A Most Unusual First Class

[R. Schmitt]

... here's an OM MM on a Pilot Badge

[Steve Campbell]

So what is this OM mark?

[Robert P.]

So what is this OM mark?

Steve, it's an official mm. What it's doing stamped into the pin of this EK, I do not know.

Robert

[R. Schmitt]

Mystery stamp, whenever applied for whatever reason (but certainly not by the maker) makes this lovely cross one of a kind, I like it!

[Robert P.]

So what is this OM mark?

I can't remember where I saw this before - somewhere on one of the forums. A badge had a mark on it that was said to be a distribution stamp. Oh, it was on a Heersflak badge, the 'F&BL' stamp on an S&L Heersflak badge in M. Tucker's book. The mark was said by others here on the forum that it was a 'distribution' mark. Perhaps this might have something to do with the stamp....?

Robert

[all1knew]

Hello there,

Another badge with a strange maker mark:

http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...d.php?t=147121

William Kramer

[R. Schmitt]

I don't know about the distribution mark story
Seems to me a little too much theory with nothing to back it up right now, but If someone can provide any docs or LDO guidlines or similar proof on this...
KR
Rainer

[Robert P.]

Here's the F&BL marked S&L Heersflak. It IS an S&L. So, why then the F&BL mark on it?

Robert

[Robert P.]

mm...distribution mark?

[John Pic]

Just a thought,maybe its the copy used to base all the others made, an example. If someone needed to see a finished example they pulled this out and looked at it....just a wild guess.

[Robert P.]

Just a thought,maybe its the copy used to base all the others made, an example. If someone needed to see a finished example they pulled this out and looked at it....just a wild guess.

John,

Are you saying a 'prototype'? 'OM' was an original period badge manufacturing firm as evidenced by it's stamp being found on many Luftwaffe qualification badges. Still, why on this early Deumer EKI? And, is this stamp really from them, or is it a postwar stamp? IMO, I believe it's a period stamp, for it has the same patina as the pin and the back of the cross has. I think it will remain an unsolvable mystery. It would be interesting it others like it were to be found.

Robert

[sdesember]

If OM was a manufacturer then the part of the badge which has this marking, in this case the pin (or the whole frame of the EK) were subcontracted to this OM Fabrik w/ the assembly of the badge itself still being done by the original manufacturer who subcontracted it. This was done quite frequently in the edged weapons manufacturing where manufacturers swapped parts w/ each other because of lack of material to fulllfill an order or it was just cheaper to subcontract parts than manufacturing themselves. An example is, sometimes, you'll see an Eickhorn Heer Dolch w/ WKC crossguard or vice versa, etc..

[Robert P.]

If OM was a manufacturer then the part of the badge which has this marking, in this case the pin (or the whole frame of the EK) were subcontracted to this OM Fabrik w/ the assembly of the badge itself still being done by the original manufacturer who subcontracted it. This was done quite frequently in the edged weapons manufacturing where manufacturers swapped parts w/ each other because of lack of material to fulllfill an order or it was just cheaper to subcontract parts than manufacturing themselves. An example is, sometimes, you'll see an Eickhorn Heer Dolch w/ WKC crossguard or vice versa, etc..

Outsourcing, huh? Early period Deumer outsourcing their work to another contracted company, to make parts for their early products, in this case the pin...interesting theory. Frames? I don't thing this would be the case, in that Deumer would have had to send them their frame-manufacturing dies. Hmmm...

Robert

[sdesember]

Outsourcing, huh? Early period Deumer outsourcing their work to another contracted company, to make parts for their early products, in this case the pin...interesting theory. Frames? I don't thing this would be the case, in that Deumer would have had to send them their frame-manufacturing dies. Hmmm...

Robert

I think it'd not be the case either regarding the frame. I was only making a generalization w/o realizing you decorations folks identify a particular maker of an EK, from, among other things, also by looking at the beading of the obverse frame. I completely forgot about that!

On an Eickhorn Heer dagger, to use my particular example, the crossguard would also not be exhibiting an Eickhorn 'die-mark' so to speak, instead it'd still be WKC's as I'd think sending out one's own company's 'die-template' to another company would be a big no, no even if there were a working relationship between them.

But, as I was saying, the existance of the marking, in this case the OM marking on the pin, or in my dagger example the crossguard w/ WKC characteristics, is the company way of saying "Hey, I made this part, see how you like it, order from me...."

[Robert P.]

Yes, I understand this practice existed in the latter part of the war when factories were bombed-out, or the increased production of other awards by a particular manufacturer made outsourcing necessary. There has been many an argument over mismatched parts and pieces making up a multi-component flight badge, to the point of proclaiming it postwar. But an early maker who already had an established award's factory (Deumer)outsourcing his wares to another maker just for pins, just seems an unlikely scenario. But, your theory could be true. At this point proving it would be just as hard as disproving it. Still, a very nice, and interesting piece of history.

Robert