Minesweeper opinions please ,,,,,,,,,,,,

[Craig H]

Opinions needed for this Minesweeper badge . The hallmark is L/18 . Thanks

[Craig H]

2 more

[Graeme]

Hi Craig

IMO I think it is a good original, that may have had the hinge and hinge plate reattached. It looks a little "touched" in that area.

The pin shape and hinge look like the uncommon type that have shown up stamped "26". The catch also looks textbook. The only area that looks a little strange is the hinge plate, I recall them usually being larger, but in this case, it may have been trimmed to accomodate the smaller barrel hinge used.

Do you have a clear close up pic of the "L/18" mark?

regards
Graeme

[Craig H]

The hallmark is tough to capture cause it's real tiny. I tried my best . I checked the hinge plate area real close and I dont see any sign of tampering. I got a few more pics of that area.

[Craig H]

2 more pics

[Craig H]

last 2 pic's

[Norm F]

Hi Craig,

IMO, a good zinc L/18 marked B. H. Mayer. Mayer used three different hinge/pin setups on his zinc minesweepers, two of which are maker-marked including this one. Gordon Williamson posted this example on GMIC with the same setup but a rare '26' mark.

Interestingly, you can see from these two examples (Gordon's and yours) that the rectangular base plates for the hinges were cut somewhat irregularly from scrap metal and therefore show some variability.

You can also see that your L/18 mark is comparable to the mark on other Mayer L/18 marked minesweepers.

Best regards,
---Norm

[BubbaZ]

Hi Craig!
Agree with Graeme and Norm - original and nice example of zinc B.H. Mayer minesweeper badge, quite rare variant.
Cheers,
Hubert

[Thomas Durante]

Hi Craig,

I can only agree with the others, a nice original Mayer

Tom

[Graeme]

Hi Craig

Thanks for posting much better pics. The maker mark is much clearer and looks good as already mentioned.

Interestingly, you can see from these two examples (Gordon's and yours) that the rectangular base plates for the hinges were cut somewhat irregularly from scrap metal and therefore show some variability.

Norm, I disagree that the hinge base plates were cut from scrap metal and varied. I think Gordons is the usual size seen on L/18, 26 or unmarked examples of this companies products, even though it may not be completely rectangular. On most badges I have seen with this type of hinge baseplate, they have all been this size, and in this respect Craigs is unusual.

I still feel from the pics that the hinge plate does not look as flush to the badge as it should, and the top corners look turned up slightly. Craig has it in hand and can see best, so not knocking the badge, as I would certainly love it in my collection.

Here is another compare of hinges from a "26" and an "L/18" and these show the hinge plate as occurs most of the time..

best regards
Graeme

[Norm F]

...
Norm, I disagree that the hinge base plates were cut from scrap metal and varied. I think Gordons is the usual size seen on L/18, 26 or unmarked examples of this companies products, even though it may not be completely rectangular. On most badges I have seen with this type of hinge baseplate, they have all been this size, and in this respect Craigs is unusual.

I still feel from the pics that the hinge plate does not look as flush to the badge as it should, and the top corners look turned up slightly.
...

Hi Graeme,

While I agree that the base plate is usually somewhat more consistent in size and I see what you mean about the corners not being quite flush, nevertheless you can see clear evidence for hand cutting of these base plates. The curve on the right of Gordon's suggests this, and on the second example below, the slight bevels on the corners suggest a hand cut process.

Best regards,
---Norm

[Graeme]

Hi Norm

I certainly would not rule out a hand cut process for the hinge base plate. It may have been something as simple as a guy cutting off small lengths from a strip with a pair of tinsnips, or a strip of metal being fed into a small guillotine and this could account for Gordons example quite easily, by a small lack of movement. The other example you showed is pretty much rectangular and difficult to decide whether the corners are cut that way or knocked some way..

But I guess my main point is that the "strip" used on Craigs badge is much thinner than the "norm" (not you ). If the base plate was very flush and finished in a nice gold colour, and did not look like it does, I would have no concern that they may have used a thinner strip. But the thinner strip and the way it appears, warranted some further thought, imo..

cheers
Graeme

[Norm F]

...
But I guess my main point is that the "strip" used on Craigs badge is much thinner than the "norm" (not you ).
...
But the thinner strip and the way it appears, warranted some further thought, imo..

cheers
Graeme

Agreed. (I'm pretty thin too...)

Best regards,
---Norm