A much loved Observer

[skip]

Hi all,

I´m sure you have all been following the thread about the Stuttgart show. It was great to put faces to a lot of names and we all had a great time.

Apart from a couple of Luft boxes this was my only find, of course, walking around with Philippe meant I never had a chance to grab a PAB, luckily he´s not so into the Lufty things.

The wearer must have really loved this badge to go to so much trouble converting it to a screw back.

Skip

[skip]

I´ve been after a CEJ Obs for a long time now. I think Tim Calvert must have hidden them all under his pillow.

[skip]

Somebody went to a lot of trouble to get this just right.

[Neil Howes]

Now that is a really fine conversion. It just goes to show that the CEJ's are out there!

Regards,

Neil

[J Temple-West]

A very nice, and unusual, piece.. Congrats, Skippy..

[Mike Kenny]

Hi Skip,

That's a very nice character piece - excellent find!

A question - where the outer segments of the barrel hinge have been removed, it looks like tombak is the basematel? Is this the case? This is interesting as I've always thought that these early CEJ badges had nickel silver (neusilber) wreaths/eagles. It looks instead like some of them may only have had a very thick silver plating, like some of the fully marked first pattern examples. I'll be interested to hear your thoughts.

Regards
Mike K

[skip]

Hi Skip,

That's a very nice character piece - excellent find!

A question - where the outer segments of the barrel hinge have been removed, it looks like tombak is the basematel? Is this the case? This is interesting as I've always thought that these early CEJ badges had nickel silver (neusilber) wreaths/eagles. It looks instead like some of them may only have had a very thick silver plating, like some of the fully marked first pattern examples. I'll be interested to hear your thoughts.

Regards
Mike K

Thanks for the comments guys. I was really happy to find this and managed to score it to a decent price because of the "repair". It also came with a rather nice case.

Mike, the pics might be a bit misleading. The patch on the right hand side of the top screw clearly stands above the wreath, when I go over it with my fingernail I can feel the small bump. The patch on the left hand side has been rubbed very flat. I think this is just some rest from the solder that they used and that the wreath is made from Neusilber.

Skip

[Mike Kenny]

Hi Skip,

Thanks for the clarification - I can sleep easy tonight not having to worry about tombak CEJ badges!

But where's the case image?! Was the case altered to handle the screwback fitting?

Regards
Mike K

[Lorenzo Brown]

Very rare badge and a nice find!

[Brian S]

Tim IS selfish. Bad bad Tim. He actually buries them in the backyard

[Philippe DB]

Hi Skipy,


I loved it when you bought it and I even love it more after looking at your pics.

These converted pieces really add tons of character to a badge.

That guy must have loved his early badge so much that probably after damaging it he rather modified it than to buy a replacement later pattern.

Not only a perfect CEJ but probaly an absolutely unique piece, great find

KR
Philippe

[Tim Calvert]

Congrats Skip!!! Nice pics too. Can we see the case?

This is only the second Observer I've seen marked that way. Anybody else have one???

[Gerd Becker]

Thats a nice one, Skip!

[Jos L C]

Nice..!

Can we see the jacket that came along ...?
If this Observer was highly decorated it must have the looks like the Bonny & Clyde car.. full of holes..

Does anyone has or has seen a tunic with the "belthook" holes in it to carry a screwback badge..?

Jos.

[Bob Hritz]

The nuts look like the type used on American collar insignia. Are the threads metric?

Bob hRITZ