Luftwaffe Nahkampfspange in Silver

[Mike Yokum]

This little beauty may challenge some thoughts on dating pieces. Maybe not. It's got me scratching my head a bit.

Notice the crisp strike, high quality and superb burnishing, making one think pretty early piece right? Check the third picture!

[Mike Yokum]

1

[Mike Yokum]

Open hinge block?!?

Transitional piece? Open hinge blocks used earlier than most seem to think?

What are your thoughts on this matter?

[DavidM]

Hello

A very nice, quality item Mike. There are some anomolies within all spheres of collecting, and the solid verus open hinge is one of them. However, I would still say that this is from the late 1960's, and may well be a 'change over' item, transitioning from solid to open hinge. I could, of course, be wrong, but I'd guess the approximation on dating these 57 items isn't to far adrift of reality.

Be interesting to hear what others think. Peter, George, Nigel?

Regards
David

[Nigel N]

hi Mike, thats another fine quality piece! it is a bit of a surprise to see the open style of hinge block, but sometimes we think solid = early, and open = late! but as David said, there are always some pieces which fall in between, i would agree this looks like a transitional piece, when they just switched to the open style hinge block. the quality of the piece is just too good for it to be in anyway "late"! this unusual combination of features probably make this quite a rare piece in my opinion!! anyway, its a beauty!! -Nigel

[Mike Yokum]

Thanks for the comments guys.

I had a thought. Perhaps the eagle and/or whole clasp was made early and the hardware added later. That would help explain the dichotomous characteristics.

Any more thoughts?

[George L]

Very intriguing clasp. All the hardware points to late manufacture IMO, but the finish looks quite good on the front so I'd guess a transitional bar.