows with other people's property Taste Test will tell--no metallic taste = silver, metal tang = not silver....)

[Mike Dean]

My uncle served in the Afrika Korps as a tank commander and had painted his silver Panzer Assualt badge black so it wouldn't show up so much in combat. Maybe the same here. I personnaly think I would have just kept the stuff in my pocket.

[Mike Kenny]

Hi,

I've done some scans - the very dark grey finish I'm talking about has come out darker than in real life.

For Rick, the metal is not iron, is not zinc, is not tombak and is not any type of repro metal I've seen to date. I Frenched it and it didn't leave a metallic taste (I'm dying to run with this one but I don't want the thread moved to Die Kniepe!) in my mouth so unless I take it to a jewelers for a definitive test I think the badge is made from genuine silver.

The finish is evenly distributed in the recesses (including IN the 800 stamp) and as I said brush marks are apparent on the reverse of the helmet. The badge has seen wear following the application of this finish so I don't think it is some sort of cleaning gunge.

Rick, when you say you have never seen a "silver gilt" badge, do you mean an 800 stamped badge with a gilt finish applied? If so, these are known - Hamelman shows one and Niemann lists one in his catalogue.

Has anyone else come across something similar before?

Regards
Mike K

PS: Mike, thanks for that info. Maybe that was the case here although I'm not sure if 800 silver badges were produced before the end of WW1 or are purely post-war.