Thanks Norm, I have read the thread and sub threads in your link. This does certainly seem a controversial piece, and not in the best of condition either.
Thanks,
Peter.
Thanks Andy,
It appears that there are divided opinions on this particular badge, after reading the link provided by Norm. I'm not sure if I'm correct, but some think that it might be a post war production by this company, or at least that there is no way of telling whether it was wartime produced or not.
Thanks,
Peter.
... or at least that there is no way of telling whether it was wartime produced or not.
Thanks,
Peter.
Hi Peter,
I'd say the latter is true. It's certainly "wartime compatible" in the same way as late war zinc S&L badges. It's just that it's not as good quality as the typical wide pin marked L/56 versions, and there was a lot of post-war assembly going on in Lüdenscheid for the barter trade. As pointed out in some of the other threads there are weird variations of these with different hardware and variable quality, and the one with the spurious "4" mark. So some or more obviously worse than others. As I say, this particular example looks "wartime compatible" so it could very well be late wartime -- just no way of knowing. It's somewhat the same concerns as exist with the unknown flatback badges with a similar setup -- some look quite good but others look terrible and cast doubt on the whole bunch.
Certainly still collectible to someone who collects U-Boat variants or needs one for a uniform display, etc.
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