Scarce Bronze AS PABw... odd variant with sweet STUG sketch

[afrikasandman]

Ok gentlemen here is what I believe to be a rather scarce variant of a near minty AS PAB with cool STUG sketch that comes with it. Would love to hear some thoughts on this badge and how rare of a variant it is. I believe its tombac as its light weight and holding its finish awesomely well. Matt

[afrikasandman]

z

[afrikasandman]

x

[afrikasandman]

c

[afrikasandman]

v

[afrikasandman]

b

[afrikasandman]

n

[afrikasandman]

The detail in the sketch is really quite good as well, the tabs are lightly pink pipped as are the shoulder boards and the ek2 ribbon is colored as well. Matt

[Blued]

Nice original, harder to find variant! I'm not sure on the material. Can you take a loupe to the high points of the edges? At first I thought zinc, but now I think I see tombak peeping through.

[Stepdale]

Matt,
I can't quite tell you if it's tombak or zinc as both versions of this variant had a heavy copper coating, but I can tell you this is the first truly bronze one of these I have ever see. The silver ones are sometimes confused as bronze because of the copper coating, but yours is the first i have seen with a broze pin to match, so I don't think it was silver.

One question - does the S in AS have a period after it? I think I can see a hint of one but not quite sure it's there or not. If there is defintiely no period, then this is a version I have never seen, as the only versions of the hollow AS PAB I know of are marked either A.S. or .A.S
Dale

P.s. Better clean out your inbox as the PMs are about to start pouring in!

[afrikasandman]

Looking at it with my loop I don't see any layering so guess that makes it zinc? There is also a little bubbling on the back that i udusllt see on zinc badges. I see a little mark after the S but its hard to say if its s period or not. Matt

[Chet Sowersby]

Matt,
That is a killer example of a hard to come by PAB. Even better the hardware is still in place and the finish is superb. Looks to be a zinc example to me. The sketch is also very nice. Nice additions to your collection.

Chet

[Nordmark]

A gorgeous and rare zincer imo...


Regards,


Daniel

[Stepdale]

Matt,
I believe the period is there after the S. just very lightly struck. The other pattern of these, marked .A.S (a period before the A and S but none at the end), can be found in both silver and bronze, but I've only ever seen this one in silver. Has anyone else ever seen this one in bronze?
Dale

[Dave Wyatt]

hi guys, this is a good zincer. So far as I know, there hasn't been a tombak example of this variant to surface in any grade other than silver.