Mint HSF Badge

[Darrell]

Pretty hard to find a nicer example of one of these fellows

[Darrell]

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[Darrell]

oh .... BTW ... Price is .... "On Demand" if you are rushing off to to take a gander at the price. That in itself will put this one out of reach of most mortals

[John R.]

Hsf

Thomas Huss is normally right on so I am not going to challenge him too much on this badge without forum input. He states:

High seas Fleet war badge.
Very nice piece, unused!
Brass material, gold plated with polished edges! In an old box.
Manufacturer: Schwerin Berlin
Condition 1+
Price on demand

I do not think he would say this unless he was fairly sure this was the case.

Has anyone seen a gold plated badge? For information, gold plated badges are very common in the US Navy, the Sea, Air, Land guys (SEALS), submariners, aviators and surface ship officers all have the option to gold plate their qualification badges if they wish and at their cost. Some do, some don't of course.

Perhaps this was true with German badges also.

Does anyone have any facts or history on gold plated war badges or is this example a mint tombak only, maybe polished or merely with the lacquer still on.
John

[TobyR]

There are two methods of gold plating: (1) total immersion in a solution, with an electric currant passed between electrodes; or (2) using a brush with two electrodes attached.

Mercury gilding is done with a pounce, i.e. a piece of chammy leather or rabbit skin.

In this method, a paste of mercury and gold is made. This paste is put onto the leather and the leather is then formed into a ball around the paste. The pounce is then patted on to the surface of the object to be gilded, allowing the solution (paste of gold and mercury) to leach through the chammy and on to the surface of the badge, etc.

As a result of the mercury, the surface of the badge now turns white. However, this whiteness disappears when the mercury burns off as a result of the firing process - a gilt finish remains.

This gilt finish can now be burnished as desired (in the case of the High Seas Fleet; the swaskita, ribbon bands of the wreath and the upper line of the eagle's wings).

The badge in question displays all the traits one would expect of a fire gilt badge. Notice how, when viewed from the reverse, there is no over-run of gold around the inner cutouts either side of the maker-mark. This is because the pounce was unable to pass through these small cut-outs. A brush on the other-hand would have done so.

Also, if you look at the finish you will see tht it is granular (this all the more evident when viewing such a badge with a loupe) in contrast to the finish produced by gold plating. Furthermore gold plating does not produce such a richly coloured finish.

I presently have a badge listed on my own website which appears to be identical to the badge in question. Having examined it with a loupe, it is my contention that the finish is one of fire gilding and not plating.

You will also notice that both badges display brown scorch marks (my example, a small area on the right-facing wing of the adler; Thomas' example, the inner wreath, approx. five minutes to midnight position. The brown marks, I would suggest are the result of impurities during the firing process. For example a fibre from the leather transferred to the surface of the badge during the application of the gilt.

Hope this is of some help.

Best,
Toby.

[TobyR]

Close of the obverse upper;

[TobyR]

Obverse lower;