E-Bay Bargain.

[Gordon Williamson]

Some time back I bought this badge from E-Bay. The seller had decided to show only part of the badge, omitting the eagle/swas to avoid the EBay police. There was enought there though to identify it as a "Zimmermann" type. It was purchased for under $100, a very good price ofr an early tombak badge!

[Gordon Williamson]

When it arrived I was intrigued to see the unusual hinge/pin fitting, nothing like any used by Zimmermann. Of course now we know that Schickle used the exact same obverse design for their badge, so I am now leaning towards thinking this type of badge is a Schickle rather than Zimmermann piece, making it even more of a bargain as I have only seen a couple of others of this type amongst many many Zimmermann's.

[Gordon Williamson]

I didn't notice at first, but later realised that there were faint scratchings on the reverse, only really readable by taking close up pics then rendering them into grayscale negatives.

On the left was a Feldpost number. M40307 is the number for U-502.

[Gordon Williamson]

On the other side was a rank, readable as Btsmt (Bootsmaat)

[Gordon Williamson]

Then a name, but unfortunately only the first four letters were discernable, and only very faintly, as W o h l . . . .

[J Temple-West]

Very nice, G.. Just goes to show what a bit of work, on a rainy afternoon, can turn up..

[Gordon Williamson]

There are some crew lists available from on line sources such as U-Boat . net, but nothing was found which could fit this partial name.

The final pieces of the jigsaw began to fall into place last week when at the invitation of its director Horst Bredow, I spent a few days living-in at the U-Boot Archiv in Altenbruch. I checked the crew lists for U-502 and bingo, second from last in the Alphebetical listing, Bootsmaat Johann Wohlfahrt, born 14 Feb 1920.
U-502, a Type IXC was sunk with all hands on 5 July 1942 off Cape Ortegal in the Azores by a Wellington bomber of Coastal Command when on return to base after her 3rd war patrol. The boat was sunk during the hours of darkness, the plane catching her on the surface having detected her by radar and illuminating her with the so-called "leigh" lights.

The search for more info continues, but not a bad piece of history for under a hundred bucks !!

As an aside, it appears that Schickle also made a hollow back version of this badge. I have now seen one with identical features, identical pin and hinge as this type but hollow backed. A number of advanced U-Boat collectors have seen this one too and all agree it is 100% good. So, it looks like there can no longer be a general assumption that all hollow backs are fake - though I'd still guess 90%+ are wrong.

[Frans H.]

That is a very good find Gordon! And at a very very good price. Congratiulations

[Pascal H.]

Very nice Gordon. Another example that shows that knowledge always pays off.

Did you find anyone with that name or starting with that name amongst the crew of U-502?

Pascal

Added, I think our posts just crossed. Must be a hell of a feeling when seeing that name on the list .

[hubertus]

Hello Gordon,

Very nice U-boat Badge, i'll see if i can get the crew list for U-502.How much do you think it's worth.

Hubertus.

[Pascal H.]

Dear Gordon,

I just had another look at the picture of the name and even on that tiny picture you can already making out more then just "Wohl".

Have a look.

[Pascal H.]

Highlighted and you'll see the starting of the "f".

Pascal

[Gordon Williamson]

Pascal, you are correct. I couldn't tell however what it was. Looked like a "t" but that didn't really fit "wohlt..." didn't look right. With hindsight of course it should have been obvious !

[Rich G]

Nice one Gordon!


yes, ebay still yields a few treasures. Sometimes you have to take the risk and buy blind. It has worked out for me many times!

Rich

[Frank Heukemes]

Great research story, Gordon!