Opinion on this WB gold

[Olav]

or

http://www.gibud.no/Files/ObjectInfo.cfm?Id=259858

KR
Olav

[J Temple-West]

Catch looks like post war 'Souval'...Or is it just a shadow?

[Peter J.]

You're right John, it's a Souval

KR
Peter

[heinrich66]

I agree a souval fake!

[Waffen-Mike]

The catch is a dead giveaway, indeed a repro!


Best Regards

Mike

[Olav]

Thank you all for your quick replies!!

Cheers
Olav

[Chris Taylor]

It is indeed a postwar made Souval.

The Rudolph Souval company, being located in Austria, was not restricted or prohibited from making awards & badges displaying the swastika. This restriction only applied to German firms.
Consequently, Souval was making badges on original dies as early as 1946 for souvenir hungry GI's. Many of these first & early badge are indistinguishable from originals, being made on period dies, out of period materials, w/period pin & catches.

The catch system on this Wound Badge though is of a later variety, which Souval probably started using on most of their badges sometime in the late 1950s or early 1960s.

I'm personally hesitant to call Souval's badges "fake" or "repro", this would indicate a copy made of an original badge or a modern reproduction. Plus, most fakers lurk in the shadows & remain forever unidentified.

On the other hand Souval was an RZM licensed firm, and fell under the authority of the Third Reich when they started making these badges, so I prefer to call their badges either "wartime" or "postwar" made.
I maybe splitting hairs here, but the quality of their postwar badges far exceeds the standards of almost any "faker" or "repro" artist I've come across.

The one thing I can say though, is thank God Souval started using these catches or you might never know if one of their badges was made postwar!

[Laurence Strong]

I like thhat part about "Wartime" or "Postwar" as fake or repro tends to scare me away from what could be a real "Wartime" RS badge. I am not talking about any badge in particular, just generalizing

[Chris Taylor]

Your right Laurence, due to the fact that Souval made badges for about 50 years or so, most people are afraid to touch them.

But that's OK by me, as I've picked up some nice wartime "R.S." marked badges for next to nothing compared to what other similar badges are going for.