BSW Logo Pattern

[Henri S]

Here is the award in question.

I do not agree that it is a denazified fake. As most agree 1957 awards unless the very early ones, do not have the quality of WWII issues. WWII issue awards were manufactured to very high standards, whilst 1957 awards had no quality control, just a guideline of what they should look like. I would like to see the input of other 1957 collectors on the issue and maybe they can show their paratrooper badges for comparison.

[Henri S]

Here is the back with the 41 mark

[Henri S]

And this is a denaz fake sold as a 57er. Note the clipped claws

[Henri S]

Rare view of fake

[Grant Broadhurst]

Yes the first one looks like a late production 1957 para badge , Henri if it is still in your posession can you take close up pics of the logo on the back of the eagle ?

[Mike Kenny]

Hi,

If the example in this thread is believed to be a "genuine" 57er, please explain why both the eagle and the wreath are DIFFERENT to known genuine wartime BSW Para badges.

Re the comment on later 57ers being of poor quality, that is certainly true for post 80s collectors EKs/RKs. The hinge/pin/catch on 57ers, except for the very earliest, generally leave a lot to be desired, HOWEVER the actually obverse detail of the strike (please note STRIKE, as opposed to CASTING) is actually generally pretty good.

Regards
Mike K


Here's a comparison of a wartime BSW to the badge above. I've borrowed Mark Miller's pics.

Obverse...

[Mike Kenny]

Reverse...

[Mike Kenny]

And, as also requested, an example of a "genuine" 57er.

Regards
Mike K

[Grant Broadhurst]

Hello Mike ,

It does look like a different bird & wreath has been used for the 57 eagle , it looks to me that it has been cast as opposed to stamped if you look at the head it has a lot of deformaties . Could this be a 1957 fake ?

I personally don't have any of these "fat" rivet 57,s in my collection as i,ve never been keen on their quality , i,m still sitting on the fence on this one as there are a lot of 57,s that have different set up,s from their WW2 brothers and a lot of the later pieces have been cast as opposed to stamped .

Does anyone else have one of these BSW stamped pieces in their collection they can post a close up of the makers mark here so we can get a good look at one or two examples ?

The only para badge i have in my collection is an early worn Army para badge with the same set up as the Luftwaffe para badge Mike K showed in his last post with the "hollow" rivets and stamped pieces attributed to S & L .

[Henri S]

Yes the first one looks like a late production 1957 para badge , Henri if it is still in your posession can you take close up pics of the logo on the back of the eagle ?

I do not have the award, but will look up my photos to check if I have a close up of the mm.

[Okrach]

I do not have the award, but will look up my photos to check if I have a close up of the mm.

Hi Henri,

In this case I may be a bit of help. I will post my pictures to compare them.

Hmmm following the Henri's posts I would say that the subject become a little bit foggy now. Whatever the conclusions are even Henri's '41' stamped pin para badge has the SBW instead of BSW MM pattern.

As I pointed yesterday my two para badges are IDENTICAL in EVERY SINGLE ASPECT to the Henri's. The only element that fails in both cases is the '41' stamp on the pins.

The question remains - if the BSW made their badges during a war, why the MM stamp would be changed in case of 57-ers (NOTE: there are known fakes marked with such a 'non-standard' SBW - stamp). The opposite argumentation is Henri's - the 57-ers were made without any particular instruction how the should have looked like.

Following Frank's argumentation the SBW is an Englishman's mistake. Is it really so or it is simple the manufacturers LOW quality post war production unnoticed mistake?

I hope my pictures will be of some help here - here we go - three 57-ers which came to me yesterday - ALL stamped with SBW MM.

[Okrach]

reverses of the badges in question:

[Okrach]

From the very first view we can notice the similarities of the two para badges to the one presented by Henri.

The badge on the left shows a light worn condition. The badge on the right is nearly mint.

[Okrach]

the reverses of the two para badges. Note the blurry SBW stamp in EXACTLY same position as on Henri's example. The pins are not stamped with '41' MM. If we compare now this picture to the one I presented yesterday marked with green arrows showin EXACTLY IDENTICAL PRODUCTION METHOD.

[Okrach]

Pins off...