Assmann Airgunner

[skip]

Hi all,

now this badge is a bit of a mystery to me. According to the seller its zinc, which would fit in with the award period. Only thing is, the reverse setup says aluminum to me, but so late in the war, surely unlikely to say the least.
Anybody else with one of these. Comments?


Skip

[Mike Kenny]

Hi Skip,

I don't have one but others on the forum do. I think you need to get some measurements off the seller and from someone else on the forum with an aluminium example. A weight would be really useful as well in determining zinc from Aluminium.

Speculating, I guess it's possible that Assmann used their "aluminium" badge dies later in the war to produce lower quality basemetal badges. In some respects it makes economic sense. I'm not sure that this badge looks like either zinc OR aluminium though - wear and imagery can do funny things though. I'm keeping an open mind, but the eagle has a soft / poor detail appearance on the obverse and ?pitting on the reverse (strange gold toning too) but what looks like a sharp stamped maker mark. Also, the reverse right rivet doesn't seem to quite line up with the wing (?repaired or a dummy rivet?). The main pin looks very convincing though, and the hinge/catch look OK for an Assmann as well - not a zincer attachment assembly though. Interesting!

My gut feeling says something is not quite right on this one, based on the images. It certainly warrants further investigation though.

Regards
Mike K

[skip]

Hi Mike,

good observations and my thoughts as well. I am currently in contact with the seller and am hoping for some sizes and weights. He seems a bit lazy though as I have been waiting 2 days for the data.

Also your thought about a dummy rivet had occured to me as well. In Stuttgart I discovered (with Franks help) that a Deumer Airgunner from me was in fact a one piece cast copy. Much to my suprise it features the correct Deumer, very distinctive, zinc type hinge and hook/catchplate. I´ll be doing some comparisons once I get a real Deumer from a friend of mine.
Must admit that this Assmann is quiet convincing but something niggles me about it.

Skip

[Jos L C]

Hmm, Hmm, Hmm...

The pattern is the late war zink Assmann ..., which had different hinge and catch..

And rivets very flat !..., why these cupcakes on a zink badge..?

The badge shown is the Aluminium pattern..., which in this case is zink..

Why using the tube hinge on a zink badge .. ?

D.R.G.M. was for aluminum items , not ?

They would've altered the mould when making zink stuff ,no DRGM , not ?

Scratch my head on this one..

My opinion for now.., not for me...

Jos.

[Joseph D'Errico]

Hi Skip,


Not really much to add, from what the others have posted, BUT, I like the piece. Explaining the, points that make you scratch your head, well......I can not say for sure, but I would have the piece in my collection.

I think the wear and finish are very convincing for me. The wear and finish look honest to me.

Best,
JD

[Rich G]

Why using the tube hinge on a zink badge .. ?


Jos.

Jos

It's looks to me that the hinge is cast, just like the alu badges and not the tube hinge, IMO.

It could be that the same die/mold was used, which could explain the DRGM markings.

Rich