GAB Opinion????

[wschmidt]

Hello People,
I'm looking for this badge. The pictures are very bad. Is it possible avaliable?
Regards,
Schmidt

[AndyC]

Looks like a Karneth


Andy

[Thomas Durante]

Hi Schmidt,

Very nice GAB in great condition. As Andy says, these are commonly thought of as being made by Karneth, but we can't really be sure if its Karneth or Kriesel. Both were located in Gablonz and both have initials RK, so both are candidates as the maker of this unmarked "RK" GAB.

Tom

[Wim Vangossum]

Hi Schmidt,

Very nice GAB in great condition. As Andy says, these are commonly thought of as being made by Karneth, but we can't really be sure if its Karneth or Kriesel. Both were located in Gablonz and both have initials RK, so both are candidates as the maker of this unmarked "RK" GAB.

Tom

Very fine GAB!

Hi Tom,


The GAB's are not marked so I assume you reffer to other combat awards that are marked with "RK" and that use identical set ups as these GAB's? So that would mean that they all could belong to the other maker (Kriesel) right?


Regards, Wim

[Thomas Durante]

Hi Wim,

Yes, none of these GABs has ever been found marked RK that I know of. They are connected to the RK-marked PABs and IABs through the reverse hardware setup, base metal and particular finishes, etc.

For me, because of these connection points, I think the maker of the RK-marked IABs & PABs.....and these unmarked GABs is one and the same company. Whether that is Karneth or Kreisel, I don't know.

I really don't know where the connection to Karneth comes from, as far as I know it has always been assumed to be correct and has always been like this since I have been in the hobby. My guess is that it was an early book author that made the connection of initials RK to Karneth and it has remained gospel until today. However, Andreas makes a good arguement that the initials RK could really be Richard Kreisel. As you know, the #GABs have the maker mark "RK" enclosed in a circle. Same with the RK-marked Uboat badges, the mark mark is inside a circle. The German word for circle is "Kreisel", so its a very intriguing clue that supports Kreisel as the true identity behind the RK initials IMO.

Now we just need him or BassD to find a period picture with RK and Kreisel painted on a wall together and we'll put this one to rest like they did masterfully with Wiedmann

Tom