A Badge Seldom Seen: GWL Radio Operator/Air Gunner Badge

[ERIC S.]

Hello All,
Well all I can say is I THINK I stepped in sh*t and came up with pearls. I contacted a friend of mine in Europe to see if he picked up anything lately that I might be interested in. He sent me scans of this one and, well, the rest is history. This is the first GWL Radio/Gunner Badge that I have seen and in turn, now own. I post it here for your thoughts, opinions, critique, etc. It sure does look pure GWL to me. Also, it has "RC" stamped over the GWL maker mark - does someone know what this marking stands for? Thanks in advance.
ERIC

[ERIC S.]

reverse:

[Lorenzo Brown]

Wow!! That looks great, and I don't think I have seen one before. I have seen the Gunner badge, but not the Radio badge.
Interesting about the "RC" marking. This site features a PO badge by GWL with the same "RC" stamp on the mark.
http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/war_...ver_gwl_rc.htm

[Yuri D.]

I've seen that "RC" stamp over the GWL logos before as well. Another mystery to solve!!

Yuri

[Yuri D.]

Joe D'Errico is selling one of these on the estand.

Yuri

[Joseph D'Errico]

Hello Gentleman,

This badge is a really beauty, I examined this piece last night when Eric stopped by the restaurant. The detail and finish is just incredible. Even in the late war pieces the finish and craftmanship on GWLs far surpasses all others IMHO.

Congrats Eric on a rare find and even rarer to find in such good condition.

@ Yuri, I am offering a Gunner badge , no bolts another very rare find with the standard GWL logo. Not a sales pitch but these are rare birds. The thing that is to be said about the Gunner badge is GWL used a seperate die, meaning they didn't clip the bolts. I know that they are not the only maker that had seperate dies for no bolts, but just another point made for attention ton detail even in late war pieces.


Cordially yours,
JD

[ERIC S.]

not the same

Hi Lorenzo,
The GWL Air Gunner / Flight Engineers badge on this sight also has the "RC" stamped over the maker mark. Yuri,yes, Joes' is a nice GWL, but that's the Flight Engineers badge, without bolts. I believe a couple members here have an example of this badge(Lorenzo, Joe D, more?). Also, there is no "RC" stamping over the GWL maker mark on his piece. Mine is the first GWL Gunner I've ever seen that has had the bolts to it.
ERIC

[Jos L C]

Hi Eric,
Very special badge...nice one..

I'm very curious what the RC might be.

I can't believe it's another maker or something...I can't figure out..,but maybe......


RC = Reenactor Copy... ...I'm kidding,I'm only kidding.....

Jos.

[ERIC S.]

cool

Thanks Joeseph and Jos. I too am very curious as to what the "RC" stands for. I initially thought that maybe it was a company that took over for GWL at some point in time later in the war, but Lorenzo pointing me in the direction of that beautiful early P/O blew that theory to all hell!
ERIC

[merdock]

Hi,
on a Rarity level which is rarer, the one with or the one without lightning bolts/sparks.
All the best Merdock

[J Temple-West]

Very nice Eric, a rare prize....

[ERIC S.]

"RC" Mark

Thanks John! For those of you who have asked me, here is the closeup of the maker mark with the "RC" stamped over it. Sorry it wasn't sooner, I just got access to my scanner today.
ERIC