High Seas Fleet

[Philipson]

My first KM badge.
I think i did ok but i'll admit i'm not that familiar with KM badges.

[JAndrew]

This is one of those badges that I would want to have in hand. At first glance I would say good but as I look more there are things that I feel uncomfortable about. One is the wear and finish. It looks to me like all the grey has been polished off the ship and if so it should not be silver in color but brass or tombac color. Likewise with the reverse. There are a couple of pits on the bow and one on the reverse on the left which sends up a red flag also. This appears to be a type 1 badge or early manufacture and all of the ones I have seen have all been very well finished even if the gilding or grey finish is worn. Here I see excess metal along the wreath, especially the inside and very prominent file marks. Almost intentionally prominent. If it were a late badge it may not bother me as much. I also think the sides of the hinge are a little too narrow and it is set higher than what I am used to seeing on these badges. This one does not give me a good feeling. I would be interested in what Bubba, Norm and John, as well as others, think.
JAndrew

[BubbaZ]

Hand finishing is worse than usual but IMO it's honest original tombak HSF.
Cheers,
Hubert

[pantherv]

Looks ok but someones gone overboard with the polishing.

[greg1878]

Looks ok but someones gone overboard with the polishing.

I agree, heavily cleaned/polished.
Cheers - Greg

[Norm F]

Hi Guys,

I agree this is a nice original Schwerin Tombak Fleet badge. Although it does indeed seem that the obverse feature has been over-zealously polished, that impression may be over-exaggerated by the bright flash of the photo. You'll notice that the wreath looks very nice with patina on the raw Tombak and even some residual gilding present in the crevices, and the reverse finish also looks intact but lightened by the flash.

Anyway, a great first KM badge. Philipson, perhaps you could show another photo without the flash, in good indirect daylight?

Best regards,
---Norm

[JAndrew]

...or not!
JAndrew

[petopoint]

Nice

Congrats on acquiring a nice early Tombak example original HSF Badge.
Excellent choice on your first KM.

[Tom Yanacek]

A very nice-looking example!

Best regards,
Tom

[Terrence]

nice original. The silver will oxidize again in time. Not to worry , it was just cleaned, probably with a dip in solution cleaner. It will reoxidize quicker than you think as it is still silver.

Terrence

[Mike Kenny]

I agree, an early example with what appears to be a heavily cleaned/polished ship.

As far as I know, the "silver" is a neusilber (nickel silver) plating, therefore it will not tarnish like genuine silver.

I've seen indications that some sailors removed the dark grey finish on the ship, probably for better visual effect. Period photos would probably back this up. As such, the heavy (apparent) polishing may not be recent, but a recent clean is likely.

Regards
Mike

PS: when tombak is cleaned (dipped), it tends to lose the reddish/coppery colour and reverts to a brassy/yellow colour which can be hard to distinguish from the fire gilding. The bare tombak on the wreath of this example (high points) does not look very messed with, possibly supporting an older polishing and more recent gentle clean.

[Terrence]

it will tarnish, I have one that was polished bright when I bought it, it was nice and dark in a few years. It can also be re-oxidated the way many originals were with chemical oxidation by a jewler. I will see if I can find the post I did years ago.

Best regards,
Terrence