Destroyer War Badge with Diamonds

[Sepp45]

Hi guys! We know this badge was never awarded, but... was it manufactured?

This piece was sold by Andreas-Thies a few years ago. I post it here for future reference

[Norm F]

Hi Sepp,

Thanks for posting. I would say, almost certainly never commissioned or manufactured in wartime.

As you know, only a single officer theoretically would have qualified by Grossadmiral Raeder's criteria for a Destroyer badge with diamonds, and that was Korvettenkapitän Heinrich Hoffmann, leader of the 5th Torpedoboat flotilla, who was awarded the Oak leaves on July 11, 1944. But this was long after the last of the known diamonds awards were made, and Raeder who was no longer Grossadmiral seems to have abandoned the practise by early 1944.

No Destroyer or Torpedo boat commander received the Oak leaves prior to that and so there was no reason to privately commission the production of a Destroyer badge with diamonds.

Furthermore the example shown has poor obverse detail, brilliant cut stones different from what is seen on known KM diamonds badges and an "800" mark which is not found on any known genuine Kriegsmarine diamonds badges. The materials, hardware and "800" mark look very much like the fake Fleet badge with diamonds discussed here and I suspect they may have been created by the same source:
http://wehrmacht-awards.com/forums/s...d.php?t=747302

Best regards,
---Norm

[Norm F]

Here are more images of that same Destroyer with the pin down. I don't recall where I saw these images -- probably an old thread.

Best regards,
---Norm

Edit: discovered the old thread from 2002 when they were posted by late Bill Stump:
http://wehrmacht-awards.com/forums/s...5865#post65865

[Norm F]

I just realized there's another link between that Destroyer diamonds badge and the fake "Schniewind" Fleet badge with diamonds from the other thread.

As mentioned in the other thread, the Fleet badge with Diamonds comes from the same faker who made the fake R.S&S. Fleet badges with the same obverse design.

Well we also know the maker of the R.S.&S. fake Fleet badges also made the fake S.H.u.Co. Coastal Artillery badge and the fake f.o. Destroyer badge (as discussed here).

Well, not surprisingly, it turns out that Destroyer badge with Diamonds is the same obverse design as the fake f.o. Destroyer. They're all of a series.

[Leroy]

Great job, Norm! This rivals "The Hitler Diaries".

[Norm F]

In fact, the 26-year-old plot thickens. Here's another example of this Destroyer fake which was depicted in Nimmergut Deutsche Orden und Ehrenzeichen (2001) on page 2363 but with no claims of originality. The source was a 1993 auction from Hanseatisches Auktionshaus für Historica.

It does not seem to be a coincidence that the very same auction house was used the year before in 1992 to offer the two fake "Schniewind" Fleet badges with diamonds from the same maker.

[Leroy]

This rivals "The Hitler Diaries".

At least in our little world.

[Norm F]

One fake links to the next. The fake f.o. Destroyer shares the exact setup of the fake "Frank & Reif" U-Boat badge from the same era. And there's also a diamonds version of the "Frank & Reif" U-boat design shown in Nimmergut with a Godet marking.

We've certainly come a long way now in identifying the fakes of the 80s and 90s.