BSW Para badge

[Mike Pinkus]

Hello
i am receiving a BSW marked para badge, has a Detlev cert.
anybody have any pictures of one??
mike

[Mike Pinkus]

Well i got it in the mail today.
seems to be a pretty rare maker as no one i contacted has seen one other than this detlev certed one.....
comments
nice badge...
front

[Mike Pinkus]

back
would like to see pics of another if anyone has one...seems to be a nickel silver wreath with a tombac eagle
mike

[Steve]

Mike,

I've got one of these, a near mint, cased, vet bring-back (twice removed), that is very similar to yours. The wreath is of nickel silver. The eagle is heavily gilded. Nicely vaulted all around. Unfortunately, it is not here to examine as it is with my folks with the bulk of my collection. I'll see if I can get a picture put on. Hinge, pin, and catch construction is nearly identical, but I think my pin is a little blunter. The BSW mark is identical and I think the rivets also exhibit that slight pinched look to them. Post some pics of the catch. It should be a backwards "?" mark looking affair affixed directly to the badge. Also, the wing treatments are identical. The little slots provide a nice contrast. They appear to have been finished by hand with a jeweler's saw. I'm not a para badge expert, but I haven't seen this elsewhere except on yours and mine. The swastika, talons, brow, and maybe the wing shoulder are all highly polished and exhibit a characteristic "whittled" brighter appearance than the duller gilt, as if they were stoned or polished to accent them. Again, not an expert, but looks to me to be a VERY high quality, hand-finshed product. This same effect is present on other original badges I have such as EK I wide pins and the polished highlights on EK spangen. I was a little scared of it at first because it was so nice and the maker was not listed on this site. I feel better now as yours apparently has Niemann's blessing and is a recognized, albeit obscure maker, at least by him. What is up with this maker and the para badge. I think BSW made other Luft badges so marked. This is interesting, I've been waiting to see this come up for a while. Looking forward to hearing from you.

steve

[Frank Heukemes]

I would be interested to have especially one point cleared. Why is the wreath totally different from BSWs other Luftwaffe badges? It would be great to see your pics Steve!

Cheers, Frank H.

[IVAN]

Hi Mike,

if your badge is original ( and don't look bad) it's the 3rd BSW's type in buntmetall I see now.

following is the other two types. As we can see, all 3 eagles have different cut through the wings.

My question is: is it possible 3 variant for this maker? If not, wich is a fake?

Ivan

[IVAN]

Here is the second.

For me all 3 looks originals.

[IVAN]

rv

[Steve]

Frank & Mike,

I'll see if I can't get my dad to get some pics up tonight. Don't have a PC at home as I blow it all on EKs, Jap flags, knives, airborne, civil war corps badges, posthumous medal groups, and other historical detritus. I can't explain the wreath differences in other BSW products. Maybe the tooling of the dies for a radio op/gunner or other badges would not support the para design and they came up with an altered one. I'll leave this one up in the air for the technical expert. Wreath finish is altsilber like this one with polished highlights. Maybe a very "little" tunic wear and a little loss of the darkening around the outer perimeter on the back where it rubbed the flocking on the case pad. All in all, an identical badge for all intensive purposes.

Invariably, I like to pull stuff out of the "woodwork" myself or deal with folks who do the same, so to speak, as it applies to badges. Most of my stuff is directly acquired from vets or estates, etc. It adds a lot of confidence to my meager assemblage. As I was told by my great friend who I obtained my BSW para from, it was in a vet acquired lot (twice removed). No need to fear, gurantee was unconditional!!! Regardless, should make an interesting study.

steve

[Steve]

Looks like Ivan has some very nice examples. I'll be God d****** if my case isn't identical. Same design, same flocked pad, and the same wear in the interior of the case lid where the high shoulder has rubbed it these many years.

steve

[Frank Heukemes]

What is that on the first portion of the wreathband of the first badge shown? A deterioration of the die?

Cheers, Frank H.