strange WH marked Minesweeper

[Frank Heukemes]

Dear all,

What is the deal with this Minesweeper? Has anybody seen THAT WH mark before? Badge looks ok but......

Cheers, Frank H.

[Frank Heukemes]

obverse

[Rich G]

Frank

Maybe it's not WH but HM? Could be an elusive maker of this award?

Rich

[Frank Heukemes]

Dear Rich,

Yes, that´s a good point.

Cheers, Frank H.

[Jos L C]

Hi Frank,
I can only say that it looks like a nice zink badge to me at first looks.
The makermark looks very professional although I've never seen this maker.
It doesn't have to be the WH we know already or maybe it is HM !?
This is all I can say at the moment,I like it and if fake it's a nice one...
I'm curious,

Jos.

[christian]

Frank,

looks like a genuine one ! If i compare with my WH minesweeper it looks nearly identical.
Christian

[christian]

Sorry: Not nearly ! It looks identical.

[Jan Arne S]

WH bagde

Hi Frank !
Could this one be from Willy Hoebacher , Wien 107 ??

Lillegutt

[Frank Heukemes]

To be honest, I have no clue who the maker really is. There are some possibilities like Hoebacher, but nobody seems to know for sure.

@Christian: Maybe you have bought this very badge recently? I have that pic from a dealer, tell me if I should remove it if this is your badge now.

Cheers, Frank H.

[Tim B.]

Frank,

Hard to say as I have never seen this logo before as well.

Though some manufacturers did incorporate different styles of maker's marks on the badges they produced, most of these differences seem to be when they cross between the branches of the Whermacht. Schwerin is an obvious exception to this, as just about every Naval badge they made has a different style logo.

Based on that general observation, I would tend to disagree that this mark belongs to W. Hoebacher of Wein for the following reason. I have seen photos of a packeted Destroyer badge attributed to this maker and the marks are a simple W H with no periods (full stops) and no circle. My reference is "Makers Marks on Third Reich German Awards" by Gordon Williamson and Jamie Cross; page 30. With the badge, the envelope is clearly marked with the manufacturer's name.

Again, generally speaking, it would only make sense that the maker's mark would be the same for all naval awards by this maker, but who knows for sure.
Tim

[christian]

Frank,

i have this badge for some years now. The name of the marker is " Walter & Henlein" / Gablonz .

Christian

[Frank Heukemes]

Dear Tim,

Thanks for your thoughts.

@Christian: This item I picture here was very recently for sale, so it can´t be yours then. Maker Walter & Henlein marked his badges in a different way (normally).

Cheers, Frank H.

[christian]

Frank,

the badge i have is not the badge on the picture. I bought my badge many years ago at a show in Dortmund. I only wanted to say that my badge looks like the one at the picture. There were also an interesting report in a german militaria-magazin about minesweeper badges with a picture about the WH minesweeper. Looks exactly like the one at the picture and the one i have.

Christian