BSW Glider

[Stijn David]

BSW glider badge

Hello,


Indeed asuperbly and nice item! Congratulations on this rare bird


Cordial greetings,

[Sebastien T]

Thanks Stijn

[byf45]

NICE BADGE

[Thomas Durante]

Hi guys,

Just a quick question here, I notice that the black finish on the eagle looks much darker than other BSW Gliders I have seen, have on file or in Stijn's book. Typically the eagle's finish is a blueing, which is what I would expect from an early, nickel silver-based LW badge. But the black finish on Seb's glider seems much thicker, almost like it is a paint rather than blueing. Stijn, you have probably handled more gliders than all of us combined, so how does the finish look to you? Is this variation something you have seen on other BSW gliders or other BSW badges in general?

Here is a compare with a few other BSW badges I had on file.

Thanks

Tom

[Sebastien T]

Hey Tom,

I notice it also, Its look like this one received a complete goldish finish and then the black finish was not chemicaly blackened but its like a paint or a laquer done by hands like kriegsmarine badges. I post new pictures of the edge top and bottom and let me know what you think. Do you think it might be refinished?

[Thomas Durante]

Hi Seb,

Thanks for the additional pics. I like the look of the rivets, they look like typical BSW to me and not messed with, which is a good sign that it isn't refinished. On the other hand, its strange that the reverse of the eagle is not finished, I have never seen that before on a BSW badge, which makes me think that it might be refinished. A possible scenario could be that the entire badge was dipped in a silver-cleaning bath, which stripped off the original blueing on the eagle. Then someone went back and added black paint to front of the eagle, taking care not to paint the back or get any on the wreath. I don't know this to be the case by any means, just thinking of a reason why there would not be finish on the reverse of the eagle, which you would expect on an early, nickel-silver based LW badge IMO. Again, not necessarily bad, just different from what we typically see.

The wear pattern on the eagle looks legitimate and the finish does look old to me, its just different. Admittedly I haven't handled too many BSW Gliders, maybe 10 or so over the years due to their rarity. Mainly I am going off of pictures, so that is why I want to be very cautious with my comments and don't want to condemn something if I don't feel like I have seen enough of them to make a good judgement call.

Hopefully Stijn will come back in an weigh in on this for us.

Tom

[Stijn David]

BSWglider badge

Hello Guys,


Interesting discussion. I can say for 100 % sure that the badge is not refinished IMHO. That is how the badge came directly towards me and obtained by me. I know that that does not mean alot offcoarse.

IMHO this badge is 100 % original as it is and apply the finish only towards the front of the eagle could easely been done as it also spares time and laquer. It might easely be a anomaly in producting these badges. We know something about these badges but still most of it is unknown.

The rivets are as they should be, unmessed, etc... etc...

I stand behind this badge as it is and most of the guys wil say, ohw it is much to beautifull as it is nearly unworn but that adds just towards it.


Cordial greetings,

[Thomas Durante]

Hi guys,

Thanks for your opinion and history on this piece Stijn, much appreciated

So lets look at this another way, has anyone seen another BSW LW badge that was only finished on the obverse like this? It doesn't have to be a glider necesssarily, but any other LW badge produced by BSW. If it indeed was a production technique used by them, then it stands to reason that we should see this done on some of their other badges. Looking through my files, I couldn't find a BSW Para badge that was only finished on the obverse, but how about their pilot badges?

Tom

[Sebastien T]

I'll really like to see some as well now this one is burn out

[Stijn David]

BSW badge

Hello,


I have handled about over 50 BSW badges untill now and this one does not differ from the others. Except in the fact that it is the most prestine badge i have ever seen. The finish of the eagle is not something we do see often but it is original (and not refinished) as it is.

Pristine badges make us sometimes doubt but this does not change anything about the originality.

I would also be happy to see other badges with this feature and in time they wil pop up. But not in large quantity's as we are speaking about a simple EK 2.


Cordial greetings,