GH Osang Luft Ground Assault Badge

[Lorenzo Brown]

My favorite Luft Ground Assault badges have always been the 3-rivet "MuK 5" and "RK". I've never given too much attention to the GH Osang badge.....until now.

I just took some new and better photos of this GH Osang badge. Check out the eagle...really nice. The wreath is zinc, but the eagle is buntmetal (nickel-silver?) with red oxidation to the dark finish. Super nice details to the eagle.

[Tony Barto]

Nice one, Lorenzo!

[Lorenzo Brown]

Thanks, Tony.... I made a mistake about the eagle's finish.:o It was originally finished in silver, but it has both darkened and turned red with oxidation.
Technical point.

[Mark S.]

I am not so sure these eagles were finished in anything. Mine looks like natural metal, be it nickel or what ever.


I did notice that your has a light wreath compared to mine. Does yours show any evidence of a dark coloring? I have always been on the lookout for a silver wreath Luft GAB, to compliment my dark wreath ones.

What I have always wondered is why there are silver wreath ones out there to begin with. I thought the specs were for a dark colored wreath, which most are.

Nice badge!

[Mark S.]

Here is the reverse.

[Frank Heukemes]

Dear Lorenzo & Mark,

It seems there were two types of Osang application eagles.

Check out my Osang badge. The eagle is brassy Buntmetall with a silver finish. But what is even more important, it has different features than your two eagles. Most evident in the right wing, smaller feather wreath, top feather. But also in general feather veining and detail!

The wreath is clearly a light silver on my badge (so are the lightning outlines)

Cheers, Frank H.

[Frank Heukemes]

reverse

[Lorenzo Brown]

Hi Mark. My guess is that your wreath was originally finished in silver. Notice how the soldered area around the catch still retains what looks to be the silver finish. I have two GWL LGA awards: one still has the silver finish, but where it is worn-off exposes a dark underlying zinc base. The other GWL award is all dark except for a few tiny speckles of the original silver finish. I think that maker's used different mixes for their zinc alloys and finishes over time, either for economic, practical or experimentation purposes. The different combinations would produce the same look when first issued, but aged differently.

Frank, do you have an extreme close-up of the eagle that shows the detail?

[Lorenzo Brown]

OK...I'm going to stick my neck out here a little for your comments.

I initially said that the eagle on my badge is "nickel-silver". However, this is what I really think. Nickel-silver that is used in badge production actually contains very little, if any, true silver. It usually ages to a "brownish" color. Notice on my badge that it is aging to a very dark grey-to-black and red. This is very unusual for German badges made from "nickel silver."

I collect coins. Coin-silver does in fact contain true silver, and when true silver ages it turns dark grey-to-black....the same color as shown on my eagle. Also, silver will turn different colors as it is exposed to various other elements. Sulphur contained in old coin-wrapping paper causes silver coins to take on a "rainbow" color scheme with brilliant blue, red, magenta, green and other colors.

I am thinking that the eagle on this badge may actually be made from a "coin-silver" alloy containing a high % mix of true silver.

Any thoughts?

[Mark S.]

The black on my wreath is an applied finish. It is not wear showing the underlying zinc. As to the reverse, this could very well be whats left of a silver finish, around the solder, but on the obverse the black is, with out a doubt, applied intentionally. It isnt wear.

Maybe this is the subdued version? Was there such a thing?

I just thought that by design these were supposed to have darkened wreaths. No?

[Lorenzo Brown]

Hi Mark. I believe the wreath should be silver. Almost all that I have seen have had the silver wreath, other than those where the finish has worn off. Angolia says in his book....

"....The badge took the form of a matte-silver oakleaf wreath..."

The pictures in both his and Forman's books show the badges with silver wreaths.

[IVAN]

Hi Mark,

I think all ground assault LW had silver painting wreath.

Ivan

[Terry K.]

Hi all,
The question about all the dark wreaths has always intriged me. Then a few years ago I really decided to investigate, and I found the following:
Almost all had silver wreaths, but because of the type of finish put on them by the makers they would tarnish not so much wear.
Haven't you noticed a badge with only half of the silver turned dark? Also different makers used better type finish or put it on heavier, as some makers seem not to turn dark as much as others.
I also did some looking into the zinc coins produced during the war years by most of the countries. I finally found some that were as issued, guess what, they looked like shiny dimes. They must have had a coating simular to the badges just not as thick, but most one sees today have turned dark gray. I believe that the badges are mostly effected by humidity and there proximity to other badges. Ever see a box of badges pulled out of storage by the vet? Usually if any were on top of each other they have some darker spots. What do you all think? I really believe that some chemical could make them change back, if it was found.
Just some of my thoughts,Terry

[Frank Heukemes]

Dear Lorenzo,

Here is the comparison. Mark´s and your eagle application are clearly different from mine, not just in material. I guess we all agree that all three badges are original. This would mean there have been at least two types of application eagles, from what I can see yours and Mark´s are identical (in form).

Cheers, Frank H.

[Frank Heukemes]

I have a very interesting GB marked Luft ground combat badge to fire the "wreath silver or not"-conversation. Please check out the new thread I started about it named "Luft GCB, wreath silver or not?"

Cheers, Frank H.