Ball Hinge Glider

[Leroy]

Here is mine:
Weight: 22.7 g
Height of wreath: 56.9 mm (with the swastika)
Width of wreath: 42.69 mm
Wingspan: 53.69 mm
Pin diameter: 1.16 mm (flattened side) 1.30 mm (round spot)
Ball hinge: 4.6 mm
Catch wire: 1.25

Thank you!

[Sebastien T]

OK guys, I cleaned up all the post regarding the stalag III provenance and move them here:

http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...33#post7480033

Please keep this thread only about the ball hinge gliger badge and post evidence, forensic or anything regarding is originality. This thread completely lost his context and the main topic.

Thanks

Seb

[Stepdale]

Alright, here goes what I can add to this.

I don't have time to take photos right now, but the ball hinge glider I own is the first one posted by Spagg199th in this thread - http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...d.php?t=366427. You can read his input to see that he bought it from the son of a veteran along with some other badges and medals and the box that the vet was said to have mailed them home in. Like most threads on this and other Gablonz items, it generated some emotions so you may want to stop after the first page or so.

I agree with all that Pavel and Tom say about there being no restarting of the factories in Gablonz postwar to make these. I tooled around the Gablonz area picking up original German items for many years starting in 1991, and nothing I saw either coming directly out of the "woodwork" or dug from the ground showed any evidence of faking German items immediately after the war or during the communist era. For the most part that started after the Velvet Revolution in 1989. I also saw no evidence of huge amounts of leftover hardware being used to create new repros.

I will also caveat that Tom has had my ball hinge glider in hand and confirms that it displays all of the traits that he considers original Gablonz badges to have.

My poor measurements follow:

Weight: 22 grams (my cheap digital scale doesn't do tenths or hundredths)
Height of wreath with swastika: 56.1 mm (done w/ a manual hem gauge that only shows mms)
Width of wreath: 41.2 mm
Wingspan: 53.5 mm
Ball hinge: 4.6 mm
Pin Diameter: 1.1 mm (flattened side) 1.2 (round spot)
Catch wire: 1.1 mm

That's the best I can do as I'm really just eyeballing the tenths of mms on the hem gauge.
Dale

[Sebastien T]

Weight: 22 grams (my cheap digital scale doesn't do tenths or hundredths)
Height of wreath with swastika: 56.1 mm (done w/ a manual hem gauge that only shows mms)
Width of wreath: 41.2 mm
Wingspan: 53.5 mm
Ball hinge: 4.6 mm
Pin Diameter: 1.1 mm (flattened side) 1.2 (round spot)
Catch wire: 1.1 mm

Weight: 22.7 g
Height of wreath: 56.9 mm (with the swastika)
Width of wreath: 42.69 mm
Wingspan: 53.69 mm
Pin diameter: 1.16 mm (flattened side) 1.30 mm (round spot)
Ball hinge: 4.6 mm
Catch wire: 1.25

Thanks Guys

Seb

[all1knew]

I have to get the battery for my micrometer and will post ASAP.

I have held a lot of authentic badges in my day and this feels like the rest of them in hand.

William Kramer

[e-maus]

Weight: 22,67 g
Height of wreath: 59,47 mm /together with the swastika/
Wingspan: 53,81 mm
Width of wreath: 41,89 mm
Pin diameter: 1.16 mm
Ball Hinge. 4,72 mm

Jacek

[Brian S]

Solve The Problem:

Years ago Marc Garlasco volunteered to look at these badges and give his opinion. You could NOT have a more skilled person as an expert in Flak Badges look at these and give you his opinion.

So, if I had one of these I'd pay the round trip postage and see if Marc is still interested in comparing these. If Marc gave a thumbs up, I would say you had your expert report.

Period... For me.

P.S. Weights and measurements are really meaningless to me, it just proves they are not lighter than air and smaller than a bread box. You all are using disparate equipment and methods.

[Stepdale]

Brian,
Agree with all you say, but I and many others here either don't have the time, equipment, expertise, money, trust in the postal system, etc., to do that.

So here's another idea, maybe Marc, you or some other expert could take on the task of setting up a table at the MAX and/or SoS where those who have ball hinge gliders could bring them by to be photographed and measured by the same person using the same equipment and methods.

I know this course of action has some difficulties as well, but it might work to get a fairly large representative sample that could be evaluated more objectively than what we're doing here.

And I'm not volunteering to do it myself as I neither have the technical expertise nor the surety that I'll be able to make either show to take it on.

Period ... for me as well!

[Brian S]

If proved real it would dramatically increase the value of your badge.

Garlic Picasso shows NY as his state. Can't be more than $20 Priority Mail Insured round trip. If he'd do it...

[Brian S]

Any fingerprint matches to the RSS clasp ball hinge?

[Leroy]

The circular grind marks on the ball of the hinge?

[Brian S]

Photos would have to be consistent or we are back to similar...

[Leroy]

You mean photos would have to be 'exact'. Good luck.

[Brian S]

An attempt at showing same angles....

[Norm F]

Here are a few ball hinges from the gliders posted in past threads.