Which award is this?

[Mort Homme]

Could anyone tell me what kind of award this is?
Thanks in advance.
Jan

[Mort Homme]

pics2

[Brian R]

West Wall Medal

http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/serv...wall_medal.htm

[Ian Hulley]

It's an early West Wall as Brian says ... later ones were made of zinc, yours is a bronze/brass metal. The yellow ribbon is also (in my experience) more commonly found on the early awards.

Ian

[Scott C.]

It appears to be covered in brass cleaner residue. I recommend a light touch with soft tooth brush to remove it.

[Tom Yanacek]

Hi Jan,

I agree with the others that yours is an original Westwall Medal. However, it does not look to me like an early issue. It looks to me like yours is a later type, struck from zinc, but with a nice bronze finish. I would also venture to say that your particular medal was produced by Wilhelm Deumer in Lüdenscheid. No, you will not find a maker marking on the suspension ring, but it has all the traits of a Deumer.

I believe I see spots of gray metal showing in the circled areas below. I believe this confirms that the base metal is zinc and not tombak-bronze or brass. And I see many other worn areas on the high points which appear to show gray metal. The white cleaner residue makes evaluation a bit difficult, but I'm pretty certain we are looking at a zinc-based medal.

Best regards,
Tom

[Tom Yanacek]

Here is a composite showing three Deumer-made Westwall Medals. All three of these examples are zinc-based. These Deumers have a very good bronze finish that holds up well over the years. With a casual glance these could pass for tombak-based examples but they are in fact zinc.

Best regards,
Tom

[Tom Yanacek]

And compare the very distinct detail of the earthworks on the two medals. The detail is identical and IMO only a Deumer-made Westwall Medal looks like that.

Best regards,
Tom

[juoneen]

Very nice example. Where did you find it?

[Ian Hulley]

That finish really IS good ! Certainly the best I've seen on a zincer

Ian