Post Your Sales Sample Boards

[Tom Yanacek]

Hello to all,
I just purchased this Wilhelm Deumer Sales Sample Board, this past weekend, at the JAG Show in Louisville, Kentucky. I thought it would be nice to see some other examples of these boards, so please post some pictures if you have a sample board to share. There seems to be very few of these boards around anymore. I think in most cases they are being chopped up by dealers, and the pieces are being sold individually. Actually, I am guilty of doing the same thing to the previous sample board I owned. The board had been folded twice and was breaking apart at the seams. I sold 12 of the 15 pieces on the board for what I paid for the entire board, then kept the 1939 EKI, 1939 EKI Spange, and maker marked Austrian Occupation Medal for free and then some. This board has also been folded, but it is still in good condition so I think I will leave this one intact.
It seems that they were not too particular about using the proper ribbons on the medals when these boards were assembled. They probably used whatever scraps they had lying around. Notice that the Westwall has been mounted using the ribbon for the miniature of the Life Saving Medal, and the Social Welfare Medal was mounted using the Austrian Occupation ribbon in ribbon bar width. Also, the Wehrmacht 12 Year Service is mounted using the miniature ribbon width. Quite typical on sample boards.
Best regards! Tom

[Tom Yanacek]

A few closeups...

Mint condition Wermacht 12 Year Service Medal.

[Tom Yanacek]

Mint condition RAD 12 Year Service Medal. (leichte Ausfuhrung)

Tom,
Very nice. I think these boards were put together for GI's after the war as souvenir items, therefore they probably weren't too concerned about using the proper ribbons.
Regards,
Fred

[Tom Yanacek]

Hello Fred,

Thanks for responding. Very interesting viewpoint. I was talking about that very thing to some other people at the JAG Show over the weekend. Were these boards used by the manufacturer to display and promote their wares, were they some type of window display at shops that sold medals on the commercial market, or were they just assembled to pacify the flood of GI souvenir hunters at the end of the war? Any other comments on this would be appreciated.
Best regards! Tom

[TJ Suter]

Here is mine. Has a couple of scarce shoulder board devices and an early SS visor hat skull.

[Frank Heukemes]

Dear Tom,

Where on the board does it say Deumer? Not doubting, just curious. Did you deduct it from some of the awards being marked L/11?

[Tom Yanacek]

Here is mine. Has a couple of scarce shoulder board devices and an early SS visor hat skull.

Hey Thomas,
That is a very nice sample board. Thanks for posting the picture. Do you happen to know the maker?
Best regards! Tom

[Tom Yanacek]

Dear Tom,

Where on the board does it say Deumer? Not doubting, just curious. Did you deduct it from some of the awards being marked L/11?

Hello Frank,
Thanks for responding. The board itself is not marked Wilhelm Deumer, but I did determine it to be a Deumer board because of the pieces mounted on the board. I immediately recognized the Krim Shield as a Deumer piece because my previous sales board had a Krim Shield on it as well and the two shields were identical. I also recognized the Narvik Shield as a Deumer piece because I have seen the same type of Narvik Shield on boards that I knew were Deumer. Also the KVKI's with and w/o Swords were recognizable to me as Deumer's from the front and from the little bit I could see of the attachment hardware. I also recognized the EKII Spange as that of Deumer. I just now started to examine the pieces a little more using a dental mirror and flashlight. The KVKI with Swords is marked (stamped) '3' in a square. The KVKI w/o Swords is stamped with a '3' and no square. The Black Wound Badge is marked '3' in relief on the helmet reverse. The Bronze Mother Cross is stamped 'L/11' on the bottom of the lower arm reverse. The EKII Spange is stamped 'L/11'. I was never certain about these boards until I owned my first one. I thought that maybe these boards were for displays in shops that sold medals on the commercial/retail market and therefore the board might have displayed a mixture of medals from different manufacturers. After taking my first sample board apart, I was convinced that all the pieces on the board were by the same manufacturer. Of course not all the pieces on the board were marked, but the ones that were, were marked either 'L/11' or '3'. One of the female RAD rank broach pins on my previous board even had the fancy/formal Deumer logo with the large 'D'. I am convinced that these boards were used by sales reps. of the manufacturer, who would use these boards to display their wares to the shops that ordered medals for commercial sales.
Best regards! Tom

[TJ Suter]

I have no idea who the maker of my board is. Eventually I'll probably figure it out by matching the item numbers on the sample board to a manufacture sales catalog. Unfortunately the only one I have at this point is for F.W. Assmann & Söhne .

[Tom Yanacek]

Hello Thomas,

When I first saw your board, Assmann was the first company that came to mind. I guess it's safe to say that it's not an Assmann since the catolog numbers do not match. Hopefully, someone on the forum may have a manufacturer's catolog where the numbers match to your pieces, and the mystery will be solved. Just curious: Have you ever tried to look on the underside of that SS Skull for maker markings? I don't think I would be able to resist trying to look under that piece using a dental mirror and flashlight. Again, thanks for posting that really nice sample board.
Best regards! Tom

[Frank Heukemes]

Thanks for your answer, Tom.

P.S.: A Panzer skull it is!

[Tom Yanacek]

Thanks for your answer, Tom.

P.S.: A Panzer skull it is!

Thanks Frank!
I was thinking that that skull might have been a Panzer skull as opposed to an early pattern SS skull, it just looked a little too large at first glance. Would this skull be the size for the Panzer collar tabs, or is it for something else? In my opinion, it is a better item being a Panzer skull. Never cared much for SS stuff.
Best regards! Tom

[Frank Heukemes]

Dear Tom,

Looking at the size of some of the shoulder board numbers, I think it could very well be a collar tab Panzer skull.

As I am currently researching the GAB, I guess you never found a GAB on one of your Deumer sample boards? I have no indication whatsoever that a Deumer GAB existed, but I am just asking out of curiosity.

[Patrick W]

Tom,

Thats a lovely condition sample board. I had a deumer board too but it was in such poor condition (folded and damp) that I removed the awards. Could you please post some closeups of the two shields. Pascal would be very interested as we have been trying to link these type shields to a manufacturer. The filled shoulders on the Narvik seems to be a common factor on Deumer boards.
I don't think these are put together post war but I believe they often put badly finished awards/incorrect ribbons etc on these boards as they were display rather than awarded items. I have noted this several times. On my board the Todt prize had rather sloppy soldering; the Narvik was missing a prong; the Ek2 had paint up the frames on both sides and I believe it was your Austrian Anschluss medal that was missing the silver finish? Mine had an L11 marked Czech Occupation on it.