Doenitz Uboat Badge

[Stepdale]

Hello,
I am trying to help settle the estate of a long time collector who recently passed away. He had a huge collection of TR items, but unfortunately he did not keep up to date on reproductions and bought the bulk of his items from dealers that took advantage of him. This was unfortunate as he was a good man and a true hero who earned the silver star and numerous other bravery decorations in Vietnam. I am unable to take the time to study each award in detail and am trying to take photos of everything (beyond the usual crude repros) to post here to show the executors of the estate.

This cross, along with two Imperial badges I have posted in the proper forum, allegedly came from Doenitz's housekeeper. I'm reasonably sure it and the case are repros (no umlaut on Donitz, cheesy paper badge pasted to top, etc.), but just wanted to let those more knowledgeable than I take a look. Someone already took the badge to a jeweler who took a quick look and said the diamonds are real.
Thank you,
Dale

[Stepdale]

a

[Stepdale]

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[Stepdale]

c

[Stepdale]

d

[Stepdale]

e

[all1knew]

I would be interested to know what a reproduction U-Boat badge with diamonds is worth. Surely it makes a decent filler for the unaffordable.

William Kramer

[Norm F]

Hi Dale,

As you suspected, it's just another variation of the common "f.o." fake. These come in a several flavours: zinc, Tombak and silver and in the last case with and without diamonds.

Here's its brother in silver but with a vertical setup and without diamonds:
http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...d.php?t=257225

I believe the mini is also a cast reproduction of the Schickle design.

Best regards,
---Norm

[Norm F]

I would be interested to know what a reproduction U-Boat badge with diamonds is worth. Surely it makes a decent filler for the unaffordable.

William Kramer

Hi William,

Well, you can see that the "diamonds" are just tiny flecks -- not worth anything I would imagine. And the "base" badge is a common fake. As a novelty item maybe $35? But I never really understood the point of such things -- the novelty would wear off pretty quickly, especially since it bears no resemblance to an original.

Best regards,
---Norm

[Norm F]

Here's another example posted several years ago but with bigger "diamonds".

[Norm F]

I wonder if this Destroyer is from the same workshop? (Posted previously by the late Bill Stump)

[Norm F]

I am trying to help settle the estate of a long time collector who recently passed away. He had a huge collection of TR items, but unfortunately he did not keep up to date on reproductions and bought the bulk of his items from dealers that took advantage of him. This was unfortunate as he was a good man and a true hero who earned the silver star and numerous other bravery decorations in Vietnam.

I'm very sorry to hear of this deception. Hopefully the internet and modern references have made these dealers obsolete.

Best regards,
---Norm

[Ludwig-K]

I kinda like the destroyer badge though

Ludwig

[Stepdale]

Thanks Norm. Yes, he refused to use the internet and bought the bulk of his stuff from old time dealers at shows and through printed catalogs. One colleague of his told me that he would go to the Jacksonville and Marietta shows and buy a high priced fake or fakes from a certain dealer there. That dealer would then evidently go tell his partners in crime that an easy mark was at the show and they would come to him with offers of other things he had told the first dealer he was looking for. It's a shame that such scum continue to operate in our hobby, but I guess it's always been that way in any collecting field.
Dale

[compressore]

It's a very sad story...unfortunately often heard. We are lucky to have all the new communication channels.