RK PAB - so ugly it's beautiful

[Stepdale]

Hi guys,
Recently picked up this silver RK PAB from a fellow collector. It got misstruck in the stamping process, pushing everything to the left as you view it and causing part of the wreath on the left and the tracks on the right to be cut off or deformed. It's not unusual to see these RK PABs being just slightly off kilter, but this is a degree I haven't seen before. I'm amazed that it even passed inspection and got its silver wash and hardware added after such an ugly mistake. To add insult to injury, they didn't even cut out around the cannon.

I know some wouldn't want this in their collection due to the defects and the lack of finish, but to me it has a lot of character and beauty just for those reasons. It had no provenance so I can't say it was ever used, but with no real wear I tend to believe it never made it into a soldier's hands but probably did make it to an outlet or warehouse. Despite the defects, it still shows the fine details that RK managed to maintain until the late stages of the war. I also like the way the finish fades to a milky gray on these zinc badges.

Anyway, hope my photos are good enough to explain what I mean. Feel free to fire back and tell me if you think it's just plain ugly, how much you don't like the eagles on RK gabs, etc. Promise you that it won't hurt my feelings at all!
Dale

[Stepdale]

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[Stepdale]

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[Stepdale]

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[Stepdale]

Last one.

[Ludwig]

Yes ugly, but quite... mmm... interesting!

[Bruce Simcox]

Hi Dale......

......I am inclined to say that it never made it out of the factory. The reason being is that I can't ever recall seeing a photo of a PAB in wear that still had a mass of metal still remaining under the barrel. However, that is just my opinion, as I haven't personally viewed every photo taken during the TR era with a PAB in wear.

Interesting PAB. Looks original on my monitor just unfinished from the factory.

[Stepdale]

Thanks Ludwig and Bruce. Maybe I should not have used the word "beauty" but rather "interesting," but I'm the beholder of the PAB so I guess I can see it however I want to.

Bruce, I have no doubts on originality myself, but can't say either whether it left the factory or not. I tend to believe it did as it had the finish applied and the hardware attached, which assumes that it passed the initial quality control inspection. But it could just as easily have been pulled at the final inspection. I looked at a lot of photos of RK PABs before posting this one and didn't find a single one with the metal still under the barrel, but these are very common PABs so like you I can't say I've seen them all.

[Stepdale]

Just a quick question about giving this one a vaseline bath. I've only given my badges a bath when they have zinkpest, not on ones like this that don't have any signs of it. If I did give this one a bath, would it remove the what I call "milky gray" finish where the zinc has absorbed the original silver finish? I don't want that to go away, I like the way it looks.
Thank you,
Dale

[Thomas Durante]

Hi Dale,

Interesting Karneth to be sure.

I tend to agree with you that it probably made it through several quality control checkpoints because the hardware is attached. That would have been installed after the trimming was complete, so it must have made it past that step. However, the look of it gives me the sense of it being a planchet like we sometimes see so perhaps it made it through a few quality controls but then didn't pass the final inspection due to the mis-strike and lack of cannon cutout. It sat in a storeroom for decades or was thrown away and then rediscovered after several years which would explain the white milky substance, very typical of unfinished planchets that have been found in the last few years.

If you like the milky white appearance, then definitely do not give it a vaseline bath. That is not finish IMO, but rather the very beginning stages of zinkpest, so wiping it down with vaseline will get rid of that, but the badge will be very dark afterwards. I am not sure this has any silver finish on it, I tend to think it is bare zink that we are seeing here. The hardware has a silver finish on it for sure, but that could have been applied to the hardware before it was attached to the badge. The badge itself though looks like bare zink imo.

Tom

[Stepdale]

Tom,
I'm not so sure that it never had a silver finish applied to more than just the hardware. Agree that it is mostly gray like planchets, but you can see on many of the high points of the obverse (the headlights, the crossbars on the tracks, the right defective edge) where there are remains of what appears to be the original silver wash. They appear under a loop even when not in sunlight, so I think they are truly there and not just a reflection of the sun off of bare zinc. I suppose they could also be the result of some type of chemical reaction between the zinc and the environment the badge was stored in, but I think that would tend to be more flat gray and, like you said, a precursor to zinkpest. Either way, I'll probably eventually bathe it in vaseline to be safe.

I'll throw this one in with the day fighter I'm about to send just so you can give it a look over to tell me what you think.
Dale

[Thomas Durante]

Hi guys,

Just a little followup on this thread, Dale was kind enough to send me this PAB for an inhand study. Attached are some high quality scans and they confirm that this one indeed has had a silver finish applied. You can see a few areas where the finish is bubbling up in places as is typical with zink-based badges.

Certainly an interesting example, thanks for sending it Dale.

Tom

[Thomas Durante]

Closeup of edge shows the zink oxidation bubbles in the finish.

Tom

[Bruce Simcox]

Hi Dale and Tom

Self Edited

[Stepdale]

Thanks, Tom! Your scans sure beat the stew out of my poor photos, but now you can confirm what I saw in hand. I really appreciate you taking the time to post these for what is a very common badge, but I know you like the variations of zinc badges in general as much as I like the mysteries of Gablonz badges in particular. The QC inspector must have either been in a great hurry or hungover to allow this one to get through his hands.

Either way, this one will be taking a Vaseline bath as soon as I get it back from you.
Dale