ost medal thoughts

[stuart a.]

hi
been offered this which is in better overall cond to mine the seller has informed me its mm 108 looks good to me but would like confirmation of anyone out there as i was told that whoever maker 108 was only made these in zinc and by now should not be in this sort of cond

[stuart a.]

back

[Bruce Simcox]

Hi Stuart......

......I'm not certain about the info you received stating that maker 108 made these awards in zinc only......but I am certain that zinc or not......the material the award is made of has nothing to do with how it would look after time.

Let me be a bit clearer on this point:
Zinc is known to develop 'zinc pest' after time, if the atmospheric conditions are present to cause this to happen. Whereas a tombac, bronze or german silver award will not, naturally, develop 'zinc pest'.

However, just because a badge is made of zinc does not automatically doom it to develop 'zinc pest'. Some zinc badges look just about as good after 63+ years as they did the day they were minted.

Also, some zinc badges, though not all, are known to have absorbed their finish after time. Why? I do not know.

It seems to be a matter of just how they were kept and in some cases where they have been since the end of the hostilies of WWII. As well as the grade of zinc that was used in their manufacture.

I know that this a a rather simplistic and incomplete explanation and that there are others that could phrase it better, but I hope it helps you somewhat.

[afrikasandman]

Stuart, well since the ost medal is about the only german medal i collect in any type of quantity i will give it a little go here. Zinc medals as stated before are known for loseing their finish with time, but not all of the zinc ost medals do this. I have at least 3 or 4 that still retain approx 60% to 90% of their finish. The tombac awards will almost always retain some of their silver wash even though it may be only a small amount. The zinc pest is a problem with many of the zinc badges of the TR, but there is nothing we can really do other than to clean the badge/medal in warm/hot soapy water, dry it and give it a thin layer of vasaline to prevent further deterioration of the medal. As for this maker which is 108 Arno Wallpach, Salzburg it is uncertain if they only made badges in zinc. I have found that some doubles of makers i have made both zinc and tombac, and i would assume that many if not all the makers did the same. The only exception to this seems to be that private purchase items and makers (L numbers) seem to be made of tombac (or at least all the ost medals i have seen in L numbers are tombac). You have a nice medal and be proud to own it, if you ever get tired of it drop me a pm as i am in need of a 108. Matt

[stuart a.]

thanks for the info all