JMME.. Cast copy or not?

[J Temple-West]

Good afternoon gentlemen, just received this piece in (with return priv's) and would very much appreciate your opinions on It.. I'm looking for a JMME but have a gut feeling that this is a cast copy due to the lack of detailing of the wreath, the strange die line in pic 3, and the pitting to the reverse.. The MM looks to be well done, matching others I've seen but not being up on this maker all views would be most welcome as I need to learn..

Many thanks, in advance...

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi John, I am no expert on pilots badges but I would have (to use Willi's expression) concerns about this one too.
Cheers, Ade.

[Frank Heukemes]

Dear John,

I agree with your suspicions, it looks like a cast from a good JMME.

Cheers, Frank

[Philippe DB]

Hi John,

Don't really like this badge. As you stated yourself the wreath detailing is of but also the whole look of the badge and the material it's seems to be made of isn't OK IMO.

Also the hinge is sitting to high if I compare it with a JMME I handled just a couple of days ago and the catch looks to fat also. I'll post you two scans of the badge in question that is now on his way to his new lucky owner, a crazy Australian living in Berlin

KR
Philippe

[Philippe DB]

JMME with 2 pattern eagle reverse

[skip]

Well if thats a casting its a very good one, looks like they even got the rivets right and went to the trouble of filing around the outside of the wreath as well, probaly to get rid of the soft edges. Another point it that the eagle has also faded to the, Imme typical, same colour as the wreath.
What I don´t like are the soft edges visable around the outside of the eagle, especially easy to see on the back, and the hinge is not the Imme typical "brassy" colour.
Of course the real dammer is the casting seam around the outside of the wreath.
Still a pretty good attempt, I´m sure a lot of people will fall for this one.

Now when will mine arrive at last!

Skip

[John T]

disregard see next post...

[John T]

Just lost the info I typed by editing my post so here we go again:

The measurements of an original JMME pilot's as given by Yuri in his article (two examples)...your piece should be near to these given parameters unless it is made from a different die:

wreath height...53.12/52.8 mm
wreath width...41.59/42.3 mm
eagle wing span...65.67/64.7 mm
swastika diagonal...16.04/16.0 mm
hinge width...12.54/12.1 mm
length from hinge to catch...47.04/47.6 mm
weight 43.6/43.5 gr

As you can see the above two examples have very similar measurments and probably therefore were made by the same die.

Also, the first piece posted above seems cast to me...look at the detail on the back of the wreath, also the detail on the feather cut outs, as well as the front of the wreath, overall not the "crisp" look of a die struck piece. Just my 2 1/2 cents,

John[/QUOTE]

[Lorenzo Brown]

The first badge shown definitely looks cast from an original.

Curious about the "typical" JMME comments. I think the typical "JMME" Pilot and Radio badges have brass hinges and silver catches. Although I have seen others with thin brass catches, I don't think these could be called "typical" (i.e.: "more often encountered").

JMME continues to be one of the most controversial makers IMO!

[skip]

Agreed Lorenzo,

typical Imme is brassy hinge and silver hook, although I have seen quiet a few with the brassy hook as well.

Skip

[J Temple-West]

Many thanks, to one and all, for the input and confirmation... I've posted some more pic's of this CAST COPY for future reference....


Back it goes........On with the search.....