Just home from the SOS. Great show! Well when there I saw an unmarked Funcke & Bruninghaus Heeres Flak badge. Army flak badges are rare, but it's really hard to find the L56. Well, Durante takes one look at it and almost screams "REFINISHED!" He's very understated.
The seller is a top-notch guy, and so though we told him we thought it was refinished I would purchase the badge. 100% return guanrantee, but I had no intention of returning it. I wanted to strip the paint and see the original beauty!
And so I present to you the first two photos the badge as i bought it, with one change. On the reverse you will see where I did the "acetone test" with a q-tip and some nail polish remover. The silver came up immediately. Then I took about 30 minutes TRYING to get the silver out of every nook and cranny. And there are a LOT of nooks and crannies on that badge!
As Tom notes in his CCC book, the Funcke have a gold-tone undercoat on the bronze CCCs that many mistake for gold. When I took off the silver that is exactly what I found. Along with the halos on the hinge and catch that should be there.
Once cleaned I placed the new badge in my Army Flak display for a quick photo. Hope you enjoy!
The seller is a top-notch guy, and so though we told him we thought it was refinished I would purchase the badge. 100% return guanrantee, but I had no intention of returning it. I wanted to strip the paint and see the original beauty!
And so I present to you the first two photos the badge as i bought it, with one change. On the reverse you will see where I did the "acetone test" with a q-tip and some nail polish remover. The silver came up immediately. Then I took about 30 minutes TRYING to get the silver out of every nook and cranny. And there are a LOT of nooks and crannies on that badge!
As Tom notes in his CCC book, the Funcke have a gold-tone undercoat on the bronze CCCs that many mistake for gold. When I took off the silver that is exactly what I found. Along with the halos on the hinge and catch that should be there.
Once cleaned I placed the new badge in my Army Flak display for a quick photo. Hope you enjoy!
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