Well worn very early Minesweeper Badge

[novara]

Hello,

In my opinion is a lovely badge, well worn indeed.

Any comments, please?

Andrew

[Alex W.]

It sure has a lot of character
Very interesting and characterful badge compared to the many mint pieces that are often shown. I like it.

Regards,
Alex

[Nigel N]

Its an early one for sure...the condition is unusal.....
I am not sure if it is wear, poor storage, or even a deliberate attempt to make it look more worn???
-Nigel

[speedytop]

Hi Andrew,

it is nearly impossible, to find a "well worn" 57er decoration.
It could have been worn on a pajama every night, but not on a uniform .

Therefore I'm partly with Nigel: "I am not sure if it is wear, poor storage, or even a deliberate attempt to make it look more worn???"

I have explained this several times before.

Uwe

[Alex W.]

Hi Andrew,

it is nearly impossible, to find a "well worn" 57er decoration.
It could have been worn on a pajama every night, but not on a uniform .

Therefore I'm partly with Nigel: "I am not sure if it is wear, poor storage, or even a deliberate attempt to make it look more worn???"

I have explained this several times before.

Uwe

a funny thought imagining this badge on a pajama being worn daily

[Nigel N]

There's no doubt that full size decorations were worn at veterans association meetings, gatherings, parades etc. But how many of these would the average vet attend......
Surely not enough to show a huge amount of wear??
Of course, as usual, the English language can add some confusion, as the word "worn" can mean not only to actually "wear" an item, but also refers to the appearance of something that has been handled or used a lot, as an example, a coin can be said to have a "worn" appearance, meaning its once sharp details have been lost due to excessive handling!
-Nigel

[speedytop]

As a veteran I would have been ashamed to wear such awards in this state on a veterans meeting.

These were not the awards worn in battle like the originals.

Uwe

[novara]

This is a language barrier I suppose, what I meant is "worn" as "busted" / "shabbed"....

I beg your pardon but what sense does it make to destroy a nice very early award's appearance with artificial ageing.... it does not make sense, the better the condition of such an example, the higher the price is! This is not an unworn TR award that someone wants to turn to a frontline worn (on uniform) piece.

[Tony T-S]

Why couldn’t this have been on the uniform of a West German soldier? I’m confused as to why it would have been limited to a non serving vet.

[speedytop]

Tony,

it could have been on a uniform (Ausgehanzug, Gesellschaftsanzug), but it was extremely seldom allowed.

Text from an older thread, a little bit changed:

"Die große Ordensschnalle darf nur zum Ausgehanzug [dress uniform, later ceremonial dress uniform] getragen werden, und zwar
a) aus besonderen dienstlichen Anlässen auf Anordnung des Bundesministers für Verteidigung oder der von ihm beauftragten Stellen.
b) aus privatem Anlaß nach vorheriger Genehmigung des Bundesministers für Verteidigung oder der von ihm beauftragten Stellen."

"a) on special official occasions by order of the Federal Minister of Defence or the authorities commissioned by him.
b) for private reasons with the prior approval of the Federal Minister of Defence or the authorities commissioned by him."

Many foreigners think and believe, especially the collectors of the 1957 versions, that the soldiers wear their 57er decorations in the original size often.
No, very seldom!"

In nearly 40 years of service in the Bundeswehr since 1961 I cannot remember, that I ever saw a soldier with his decorations in the original size.

Uwe

[Nigel N]

We have the excellent "Vets wearing their 57ers" thread, which is a big help to see when, and on what occasions full size 57ers were worn.....
As already said, and shown in the photographic evidence, serving members of the BW only wore full size decorations on a very few occasions, the main two examples we see, are at the funeral of a comrade, or for a studio portrait type photo.....
For the relatively few occasions such as these, I would imagine the majority of 57ers owned by serving BW members would show little wear?
Those veterans who did not join the BW could wear their decorations at many vets association gatherings, parades, special occasions, get-togethers etc. and their full decorations are more likely to show some signs of wear, the most obvious is usually loss of finish to the pin, as it has rubbed against the material of the jacket.
Such "honest" wear is usually easy to spot, and tell apart from any artificial aging.
Also, it is worth noting, that as collectors, we probably wouldn't dream of cleaning any medal or badge, certainly not in a harsh way, but the surviving WW2 veterans of all nations, are normally seen with shiny medals, in "as new" condition
-Nigel

[novara]

Gents,

This badge has just arrived showing wear & tear, to be fair I don't think that we can say that anyone tried to make this example to "look more worn"....

Andrew