how two prevent your badge's getting dark?????

[Robert P.]

To Ammersee's question , as it is ;
Early crosses were varnish coated so to restrict tarnishing .
Only silver plated crosses with no varnish , approx mid war , would tarnish .
I have been fortunate enough to have talked to many German Vets personaly :
Most parades took place 38 to 42 . All awards were to be kept in good order .
Pros and cons ; Receipients pride and envy of other soldiers ;
Awards worn in combat took a quick and devastating beating , rain ,crawling and laying in trenches , many torn off and lost and so on , months later they looked more like shoehorns !
Of course changes in wear took place , EK2 ribbon etc .as a result .
All did say if you wore medals they had to look good , period , no exceptions !!
Awards were polished and cores were repainted a lot .
Even according to Vets own accounts right at the start of the war duplicate awards were purchased .
Many soldiers disliked wearing shiny objects on the battle field , obvious drawback , regardless how well one was camoflaged !
A flickering light is to a Snipers delight !
Not the picture I wanted to use , but demontrates the same possible results ! Picture borrowed , owner unknown .

Speaking with a fellow member recently he told me he just bought a cased mint pilot's badge/photo group from a Luftwaffe 109 pilot. The vet told the member that he put the new Deumer pilot badge away for parade use, and went and bought another replacement piece (probably an unknown maker, FLL ) to wear in combat. Sadly, this replacement was not available with the group, perhaps lost in action. This scenario was most probably practiced by many, giving us today these many nicely preserved awards. I honestly believe many soldiers put their awards away for parade use, while others wore theirs on the battlefield out of pride. We'll never really know the whole story, and it's quite certain that every soldier didn't fall into the same scenario as we would like to believe.

Robert

[Garethmk1]

Dear All,

Sorry to bump an old post. I currently have some 13 EK's in my collection, all in various states of tarnish and some real minty examples. At current they are all displayed together in a glass cabinet. In th glass cabinet I have also placed a humidity guage which tends to read between 40 - 60% dependant on whether the heating has been on, weather etc. I also have a dehumidifier running 24/7 in addition to silicone bags that are kept in the case with the awards, but I have not "cooked these off". In the past, I used to open the window in my room quite regularly, but noticed that the first article I ever acquired, a MINT HJ dagger, which had been wrapped in a rag since 1945 - the scabbard started to rust along scratchlines - nothing major just rust along the scratches , since then I have treated it with renno wax and now I am happy that it has stabalized with the dehumidifier etc.

Is there anything else I can do ??? I am happy that those that are heavily patina are going to continue to darken and I am happy with that. I do have an EK2 13, EK2 4 and a EK2 3 in addition to an L/11 and 26mm EK1 that are MINT.
I am a collector that loves to show off my collection and handle them regularly and am scared that this constant handling will removing the delicate laquer which preserves the finish. Should I use cotton gloves to handle or is this serious overkill.

Any comments will be greatly appreciated.

Gareth

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi Gareth, sound like you are doing all the right things. White Cotton gloves are a good idea.

Cheers, Ade.

[Garethmk1]

Thanks Ade, jut bought some cotton gloves from ebay for the princely sum of £1.50 inc. p&p !!

Gareth

[Robert P.]

Hi Gareth, sound like you are doing all the right things. White Cotton gloves are a good idea.

Cheers, Ade.

I agree 100%, and use the gloves regularly on my badges and crosses. I have coated my bare zinc combat badges with Ren Wax after taking all moisture content out with a hair dryer first. By doing this you prevent outside moisture from getting to their sensitive core material. I don't apply Ren Wax to badges with finishes because I'm afraid the finish might be altered by the wax, or by applying the wax. It's only for badges that have lost all of their finish. And, I don't coat my crosses with it either. I have bought crosses from others which had 'snake oil' on them. I don't know if this coating would hurt the paint on the core, but I removed it with a Q-tip and very light alchohol. I think you're going way ahead of most collectors by adding a dehumifying system in your room or cabinet. This, I think, is all you can do. I live in a very dry desert climate. I'm fortunate in that way. But still, I try and handle them with 'kid gloves'.

Robert

[ChrisJ]

Thanks Ade, jut bought some cotton gloves from ebay for the princely sum of £1.50 inc. p&p !!

Gareth

(Bora dda, Gareth bach, sut mae ?)

...now returning to the heathen language, yes...always use white cotton gloves when handling these treasures, and store in humidy controlled environments if at all possible.

I use a airtight "Peli" cases....these are very reasonably priced and seem built to withstand an atom bomb...airtight/watertight.

Rgds
Chris