Kriegsmarine Olympics badge

[jlga]

Hi guys, what do you make out of this badge, is it legit in your opinion?, regards, Juan

[jlga]

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[Norm F]

Hi Juan,

It's nothing to do with the Kriegsmarine, but my understanding is that's a 1935-36 Olympic publicity pin. They show up for sale for about $100 U.S.

I don't know enough about them to judge authenticity, but yours seems quite nice.

Here's a hoard of them posted by WAF member "Gran Sasso" and as you can see they appear in both horizontal and stickpin format.

Best regards,
---Norm

[Norm F]

Here's a period photo of the horizontal pin type in wear, previously posted by TerryG.

[Norm F]

Here's another one from eBay, like yours, with the initials "C.P" engraved in the reverse above the "Ges.Gesch."

[Norm F]

Here's another one from eBay. The pin is in the opposite orientation on this one and the lettering on the reverse is in relief, with the initials L.N. instead of C.P.

[Norm F]

Here's a different variant with cutout areas in the ring overlaps and a shorter horizontal pin setup.

[Norm F]

Here's one in the same format at the type in the previous post, but which looks post-war to me. Hopefully there are some collectors of these things who can chime in here.

[Leroy]

Some officers from the Class of 1936 from the Naval Academy wore these on their caps and I believe there was also a U-Boat which utilized these.

[Norm F]

Some officers from the Class of 1936 from the Naval Academy wore these on their caps and I believe there was also a U-Boat which utilized these.

Thanks for that reminder. Yes indeed, the same pin is shown in Gordon Williamson's "Torpedo Los", and the olympic rings emblem is described on uboat.net along with a list of the 23 known u-boats to display it.

Having said that, without provenance the vast majority of these pin would be simple souvenirs rather than have been worn on an officer's cap.

Best regards,
---Norm

[Norm F]

Here's another one like the one in the opening post but with the stamp on the back upside down.

[Norm F]

.

[Norm F]

and another.

[Norm F]

These pins are certainly an area worth studying.

There's a surprising amount of variety in the markings. Here are five engravings of the "C.P. Ges. Gesch." (and the one marked "L.N. Ges. Gesch." in relief for comparison). No two are exactly alike. For an item supposedly mass produced in the hundreds of thousands, I would have expected them to use a die that incorporated the markings (like the L.N. example) to avoid the extra labour?

Best regards,
---Norm

[Norm F]

Two more examples from the same vendor's site. First the one like the opening post (I'll call this Type 1) and second the variant with the open overlaps in the rings and the shorter setup (Type 2). From the vendor's descriptions it can be seen that the "Type 2" is 1/2" longer and interestingly he attributes the initials "CP" to Carl Poellath, Schrobenhausen.

Type 1:
SIZE: Approximately 9/16” in height and 1-1/4” in width.
CONSTRUCTION/MATERIALS: Plated brass, enamel.
ATTACHMENT: Horizontal pin with C catch.
MARKINGS: C P (for Carl Poellath), GES GESCH.

Type 2:
SIZE: Approximately 11/16” in height and 1-3/4” in length.
CONSTRUCTION/MATERIALS: Plated brass, enamel.
ATTACHMENT: Horizontal pin with C catch.
MARKINGS: C P (for Carl Poellath), GES GESCH.

It look like the "Type 1" is what the woman is wearing in the photo in post #4.