HSF Schwerin double stamped!!

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Heres an interesting Schwerin HSF that appears to have been double stamped in the Bridge area.
As you all can see it´s a "zinker", could this have something to do with the notorious missing 5th window.
Anybody else have anything similar in their collection.Comments?

[Mike Kenny]

Hi Skip,

Double striking on Schwerin HSF badges is not uncommon. I have an example in both zinc and tombak with double-striking in this region. From the study I've done on them, double-striking is not related to the missing window. If you look at your image, you'll note that both strikings have the left hand window deeply impressed, so at the time of striking the die had the fault repaired.

Regards
Mike K

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Hi Mike, so you think it´s just a case of sloppy workmanship then. A bit hard to believe from the premier manufacturer Schwerin, or not? It looks a bit as if the right hand window was missing.

[Mike Kenny]

Hi Skip,

I said nothing about sloppy workmanship, so please don't put those sort of words into my mouth. Unless I misunderstood you and you were trying to imply that the badge imaged is a reproduction? Personally I think it is genuine.

I don't think the right hand window is missing or weakly impressed, I think the double-striking has occured not as a stright shift (eg up 2 mm) but rather has been "rotational" - ie the right hand window was the pivot point and the left hand window was double struck by a few degrees.

Double-striking means the badge has been die struck twice. Why? I can think of a couple of possible scenarios, maybe others can come up with more reasons. My thoughts are;

1) every HSF badge was struck more than once in the manufacturing process however, for a small percentage of badges, the badge moved slightly between the first and second striking or;

2) the badges were normally only struck once, however some badges were not struck with enough force to produce the required detail (determined either imediately by an experienced operator or later during the QC process) and were struck again.

Personally I like the first point as the degree of double-striking I have noticed on HSF badges is not severe and normally restricted to a relatively small area. Maybe saying every badge was struck more than once is going to far though - another explanation could be a sort of "rebound" in the striking process during which the badge moved. This would better explain why the "ghosting" effects are areally restricted and commonly not that well developed.

Regards
Mike K

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Hi Mike,

sorry was´nt trying to put words into your mouth, just being a bit sarcastic, thats all.
I also believe the badge to be original, just all the people I have shown it to have all given remarks like the one I made above.
Any chance of you showing a pic of yours?

Skip

[Mike Kenny]

Hi Skip,

Schwerin certainly produced the best looking naval badges and I wouldn't say that Schwerin produced sloppy workmanship, but they are far from "gods" who only produced flawless examples - anyone who says otherwise hasn't really examined their final products in detail imo. You only have to flip over a fire-gilt badge to see where the paintbrush went "outside the lines" (sometimes I think my 4 year old could have done a better job, assuming I'd let her play with the deadly chemicals involved!), or on one of their zinc badges where so much solder has been used for the round catchplate that you can hardly see the maker's mark. More than one of their badges have characteristic die flaws and have you ever seen a nice, even, straight and perfectly aligned maker's mark on a genuine badge??!!

I've had a comms breakdown at work (lost my regular internet connection) so I can't post pics. Soon however, the Schwerin HSF article article I had 90% complete about 18 months ago (yes, I've bben slack) will hopefully be posted by Seba on the Member's Only area of the website. I'm sure once the festive season is out of the way and his workload permits it, he'll have it tidied up to the high presentation standards we have all come to expect!

Regards
Mike K

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Hi Mike,

can´t wait to see your article, with the mass of top copies of these out there we really need good info on die flaws etc.

Skip