West Wall Medal ring-stamped '4'

[ancientrelicsuk]

Hi Guys,

This was in an auction lot - a strange looking West Wall Medal ring stamped '4' with envelope. The bird looks bad to me and the medal is strangely thick at 3 mm. Unfortunately someone has cut out the makers stamp from the envelope, so my guess is it's a fake medal with post-war ribbon with original envelope. Am I right?

I am surprised that even this medal is being faked now, and this looks an old fake.

Thanks for looking and for any comments,

Best regards, Guy

[ancientrelicsuk]

Close ups of the medal...

[Tom Yanacek]

Hi Guy,

I think your medal is probably a good one. Steinhauer and Lück is a known maker of these and they did mark the suspension ring with their number '4'. It looks to me like your example is just beat up. It appears to be zinc and void of finish, which is not unusual for the zinc examples.

I agree with you on the ribbon, though. That is a modern replacement ribbon.

The packet looks like the type we usually find marked to Carl Poellath of Schrobenhausen. It is not uncommon to find original packets that have the maker's name cut out.

Here is a Steinhauer & Lück Westwall that I have for comparison.

Best regards,
Tom

[Tom Yanacek]

ring marking:

[Tom Yanacek]

You may want to look at this thread:

http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...light=Westwall

[ancientrelicsuk]

Thanks Tom, this is very helpful, the '4' just looks like the other mm's posted under the loupe. It seems a heavy medal though - 20.5 grams. Many thanks again, Best regards, Guy