Luftwaffe flak opioins?

[Lorenzo Brown]

Badge 2 reverse

[Tom Yanacek]

Hello to all,

I find Frank's B&NL Flak Badge to be very believable. In fact his screams original. My gut feeling says I'm not at all keen on either of the badges from Kai's site though. Totally different eagles, and even the wreaths are not spot on matches. Both badges from Kai's site seem to lack the crisp detail that Frank's badge displays. The detail seems weak, and blurred in places. On the first badge from Kai's site, the flak gun pedestal doesn't look even remotely close to that of Frank's badge. The hinge setup on the second of Kai's badges strikes me as too sloppy and not at all correct. I also don't like the silver coloring to the fronts of both of Kai's badges. In my opinion, something is definitely not right with these two badges. Hopefully we will be able to get some weights and measurements.
Best regards! Tom
PS: That eagle design just does not sit right with me, especially that claw. Doesn't look like a German design at all. Looks like a gay eagle. Maybe I'm wrong though, and this is just a variant.

[Frank Heukemes]

Dear Lorenzo,

Thanks, indeed quite disturbing.
For a very long time I had only known my example, another marked one from Detlev, an unmarked one from Eric S and another unmarked one from Jan Arne S. These all were of the type I own and have shown in this thread and they all look absolutely what you would expect from a wartime badge.
If the two badges shown by you are questionable (and the obverse does seem odd, corresponding with the fake) I wonder how the reverse was faked almost to B&NL perfection.

[Lorenzo Brown]

Yes, very strange indeed. Points to ponder:

B&NL made very few Luft Flak badges. Why would they make such a dramatic change to the eagle?

However. looking at the reverses (See pics below -Frank's badge on top), if the badges are fake, then why would the fakers do such a good job copying the B&NL setup...and than change to a completely different eagle "claw" design???

Details and material don't look as good on Kai's examples .. but that may just be the scanner. Don't know about these. I think one would have to get the B&NL "claw" variety in-hand for a close study to be sure.