Balloon observer stickpin

[waffendude]

I know this award is controversal, but other than
wether if it existed or not... is the constuction of this
stickpin look ok, it has a knurled pin and both these came
together... which doesnt' mean anything
condition isnt the greatest
Appreciate any and all opinions

[Ludwig]

Not original. IMO.

[Dietrich Maerz]

Here are two more "Balloons", one in silver and one in bronze.

There are several good reasons to believe that they are post-war:

- there are no certified real size examples (apart form the Ailsby, Forman and Niemann versions, of course ....).

- if the minis were made before May 1945 they should be 9 mm and not 16 mm.

If one dives into the "history" of the Balloon Observer Badge one can really see how it is done to intorduce a new badge into the market. First you start with some b/w photographs, then you have 10 production samples and finally you have the badge in all grades, surrounded with a nice story of a company in bombed-out Dresden. And some miniatures to back it up. And a picture of a Knights Cross winner on the day of his award with the ballon badge (Unfortunately the award date was way before the institution of the badge .... minor mistake of the photoshopper)

However, the (in this case English) fakers were never really good in studying the original sources, otherwise they would at least made the minis 9 mm. But who cares about the finer details of original documentation anyway?

The only thing that is astonishing in all that is that there is no Balloon Observer Badge in Gold with Diamonds ..... yet ....

Dietrich

[waffendude]

Thank you Dietrich for your very in depth post on the pin

much appreciated

mike

[Hans N]

Interesting to see the knurle on all 3 Baloon minis being mutch tighter and has a higher angle than what i am used to see on TR minis

[Hans N]

Interesting to see the knurle on all 3 Baloon minis being mutch tighter and has a higher angle than what i am used to see on TR minis. The type on the SA stick pin is what i would expect on period minis