Krimschild!

[Mike Yokum]

Here's a new addition, a Krim Shield. It's not painted black on the backside, like David's example seen HERE.

IMO (which we must say) the detail is still sharp and there are only three prongs on this one versus four on David's. There is no sign of the black solder stuff we see on later made shields. Same hersteller as David's? Another? My thought has always been earlier badges had less of the "antiquing effect " added by the maker.

As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

[Mike Yokum]

You might be asking why the FJ guy wanted a Krim shield.

A recently discovered and accepted photo surfaced of an FJ wearing a Krim shield! No FJ units officially fought in the Crimean campaign so it is likely this man was from an LW Field Division or was a Heeres man who transferred to an FJ unit. It's extremely RARE to see an FJ with a Krim shield!

He obivously was an FJ on the Southern front based on his uniform in the photo.

[Mike Yokum]

Group Shot...

[Nigel N]

Hi Mike! well, IMO, its a nice looking Krim
I think it could be very helpful if we could use good old photoshop to compare yours and Davids side by side, i'd do it myself but my technical knowhow ends at wiring a plug!!
So i'm not sure if yours is by the same maker as Davids, but 3 as opposed to 4 pins coupled with a very different finish, means, if not a different maker, then maybe a different period???
I dont know if we know the possible makers for this if its not S & L, Deumer seemed to make lots of different awards, but i'm not sure if they did the whole range as S & L seemed to do?
Looks to have a really nice bronze finish to it, have you compared this one with any of your other bronze pieces Mike, clasps etc. just to see if the finish & color are similar!!
Good detailing to it, dont know if we can date it accurately? If we knew for a fact that S & L produced a 4 prong variant between certain dates and switched to 3 prongs later, or vice versa we could nail the sucker down!!
Anyway its a BIG from Me!!!!
-Nigel
PS just spotted the extra pics and group shot...very nice!!!!!!!

[Mike Yokum]

Hi Nigel,

Some good thoughts there. I too would like to know more about shield makers in general!

Here is a comp shot with some other "bronze" finished items including a wartimer. I'll do a little photoshopping when time permits.

[Seewolf]

A quick comparison to david´s one showed me than this one has exactly the same obverse details. So IMO for sure the same maker. It may not be the earliest one but is still no later or modern production IMO. I think this is a very good and very nice early one. Would be really good to know when this maker switched to the 3 prongs version.
It could be possible that only the very early ones had the 4 prongs and that S&L? switched to 3 prongs at the early 60s.

[Mike Yokum]

Hi Rüdiger,

I too would agree that IMO this is likely from the same maker as David's. Many characteristics are shared IMO.

Here is another 57er Krimschild that recently sold on eBay. The picture was on eBay so it is public domain (publicly owned). This one does show different die characteristics IMO, notably the missing dip in the upper left corner, and is much crisper in detail. The pebbling of the wter sections is complete. Note, this one also has three prongs.

[Mike Yokum]

A quick comparison of three Krim Shields. IMO my new addition has more pebbling in the water sections than David's but it may be the lighting in his picture or antquing applied, while David's appears to have a more defined coastline, at least in some areas. Difficult to tell what is lighting. finish etc.

Note also a more rounded appearance at the top of mine (center) which is actually from the vaulting. Anyone elses vaulted? The others appear flat to me, but it may just be the pics.

[Nigel N]

I think that new 3 way comparison pic shows us a lot! For starters, i'd say the E-bay shield (on the left) was totally different!!
Mikes and Davids at first glance appear the same, but if you follow the coastline around, there are many small differences? Could be down to application of finish, or die wear, but i'm not sure they came from the same die???
-Nigelhuh.gif

[DavidM]

A quick comparison of three Krim Shields. IMO my new addition has more pebbling in the water sections than David's but it may be the lighting in his picture or antquing applied.

Note also a more rounded appearance at the top of mine (center) which is actually from the vaulting. Anyone elses vaulted? The others appear flat to me, but it may just be the pics.

Hello

The picture used here of my Krimshield is actually an old scan of it, which hasn't captured its true colour and it really doesn't show it up properly at all. In the hand it has a really nice subdued bronze patenia and is slightly vaulted. It certainly hasn't got any 'antiquing' applied to it. The pebbling isn't as pronounced as the one shown from E-Bay, but it is there - but again, due to the quality of the old scan it hasn't shown up!!

As far as the maker goes, I can't say for certain, and have no evidence one way or another, but when I acquired my shield I was given to understand that it was an early one from S&L. It's certainly a good early one, but whether S&L or not I couldn't say.

Regards
David

[Mike Yokum]

Thanks for clarifying the "antiquing" thing on your shield for me David. Do you agree that some, possibly later 57er shields have some sort of antiquing finish applied or are all the examples we see darkened in areas due to patina? I have been of the opinion that some do have a darkening material applied and then wiped off of the higher areas to give the appearance of patina.

[DavidM]

Here's a couple of photos that show my Krim Shield up slightly better than the scans.

Regards
David

[Mike Yokum]

Very nice David! Is it vaulted at all or flat?

Here is an example of a badge that added to my thoughts about some dark finish being applied to add a look of age because of the difference in the obverse and reverse appearance. I know if the obverse was more exposed it would add to patina, but it looks contrived to me. I would love to hear what others think about this.

[Mike Yokum]

Here are two other badges that IMO appear to have an antiquing stain on them. I've circled areas on the Kuban shield. In the right hand circle, there appear to be streaks from adding stain or made when wiping it away from the high points. On the Krim, there appear to be at least two different colors of stain used. Could this be a protective laquer or areas of patina where a laquer coating has worn off? Zaponlack perhaps? I know it's not from the Zaponlack, I just like to say that word! The third example I will post is a Narvik shield. Note the circled area and arrows. They point to what seems to be the rough line between silver finish and darker gray stain of some sort, IMO not patina.

This is just a theory of mine and I hope others will examine their shields and chime in.

Peter, any info on this topic?

[Mike Yokum]

Narvik...