Need help today

[LandZack2013]

Hi all,

Hope to be trading this badge. I think it is good, and so does Gary B. The person I am working with would like to see it posted. It has everything a nice original should, nice die sheer lines, a detailed brehmer eagle, typical hinge,etc. Good crisp maker mark.

This has been posted before, but it got a bit muddded up.

I would like some others to back this up.

http://http://www.flickr.com/photos/...7621798737184/

Please respond

[Tom Yanacek]

Hello Zack,

Your link does not seem to be working.

Best regards,
Tom

[LandZack2013]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ww2mil/...7621798737184/

Try now.. To err human, to forgive divine...

[Tom Yanacek]

Hello Zack,

The badge seems to have lots of the features I would expect to see on a GB Luft Ground Assault. However, I must say that even though you have a lot of pictures of the badge, most of them are not good enough for making a proper evaluation.

Excuse my paranoia, but I have been very leery of GB Ground Assaults as of late. The reason being is that I have seen two of them over the last three months that had all the details of an original and the correct hardware too. (Or almost correct.) However, they were cast copies. They seemed a bit smaller in-hand than an original and they actually bent with only a small amount of finger pressure.

The finish on the wreath, eagle, lightning blitz, and ground looks almost too good for a zinc badge. (The reverse too.) Also, the clouds and lightning blitz are darkened but not the ground. If this is a mint condition badge, shouldn't it still have the darkening to the ground? It's hard to tell for certain since most of the pictures are not clear enough, but I think I see some of the dark coloring from the clouds smeared onto the bottom edge of the eagle. (Not that that is necessarily a bad sign.) I wish I could see a nice clear shot of the catch, especially at its junction with the catchplate. One thing that troubles me about the hinge is the excessively large size of the slot cut into it. You can see the large amount of slop shown in your picture that I copied below. This does not seem right to me as the slots were cut only to accomodate the diameter of the pin.

Again, I apologize for my paranoia. Your badge could very well be real and I am not trying to say that it isn't; only that I have a few concerns. I will post some pictures for comparison purposes and just let me know if you want measurements of a known original badge. Sometimes pictures are just not enough to say with 100% certainty. If your badge matches up in every respect, measures out to the dimensions of an original, and passes the bend test, I would be more willing to say that your badge is original.

Best regards,
Tom

[Tom Yanacek]

G.B. Luft Ground Assault Badge:

[Tom Yanacek]

reverse:

[Tom Yanacek]

G.B. marking:

[LandZack2013]

Tom,

I do truly value your insight. But if this were to be a cast copy, how would the die sheer lines be explained? They are clearly visible in hand. It also does not bend that easily.

Talk more tomorrow evening,

[Tom Yanacek]

Tom,

I do truly value your insight. But if this were to be a cast copy, how would the die sheer lines be explained? They are clearly visible in hand. It also does not bend that easily.

Talk more tomorrow evening,

Hello Zack,

If a mold is made of an original badge and then copies are cast from that mold, the castings will pick up all the characteristics of that original badge- including shear marks.

The casting, however, will usually measure smaller in every dimension than the original because of shrinkage that occurs while the badge is cooling in the mold. That is why you might want to take accurate measurements of your badge: such as the height, width, eagle wingspan, and even the weight, to see how those measurements compare to a known original.

Hopefully others will take a look at your pictures and offer their opinions as well. If you can post straight on shots of both the front and reverse, plus a nice clear shot of the hinge and catch, that would help too. The pictures in your link are just too small.

Also, when you said that it doesn't bend "that easily," does that mean that it does bend a bit? It would take a considerable amount of force to bend an original one of these even a little. But don't try it cause I don't want you to end up breaking your badge.

Best regards,
Tom

[Tom Yanacek]

Zack,

Another thing that I would like to mention is that original GB Luft Ground Assaults are slightly vaulted. It may just be the pictures, but yours looks completely flat.

The reverse should be dished: not only from side to side, but from top to bottom. (The center of the reverse will be sunken from the edges of the badge.) You can check for it by laying a straightedge across the width and height of the reverse.

Best regards,
Tom

[LandZack2013]

Yes it is slightly curved.

[Tom Yanacek]

Yes it is slightly curved.

Well Zack, that is indeed a good sign. (Of course, it goes back to the casting idea too: If it was cast from an original, it will display the vault of an original.) Unless you are able to post some better pictures and some accurate measurements of the badge in question, I am afraid that you are not going to get a definite opinion either way. As I said previously, the badge does look convincing in some ways. But overall, my gut feeling is telling me that this is a copy. There are just too many things that do not look right to me.

I wish some others would look at your badge and offer an opinion. I would be interested to hear what others have to say about your badge.

Best regards,
Tom

[hi-revr]

whweheh

I would suggest taking a picture of a small area using any type of magnifying glass and the camera on a tripod or even sitting on a table. Get the camera as close as possible and zoomed. The you can get fairly minute. Crop the area to elliminate background. Try to take a similar shot as an existing pic on the forum to compare to.

[LandZack2013]

I will work on pics.