3 KM Artillery badges, original?

[Sperwer89]

Hello,

I am thinking of buying one of these badges to go with my Minesweeper badge and Destroyer badge, however are these three KM artillery badges original?

At first sight they look like late war manufactured badges by Steinhauer u. Lück (I recognise the hinge mechanism from one of my IABs), I could also very well be wrong...

Which of the three do you think has the best preserved finish (colour of wreath, gun and sea)?


Best Regards and many thanks for your help,

Maarten

[Sperwer89]

The second badge.

[Sperwer89]

The third badge.

[Norm F]

Hi Maarten,

Yes, all S&L attributed. Personally, I'd give the edge to the first one -- I like the finish on the obverse feature the best on that one.

Best regards,
---Norm

[Nordmark]

The history-shop pieces look all quite nice...

[Tom Yanacek]

Personally, I'd give the edge to the first one -- I like the finish on the obverse feature the best on that one.

Hello Maarten,

I agree with Norm: The finish on the first one looks the best.

Best regards,
Tom

[Sperwer89]

Hello Norm, Nordmark and Tom;

Thank you for your valuable replies.
As I liked both the first and the second badge, I took a careful look at them yesterday by zooming in at some specific spots. As you all told me, it is the first badge that is in best preserved condition. Not that I took you all in doubt, but you learn a lot by also doing some investigations yourself.
The second badge is in a more used condition: little bits of dirt near the barrel and at some points you can see by some slight shapes of the metal that it is worn.

@Norm, thanks for the confirmation regarding the manufacturer of the badge.
I recently again visited your beautiful website about the minesweeper badges.
Last year I bought a minesweeper badge in near mint condition, I will see if I can put photos of it on the forum.

Best Regards and thank you all,

Maarten

[Sperwer89]

Minesweeper badge

Here my minesweeper badge.

Best Regards, Maarten

[Norm F]

Hi Maarten,

Looks like a good zinc S&L. Could you show a closeup of the catch?

Best regards,
---Norm

[Sperwer89]

Hi Norm,

Here I have the close-up photos of the catch.
Perhaps a rather silly question: is it really zink?
The back has a more or less silver shine, although there are some darker spots at the explosion of the depth charge.
This is not the typical dark zinkish (colour) scheme of an IAB.
Perhaps I am far off with my reasoning (not the expert), but I remember clearly that the seller told me it was not made of zink.


This is all very interesting, tell me if you need more photos or its weight.

Best Regards, Maarten

[Norm F]

Perhaps a rather silly question: is it really zink?

Hi Maarten,

Yes indeed, that's a zinc badge but it has a variant (better quality) finish with the silvered reverse. It's MC# 2.5.4 in the Minesweeper Classification System.

Similarly you can see a variant finish like this on Deumer and Foerster&Barth zinc Minesweepers (attached).

Best regards,
---Norm

[BubbaZ]

Yes indeed, that's a zinc badge but it has a variant (better quality) finish with the silvered reverse. It's MC# 2.5.4 in the Minesweeper Classification System.

I agree, very nice S&L
Cheers,
Hubert

[Sperwer89]

Thanks

Hi Norm and Hubert,

Thank you for your valuable replies and the other examples that has a similar finish and silvered reverse. I very much like the badge. If you need some better (more detailed, specific or better quality) photos for the database, please let me know (small effort).

Best Regards,

Maarten