Destroyer Badge - Schwerin

[ww2germanhelmet]

Good afternoon fellows. I am trying to figure out a KM Destroyer badge. From what I can determine, it's authentic but I am a bit stumped by the finish. The gilted finish is very shiny. Is this a characteristic of an early Schwerin Destroyer badge. The Destroyer itself has a chrome type finish, of which a lot of it has lifted. I would appreciate any thoughts on this type of finish.

[ww2germanhelmet]

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[Nordmark]

Hi Dave,



the badge is original, but the finish is bad for sure. Looks like this might have been done by jewelers, but definitely reworked.



Regards,



Daniel

[Norm F]

Hi Dave,

I agree with Daniel that the badge is original. Regarding the finish, although it's tricky with flash photography, the finish seems not so much bad as it is completely absent.

All the original gilding is gone and the darkened oxidized finish of the reverse has been largely worn off as well by some type of stringent cleaning process. Probably, it was already a worn badge and someone tried to "improve" it by thoroughly polishing it.

It looks like the Tombak basemetal was buffed to a golden shine, including the exposed highlights where the silvering has come off of the ship and waves. I'm not ruling out that another shiny finish may have been applied as well at some point, but I just can't tell from these photos.

Here's a thread where you see what the original finish should look like.

Best regards,
---Norm

[BubbaZ]

Dave, I agree with Daniel.
Original 2nd pattern (later) tombak Schwerin Destroyer badge but unfortunately with polished reverse and refinished obverse.
Cheers,
Hubert

[ww2germanhelmet]

Thanks guys. It appears that there has been some type of finish applied over top of the medal. There are areas where the shiny finish has some spider veining and has peeled off the original finish.

[Norm F]

Thanks guys. It appears that there has been some type of finish applied over top of the medal. There are areas where the shiny finish has some spider veining and has peeled off the original finish.

Hi Dave,

So I guess it was completely stripped down and refinished and then much of that post-war finish has also come off?

The area on the flag looks like polished base metal matching much of the wreath and swastika -- or is that splash-over of the post-war gilding?

Originally the order of events in the finishing process by Schwerin would have been the silvering of the reverse and the ship and waves on the obverse, then chemically blackening those areas and finally fire gilding the wreath. When you polish down the badge reverse, ship and waves you first get down to the undarkened matte silvering and then finally down to the golden Tombak base metal. The lighter matte silvering can be seen on the reverse of your badge from the removal of the darkened layer, but on the obverse the ship and waves seem to show a chrome-like finish applied on top of the whiter matte remains of the original silvering. I guess it makes sense anyone who would chrome the ship and waves would also apply a modern gilding to the wreath as well.

There must be a way to remove the vestiges to return the badge to an "honest" heavily worn Schwerin.

Best regards,
---Norm

[ww2germanhelmet]

Thanks Norm. The photos were taken without a flash, it's just the finish on the oak leaves is a bright shiny gold plating. The ship itself has remnants of chrome. Correct me if I am wrong, but there were not any early badges with gold plating and chrome.

[Norm F]

Thanks Norm. The photos were taken without a flash, it's just the finish on the oak leaves is a bright shiny gold plating. The ship itself has remnants of chrome. Correct me if I am wrong, but there were not any early badges with gold plating and chrome.

Hi Dave,

Right. No significant variation in the finishing style on these Tombak Schwerins. Your obverse finish would most definitely be post-war.

So some of that plating even splashed on to the ship's flag?? You'd never see that on original finish.

Best regards,
---Norm