sub badge opinions

[David R.]

Hi what do you guys think about this badge?? Thanks in advance David R.

[David R.]

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[David R.]

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[Philippe DB]

Hi David,

Realy don't trust this one. Looks like somebody preformed a head transplant on the eagle. The eagles head is just an impression but not properly cutout, same go's for the cannon.

My advice would be to stay away from it.

Kind regards
Philippe

[Larry Lipps]

David, I disagree, this is one of the badges with the slightly larger rudder than what is commonly seen. Unfortunately no one has ever been able to attribute the maker of these badges. There are a couple of items for a badge of this manufacturer that I can’t see in your photo. First is that they usually have a fairly defined propeller. The second is a rounded top for the hinge pin. If your badge has these attributes, IMHO it's an original piece.

[skip]

Well it would´nt be one that I would want in my collection.
Is that corrosion on the front of the hull were it leaves the wreath?
The funny red colour looks like attempted ageing that does´nt really work.
The badly cut out cannon and flag are also pretty ugly.
Are there shear marks on the side of the badge, some side shots might help.

Skip

[Gordon Williamson]

David

Looks like a good original piece to me. I have an identical piece, mint firegilded tombak, but with slightly differing hinge, but the die characteristics identical - head of eagle, rudder of sub, deck gun, flag etc. Mine belonged to Oberleutnant Heinrich Niemeyer, commander of U-547.





In my opinion a far nicer badge than the Schwerin.

[skip]

Gordens looks pretty much the same from the front but from the back you can see that the bottom cutout is totally different.
Hinge and catch are also totally different, although this is not disqualifying in itself. The flag and canon are also a little different.
Facit, could be the same badge, but Gordens looks alround better. I still don´t like that bit were the front hull leaves the wreath either.

Skip

[Philippe DB]

Dear Gordon,

I tend to agree with Skip. The original badge shown by Gordon probably served as basis for the one schown by David.
Gordon the one you posted shows al the finishing qualities one would expect and looks very homogeneous.
I have never seen a badge where the eagles head is just an imprint and all the surrounding material is still there. If it is original it probably never reached the final production stage.

Kind Regards
Philippe

[Mike Kenny]

Hi,

I have a similar badge to David's. It's been posted before, more than once, with mixed response. If it's a repro, fine, but if so it's not a recent one.

Gordon, if your badge is not vaulted, could you please provide some measurements? I'll get mine out later and do the same. If one "served as the basis" for the other as Philippe has suggested (I'm assuming casting here) then my example and David's example should be smaller than Gordons.

Regards
Mike K

[Philippe DB]

Hi guys,

Just one other thought. As skip mentioned the cut out starting at the front of the Hull realy cuts in to the wreath. Could it be possible that due to that mistake the piece was rejected by QC an nobody even bothered to finish it, this also could explain the residue around the head.

Like I said, just a thought

Philippe

[Gordon Williamson]

My example is 38mm high and 49mm wide. Weight is 28.4gr.

[Larry Lipps]

Philippe could be correct. While the condition could be better, I still believe this to be an original badge. That being said, there is something wrong where the bow of the boat crashed into the wreath. Mine doesn't show this flaw. It does however have the same pin and catch assembly with the exception of the round head hinge pin.

[Sonderkommando]

I'd say original, but just with a flaw at the front of the u-boat. One only has to look at a few of the un-marked stick pins of these badges and you will find untrimmed "flashing" on these as well. Some were finished better than others.

Cheers,
Brett

[Michigan]

uboat badge

I had one of these badges from the old brigade. with the exact type of flag and eagle you can view pics at
http://daggers.infopop.net/2/OpenTop...3&m=7443091396
look at the eagles legs they go straight down with no bump for the tallons. the head is the same the flag is the same. they look like the same maker to me.