HSF by RS, paranoia sets in, help wanted

[Peppe864]

Hi!

Just bought a nice HSF off the e-stand, but then the famous Rudolf Souval paranoia started to set in.

The HSF is here:
http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...d.php?t=273351

So what are the conclusions, I made some searches on the forum, but I didn´t really get the grip/grasp I was looking for.

Anyone care to sort this RS thing out?

[kokstok]

no problems, nice catch

[Peter J.]

I also made a search for images to compare, but came up with only one posted by George Stimson a while back. My experiencies in this particular badge by RS is non-existent, but there are actually visible differencies i.g. the shape of the eagles head and the angles of the feathers next to it. Are there any other badges out there for comparison?

cheers
Peter

[Nick VR]

Didn't all these zink RS badges lose their finish over time?

Very nice price BTW, you got it seconds before me...

[Mike Kenny]

Hi Petri,

I have no problems with the badge. The materials, hardware and maker mark all look correct. There are other examples shown on the forum if you search "rs hsf".

My concern would be that the finish does not appear to match the condition of the zinc basemetal. It may be OK, but it may be re-finished. No way to tell without holding it and testing it.

Regards
Mike

[Peter J.]

Hi Mike,

Thanks for chipping in. I followed your advice and came up with two more. The Souval pieces used to be controvercial, much due to Angolia's remark in his book. Still we know Souval made copies post-war, usually indentified by his catch. Do we know of any post-war pieces not featuring this catch? As I said in my previous post, I have no experience in this type, but there are significant differencies between Petri's badge and the three other I've found on the Forum. Not only is the eagle's head different, looking at the reverse both outer and inner edges are not silhouetted, whilst the other present a pattern to illustrate oakleaves. Is it safe to assume these are accepted anomalies? The two illustrated badges are Hcliffe's and Jan-Arnes.

cheers
Peter

[Peter J.]

Jan-Arnes badge

[Mike Kenny]

Hi Peter,

Good points. As the obverse and reverse detail appears to be the same on all badges though, it would be the trimming dies that make the difference between the two "types". I have not seen this smooth profile on other RS HSF examples either, so maybe there is some cause for concern, however as not that many RS HSF examples are available for comparison we would be drawing possibly negative conclusions on a very limited dataset.

As Petri/Nico's badge appears to have the correct basemetal and hardware associated with wartime examples, but there is no real way to distinguish between a wartime Souval and an early post-war example (the same can be said for ANY maunfacturer who was still in business post May-45), this example could indeed be early post-war. Without a hand examination to make sure it's not some sort of early casting (doesn't look like it to me), it's really hard to be definitive in this instance. So I'll have to chance my stance from "no problems" to "some concerns" (gilding aside). A hand examination would probably go along way to telling the real story.

Regards
Mike

[Peppe864]

Thanks for all input.

It will be very interesting examining the badge when it arrives.

[Nico C]

Hello friends,


I got this badge off the e-stand some months ago from a KM-badge collector, but due to another purchase she had to go (you all know the feeling ).

When comparing to my Souval Minesucher badge, I do not see a sign of repainting. Paint looks old and has some wear on the high marks.
Imho she is not repainted.

Hinge and catch do seem good to me.

Petri, I will send you the badge today. Examine her, be gentle to this old lady and if you are not happy with her, send her back and I will refund you .

Best regards to all,

Nico

[Peppe864]

Hello Nico!

Hopefully I will be satisfied with it and wont need to send it back.

It looks nice on the pics.

I´ll let you know as soon as it arrives.

[Frank K]

I also made a search for images to compare, but came up with only one posted by George Stimson a while back. My experiencies in this particular badge by RS is non-existent, but there are actually visible differencies i.g. the shape of the eagles head and the angles of the feathers next to it. Are there any other badges out there for comparison?

cheers
Peter

Here's mine.

Front

[Frank K]

and back:

[Peppe864]

Update:

I have the badge in hand now, and I am very pleased with it.

It is just like Nico said, looks better in hand, has the right patina and setup of a wartime RS. I have been digging into RS lately and I will continue.

[Nico C]