Osang Luft Ground Combat Badge Question

[Calvin Hall]

Please take a look at the attached photo of an Osang Luft Ground Combat Badge.

I am used to seeing Osang's version of this award feature single rivet construction. However, the one I show does not seem to have a rivet. Catch and hinge seem to match what I would expect on an Osang badge.

Any thoughts? Did Osange produce this badge w/o a rivet?

Calvin

[Calvin Hall]

Here's the reverse...

[Stijn David]

Osang withour Rivet

Hi,


I wondered the same and im pretty sure they did but in previous questions there was not that much reaction.

Here is my Osang badge withour Rivet, this baby is directly obtained from the veteran (see tehrefore also this thread : http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...ad.php?t=37906 )


Cordial greetings,

[Stijn David]

No rivet Osang

Hello,


Here is the reverse of this fine badge => note also that the catch is period repaired .


Cordial greetings,


ps: i am 100 % certain they did produce them withour rivets and the cause for that might have been very simple : less production steps = less costs + less precious material needed (could be used on otehr places in a better way)

[Mark S.]

Are both of these one peice badges or is the eagle soldered on?

[Stijn David]

No rivet osang

Hi Marc,


The eagle is solid and of a one piece construction !!!!!!!


Cordial greetings,

[Philippe DB]

Hi Guys,

I'm quit confident that these one piece Osang's are ok.

Here is another one I found in my files, with the exact same reverse setup as seen on Calvins badge.

KR
Philippe

[Philippe DB]

Osang LGAB reverse

[Mark S.]

no doubt in my mind all of these badges are real.

Here is a twist though...

I cant say why exactly Osang quit putting the eagles on these, but I can tell you this, for them to do so, they had to rework the dies.

For you see, the badges with the applied eagle dont have any detail underneath to accomodate not using the eagle overlay.

I just happen to have an Osang Luft GCB that has a wiggly eagle, (probably got caught on the bandoleer of some FJ when he was trying to save Berlin.. ) any way, when I push it aside, it becomes quite clear of what is underneath. Nothing. Just a blank template for the eagle to go over.

Also, I noticed that not only are the presented badges one peice, they are also the types that are able to retain the finish on the wreath. Until now, I always considered these to be early badges, at least compared to the types that develop a black wreath, but I was never able to really get any type of confirmation.

[Mark S.]

Here are a pair of Osang Luft Ground Combat badges that illustrate the differences in finish. Both of these are two peice badges.

The bright wreath example has a shine that comes out on the high spots. I really dont think that this is just a matter of 'Well, that one lost its finish." The one on the left has distinctly different characteristics in the metal and finish used. There is no shine what so ever on the dark example, the little touches of bright you see at the top and on the edges is what is left of the finish.

Also interesting to note is that the dark wreath example has in my opinion a more finely detailed eagle overlay made out a superior metal. I may be wrong, but it seems to be nickel silver, and has held its shine quite well. The bright badge seems to have a tombac quality eagle on it, judging from the wear.

[Mark S.]

So..we have the one peice badges of the same type of manufacture as the bright wreath badges...

If the one peice badges are late war, then so must be the bright wreath badges. This makes more sense when taking into account the higher quality eagle on the dark badges too.

Now, if the dark wreath badges are early, doesnt this fly in the face of common perceptions regarding "poor quality alloys" causing the finish to absorb ..being a late war badge?

How many different type of Erdkampf badges was G.H. Osang making?

[Stijn David]

Types of Osang Badges

Hello,


Very interesting theory's. FYI: the badge shown by me was awarded on 18.09.1944.

Howmany NO RIVET Osang badges are out there?, untill recently it seems that most collector's only did go for the rivetted examples.

Regarding the keeping of the finisch => i believe that it is very well possible that the german manufacturers developed a finisch that better held onto the base material or they improved the base metal.

I really believe that the differences and so called different types are just the natural evolution from a badge maker with evolving technices and shortage of material.


Cordial greetings,

[Stijn David]

Osang Erdkampf

Hello,


Since there is a thread going on about the Lw. Ground assault badges this is a thread that certainly could be updated => anyone else have such a no rivet osang badge ?


Greetings,