Unfinished AS Minesweepers

[byterock]

The only trouble I have with all these 'found', 'ground dud' etc items would be why were they thrown away??

Wouldn't they go right back into the melting pot?

My only guess here is that they were late run items that were centrally collected from a number of manufacturers that were never returned for re smelting?

[saladin]

What is really interesting about these badges is the quantity of piercing tools must have been used to take out the unwanted pieces of the badges.

I note on the minesweeper that the top cut must have been made by one tool and the two areas that are on each side of the exploding mine must need at least two more.

If these are zinc what sort of tonnage would be needed to pierce these badges?

The other interesting point is on the War Merit Cross it looks like the suspension hook for the ring is cast into the mould.
I always assumed that this was soldered on later in the manufacturing process.

Thank you very much Pavel for showing this collection. I envy you. I wish I had the opportunity to dig around these old manufacturing sites.
It would be even better if you could come up with the original die pieces or cutters.

Good Luck

All the best

Doug

[John R.]

Back to the top, interesting thread.

[Norm F]

Well, since John has brought this thread back up I guess I'll add a question.

I return to this fascinating thread from time to time when pondering badge production techniques. (Although I realize that if some of these are rejected prototypes of new hardware techniques they might not correctly represent the actual steps of badge production.)

My question is this: How on earth did "AS in triangle" and others produce these crimp craters with the raised rims ready to receive the hardware before crimping? I can't visualize how striking a badge with an obverse and reverse die can produce the smooth circular rim that overhangs the circular indentation. Even if a badge is cast rather than struck I can't see how this can be produced.

It's a puzzle that's harder than how they get the caramel into the Caramilk bars (an analogy that probably doesn't cross cultures too well... )

Best regards,
---Norm

[John R.]

So as to not lose the images later.

[John R.]

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[John R.]

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[John R.]

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[John R.]

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[John R.]

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[pavels_2005]

More details

Hi all,

I am glad to see that my thread was interesting for you and more collectors enjoyed it.
According to my thread I started research of the Gablonz producers. I discovered some details that could help to solve the mystery of this producers.
I will start with Adolf Scholze: As other collectors I also wondered about the mix of producers ( AS in triangle, Schwerin Berlin, Rudolf Wächtler Mitweida) in the lot of the unfinished badges that I found. I thought this group must be made by one of our local producers, I always believed that the AS in triangle mark belongs to Adolf Scholze, so I searched in this direction. In archive I managed to find few pages of Adolf Scholze accounting boks. This lists were from years 1943-1944. This lists cointained the suppliers and customers of AS company. There are only names of the companies and amounts of Reichs Marks, and I found really interiesting things here. Both Schwerin Berlin and R. Wächtler were customers of Adolf Scholze! In the Period from 12.4.-1.12. 1944 R. Wächtler bought from Scholze items in value of more than 66 000 Reichs Mark. Schwerin Berlin bought in period 21.11. -30.12 1944 items in value of 19 500 Reichs Mark. I think this details can proove following:
1. Adolf Scholze was producer of the group of unfinished badges that I found
2. Adolf Scholze was using the AS in triangle mark
3. Adolf Scholze manufactured badges for other companies in Germany
4. Adolf Scholze was producers of U-bot clasps for Schwerin Berlin ( in the last years of War)
5. Adolf Scholze was producer of wound badges marked 101 for R. Wächtler company ( and maybe other unmarked badges)
Now this is open field for your discussion..... What do you think?
In future I will post some other interesting details about Gablonz producers.
Best Regards
Pavel

[Andreas Klein]

Hi Pavel,

very interesting. Is there more detailed infos which products the mentioned firms bought?

[pavels_2005]

Hi Andreas,

unfortunately not, there are only dates, names of the customers and amounts of RM......

Pavel

[Andreas Klein]

Hi Pavel,

may i ask you were you found the docs. We were last year in Gablonz and were told that everything was given to the city of Most. There we couldn't find something from Scholze.

[Don D.]

I still don't see the connection between AS Triangle and A. Scholze.