Para badge Juncker? and real deal??

[Dion]

Hey Guys,

As I mentioned in the thread in the Crosses section, I bought up a very nice Para grouping and would like to ask a couple of questions on this badge.

IMO, I`ve bought a great badge, but there are one or two things I would like to know?
1) Is this badge possibly an unmarked Juncker? I`ve noticed the catch and catch plate are very Juncker style, as seen on other unmarked Juncker badges?
2) Is this one the Buntmetall type or Zinc? I`m enclined to say Zinc?
3) Is it common to see Brass eagles on these badges? This one is definately brass.

Many thanks for any comments placed

Dion

[Dion]

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[Dion]

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[Dion]

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[Thomas Durante]

Hi Dion,

You are correct, this is an unmarked Juncker badge. The wreath is zink and the eagle is brass. It is not very common to find a brass eagle on zink wreath, it is most likely a transitional piece where they were using up the last supply of tombak eagles before switching over to full zink production.

Tom

[Dion]

Hi Tom,

Many thanks for your input and confirmation of my thoughts
I`m quite happy with it, albeit a zinc wreath!

Dion

[Dion]

Tom,

Just a quick question. I agree with you totally on the transitional period, but can you explain to me why an early brass eagle would have no makers mark on it? Surley these were crafted with the maker mark on it, or did they not ALL have the MM? I have another para badge manufactured by Junckers with a brass eagle with their MM.
Its something thats been occupying my brain since I bought this badge?

Dion

[Thomas Durante]

Hi Dion,

Great question and one we don't really have an answer for yet. There are a few examples of all-buntmetall Juncker paras that are not marked too, but even more importantly, ALL the all-zink Juncker paras are not marked either. If you are a collector that believes these zink badges are indeed wartime originals, then non-marked badges are something we must accept. There are some collectors that don't like zink-produced LW badges, but there have been too many found in groupings, directly from vets, etc. to all be from post-war IMO.

So, that tells us Juncker at some point stopped marking their badges, and it happened to also coincide with the time that Juncker was transitioning to their all-zink production. You can also find this with Juncker Pilot and PO badges, so its not just a para badge phenomenon.

One possible explanation is that Juncker produced these and sold them to another firm to sell, so that is why there is no Juncker mark. It also could be that these were created AFTER the bombing of the Juncker factory, no one really knows.

Whatever the reason is, the eagle and wreath details, finshing, hardware, rivets, etc are all typical of Juncker production, so that is why they are simply considered "unmarked Junckers".

Tom

[Dion]

Hmmmmm.. Very interesting! Those Theories all make alot of sense! Well, I guess we just carry on surmising, until something concrete comes up that will put an end to the theories?

Thanks a ton for the answeres Tom!

Dion

[Mike Yokum]

Really nice badge Dion!