Para badge B&N L

[Ostarrichi997]

Top of the mornin' to you all,

Wanted to show my latest aquisition, a B&N L para badge. Still in quite OK shape, nice worn piece.

[ChrisH]

nice late war badge

[Lubo]

Hello Ostarrichi997,nice original badge you got there, just a quick question - is the eagle on your badge zinc or brass, it should be zinc, right?
Thanks
Lubo

[90th Light]

Hello Ostarrichi997,nice original badge you got there, just a quick question - is the eagle on your badge zinc or brass, it should be zinc, right?
Thanks
Lubo

The one shown in this thread is zinc but with B&N one can also find a brass eagle in some cases. Brass is not as common as zinc but you can find it on one of these.

The rarest one which I have ever seen is an example of a B&N L with the eagle made of aluminum. I have only ever seen one example of that which was removed from a German NCO just after surrender in North Africa in May 1943 by a member of the NZ 27th MG Battalion. I know he was an NCO because they also took his Soldbuch.

Nice badge and a maker seen a lot in Italy esp. Cassino also by NZ troops,

Chris

[Thomas Durante]

Hi guys,

I agree with Chris, a nice original B&NL made completely in zink. Like Chris says, these can also be found with brass eagles.....and even with a very early nickel silver wreath! These last ones are EXTREMELY RARE and I only know of one example, so a very short production run in my opinion.

Chris, you mention an aluminum B&NL, do you happen to have pictures of this badge? I have never run across a B&NL made in aluminum. Since the vast majority of B&NLs are made in zinc, they were likely a maker that obtained a contract to make para badges later in the war, after aluminum ceased being used for badge production. Also, I have never encountered B&NL Pilot Badges or ROAGs made of aluminum, so would be very surprised if they made any paras out of aluminum.

I wonder if you are thinking of this badge, posted a while back on the forum. It indeed has a B&NL wreath and is marked for B&NL, but it LOOKS to utilize a CUPAL eagle. The eagle design is actually S&L and S&L is known to have used these Cupal eagles late in the war and even postwar. Why it is found on a B&NL wreath and maker marked for B&NL is still a mystery, but other makers wreaths can also be found with these eagles (Juncker, Assmann, Osang, Meybauer, etc.). All these badges have correct hardware, rivets, and finish, so it is my opinion that these were quite possibly wartime badges that utilized a common S&L-design eagle made from Cupal.

Thanks

Tom

[90th Light]

Hello Tom,

you might be right on this aluminum B&N L. I saw it about 20 years ago and at that time I had seen a brass eagled B&N and a zinc eagled B&N. I remember studying the badge large and long because I had never seen an aluminum example but it was definitely aluminum and had suffered quite a bit of wear due to its soft nature, paratrooper life and the harsh North African desert.

The FJ soldbuch which came with it was a real "beaut" lots and lots of entries on most pages. I was impressed he had the EK1 and EK2. The guy had been in top FJ units since 1940 I can clearly remember that and in North Africa since early 1942.

To be honest it has been a while since I have seen the guy who had these but I have asked him every time I have seen him that if ever he wants to sell them so I know he still has them.

Will see if I can get an image and post but it was a B&N L for sure,

Chris