EK1 Vaulting

[Egret]

Greetings,
Marshall from London put forth a good question, which I would like to post here with my thoughts in hope of gaining more insight. The question is: How are vaulted Eks different in construction from flat ones?

Here are my thoughts, but I am very novice.

I have a 1939 EK1 (my only EK1) marked 20 on the underside of the pin. I bought it from Weitze 5 years ago. It had been “de-nazified”. The Swastika had been ground off carefully, but the effort left a swastika shaped opening into a hollow core. The badge is vaulted, but knowing it is hollow it can be seen the front is far more convex than the back is concave. I am sure this was intentional construction as all other soldering is intact. The empty space in the middle must be 1.5 or 2 mm deep in the center. I am no expert, but it seems unlikely someone would go to the effort to build this badge post WW2 and then grind it apart. The other weird thing is the Swastika shaped opening is absolutely “perfect” in shape, implying the emblem was itself another piece. I understand most EK1s are three pieces not counting the pin and hook. This one must have been four.
Is there an exploded illustration of the EK construction on the site?
I also wonder if anyone knows where the “Photographic Gallery of Fakes” is? I read references to it, but can’t find it. Is there really one gallery?
Chris “Egret”
New Hampshire

[Peter Wiking]

The EK1 should have 3 mainparts. Frame, core and backplate.

Cheers.
Peter

[meriksson]

Factory made valuted are perfect made like those WW1 EK´s. I do belive they did use diff tooling for those, and 20 L/52 is not that rare valuted. And there is " Home" made valuting but that shows different, like some bent the frames, and some did use more force like hammer.

Mikael

[Dave-B]

The EK1 should have 3 mainparts. Frame, core and backplate.

Cheers.
Peter

Peter,did you do that EK1 graphic?...........its very good

Dave

[Biro]

Thanks Chris...and also for your reply in the other thread...

Here is the original question as asked in Imperial....and it relates mainly to the core dies used to make Flat and Vaulted EK's that share identical obverse characteristics.

Convex EK's - construction question

Thanks to anyone who can help...

And Peter - that is seriously impressive...

Marshall

[George Stimson]

I have two KVK 1s with absolutely identical die characteristics. One is vaulted, the other is not. I've asked before whether there were two different (but identical!) dies or one which was used for both with some finished products being vaulted. I never got an answer really. (And I guess this doesn't answer the question here either, but it's just a little more info. )

[Peter Wiking]

Peter,did you do that EK1 graphic?...........its very good

Dave

That work is by me. Done in 3D Studio Max.

Cheers.
Peter

[Mike Kenny]

Hi,

I've replied on the Imperial thread, so I won't rehash it all here. I think the same basic methodology applies here though. I'm one who believes that only was die was used - a die to produce flat crosses - and that vaulting was a process after individual components had been produced (or after final assembly but prior to final finishing).

In the past I've posted my observations on LW Pilot/P-O Badge eagles which appear to have varying degrees of vaulting, so I think the process was a lot more widespread than is suspected. I wouldn't take it as far as, for example, Schwerin naval badges as I think these WERE produced vaulted.

Regards
Mike K