Juncker Pilot 3rd pattern

[Robert P.]

What does everyone think of this new addition? The maker mark stamping is actually fairly shallow, but still looks good to me. I welcome your comments on this piece. Thank you.

Robert

[Robert P.]

reverse:

[Robert P.]

maker mark:

[Robert P.]

catch

[Robert P.]

rivet

[Robert P.]

hinge

[Lorenzo Brown]

Ummm...since nobody else is responding...I will.

I'm not real crazy about these "J-3" badges. Seems they came into popularity about a year ago (quite recent in terms of WWII militaria.)

The problem I have is that they do not display the high quality of workmanship that you see in the 1st and 2nd pattern (J-1 and J-2) Juncker Pilot badges. I don't see where they fit into the production time-frame for Juncker badges.

I'm not a "Luft" expert, so perhaps I'm wrong.

[Robert P.]

Lorenzo,
Thank you for responding to this thread. To make comment to your response, I have found badges produced by the same maker with contrasting degrees of finish work. I believe that firms used a few different individuals to execute the finishing work to their wares for them. This statement only seems realistic. As an example of this, I just returned a 1st pattern Juncker Pilot badge which was crudely finished. The wreath was finished quite poorly. Other 'J1s' I have seen have been just outstanding in comparison. Perhaps for one reason or another greater attention was given to the finish work than at other times in the production process. These are just my thoughts here.
Is there a portion of this badge that does indeed appear to be of lesser quality than earlier Juncker badges?

Robert

[Mark S.]

I have never bought into the "swiss watch" theories of this ultra-precise German craftsmanship that I hear so often. I think a lot of it came about in regards to comparing real badges to ones cast in lead.

There are bound to be dogs out there, badges where you think "I could do better". I know exactly what your talking about in regards to this J3 version Pilot Badge (I got one and also notice the flaws) ....But the rest of the badge speaks for itself. There is also consistency from badge to badge, much of which was done by hand finishing. The look is there, detail (pebbling on the talons) and that "feel".

[Frank Heukemes]

As I heard from Tim Calvert there was a "theory" published by an US author that ALL Juncker 3 are fakes. I personally think this is ridiculous.

Here is something to proof this is wrong, at least for me although I never believed in the J3=fake theory: The J3 I recently posted together with the portrait of the pilot recipiant came to me from a trusted fellow German collector who got it from the family. No dealers in between. The J3 was pinned through the EK ribbon attached to the frame of the photograph by the family. They had it displayed like that. The holes in the EK ribbon are old, not pinned through yesterday. The passe partout of the photograph is signed in pencil by the photo studio. The picture frame has on the reverse a period sticker of that photostudio. Badge shows the same intensity of "rot" as the metal picture frame because of bad storage. Everything is absolutely logical, consistent and waterproof.

Cheers, Frank

[Jos L C]

No such thing as a fake J3,they're as nice as most J2's..
Depends of who did the finishing touch...
You can also find sloppy J2's with sloppy done swas's etc.
I personaly like the 3th desigh with the massive claws...
Anyone who thinks these J3's are fake please give me a mail and I'll gladly take them for $ 100.- each !!!
Don't hesitate !!

My god...,what am I gonna do with 378 third pattern Junckers..??
Well, I'll keep 50 and trade the rest..,I guess.


Jos.

[Yuri D.]

It seems that people have their personal preference for Juncker Pilot Badge types. I personally like all 3 any would gladly buy type 3s from any dis-believer for $100 also. The 3rd type is just as legitimate in my book as type I and type 2. I have one and it screams original Juncker.

Yuri

[Yuri D.]

Here's mine:

[Yuri D.]

Reverse

[Yuri D.]

Maker mark