Armourer naval trade badge

[upbeek]

Good evening gentlemen,
I recently aquired this nice sleeve badge and thought it would be nice to share it, enjoy,
Kind regards Chay

[Chip M]

That's a nice insignia. Oberartilleristenmaat (gunnery petty officer) for the dress jacket.

Chip

[Alan Wilson]

Yes, very nice. Great patina.
Mike

[kaiserwilhelm2]

Beauty. Those Imperial navy insignia are very decorative especially the embroidered ones.

Question: what is a good source for Imperial navy insignia?

[Chip M]

There is no good source that I know of. At one time, Weitze had a nice selection, but the pieces were overpriced in my opinion. The embroidered ones are being reproduced now and although not perfect, I think they will fool a lot of beginners.

I've been collecting these for years and they do not appear that often anymore, even in Europe.

Chip

[kaiserwilhelm2]

Weitze had a nice selection, but the pieces were overpriced in my opinion.

Isn't rain wet?

Sorry to hear there is no good reference on Imperial naval insignia. Thanks for your response.

[Chip M]

Sorry, I thought you meant sources for the patches. As a reference I can recommend J.Zienert's "Unsere Marineuniform". It has plates in the back that includes these insignia. It is out of print, but I think you could find it used. If you just want a quick reference, I have another plate that is small enough to fit on my scanner.

Chip

[upbeek]

Gentlemen,
Thank you, these are quite scarce and I wonder why but so is WW1 British Navy cloth which I also collect.
Kind regards Chay

[Jeff Noll]

Here is a first cousin to your arm badge. It still has quite a bit of gold gilding on it. Oddly it is called a Obertorpedermaaten. The device on the arm badge looks like a mine to my eye.

[upbeek]

Hi Jeff,
Great looking badge you have there!
Very rare indeed
Kind regards Chay

[Chip M]

Hi Jeff,

I've never seen a petty officer patch without the ribbons below the crown. I checked my references and they don't show this either. Given the "hand cut" look and condition of the backing cloth, I'd say this piece has been worked on. Could you show the reverse? It may have been that the original wool was chewed up. I have seen this on many pieces and I imagine that the reason for the newer backing material.

Here is an example of the same Laufbahn, but with a lower rank (Torpedermaat) and embroidered.

[Chip M]

Here is one reference plate. It's not complete, but worthwhile.