GAB,s

[Paul H]

Gentlemen,
Your opinions on these two GAB's appreciated

[Paul H]

Gab

[Paul H]

Gab

[Paul H]

gab

[Frank Heukemes]

Dear Paul,

Generally speaking, both badges are fine. I suspect the hinge and catch are replaced on the first one, since exactly this type of Assmann is normally found with cast in hinge and catch only. Does that look like grinding on the reverse, did somebody possibly remove the cast in hinge and catch?

[Paul H]

Cheers Frank,
Couple of more pictures of the hinge, it appears that the arched line on the back looks like it was done during casting.

Dear Paul,

Generally speaking, both badges are fine. I suspect the hinge and catch are replaced on the first one, since exactly this type of Assmann is normally found with cast in hinge and catch only. Does that look like grinding on the reverse, did somebody possibly remove the cast in hinge and catch?

[Paul H]

hinge

[Paul H]

back

[Robin Lumsden]

Paul.

I agree with Frank - both nice badges.

The cast Assmann ('A3') is probably my favourite of all GABs. I just like the 'look' of these late-war Assmanns. Nice detail and a nice dull grey. Sort of epitomises the struggle going on at the end.

Regards,

Robin.

[Frank Heukemes]

Dear Paul,

It seems you got me wrong, i was not talking about that line. I was talking about the general overall grinding of the reverse, look e. g. at the round ejector pad marks on the reverse, some of these are ground down in places. To me it looks as if the lighter grey areas are the non-ground areas and the darker ones the ground ones. It seems this was done to remove the cast in hinge and catch. For a better understanding, see pic below. This type exist normally only in that form with cast in hinge and catch.

There is a second (and even third) Assmann type of GABs that uses a hinge and catch similar to yours, but on that type the grenade/bayonet area is hollow.

Here is what I suspect was the original state of your badge: