Golden Party Badge doc

[ValhallaMilitaria]

Hello, I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts on this item, its something I came across in a box from a large buyout.....is it rare? anyone seen these before?
Any help is appreciated,
Kind regards,
Eric

[hucks216]

I don't collect civil/political related award citations so know very little about them but wasn't the Golden Party Badge citation more decorative? I seem to remember seeing examples that have an image of the badge at the top, a golden border, some (?) of the writing in red and hand signed by Franz Xaver Schwarz with the title of Reichsschatzmeister.

[ValhallaMilitaria]

I have seen the ones you refer to, perhaps mine is an official reciept kept by the party headquarters? I have no idea....just a guess.

[Br. James]

Hi Eric,

Your document appears to be the version of the official certificate of award of the Golden Party Badge presented to those who received the AH initialed and dated version of this most prestigious decoration, the Honorary Award of the GPB -- though your copy has not been completed with the recipient's name or signed by Hitler. The wording states: "In appreciation for his merits on behalf of our People and Nation, I confer upon ---." This document was the companion of the Besitzurkunde signed by Franz Xaver Schwarz upon presentation of the numbered version of the Golden Party Badge, as described by hucks216 below. While the Besitzurkunde bore witness that the numbered version of the GPB was a presentation of the NSDAP to those who were its earliest members and supporters, this document attested to the fact that the Honorary Award was made in response to meritorious service to the German nation. For a listing of your award document, see p.269 of "Forman's Guide to Third Reich German Documents...And Their Values," Volume 2, 1st Edition, by Adrian Forman, published by Bender Publishing in 1996.

Though I have never seen a completed and signed example of this document, it resembles many other official promotion and award documents and I would therefore assume that high-ranking officials -- both political and military -- could submit this document for Hitler's signature and award, and that the originating official would endorse the awarding of the Honorary GPB by placing his signature on the lower right-hand corner of this document, thereby verifying that he supported the conferring of this award.

Hope this is helpful,

Br. James

[max history]

I suggest this document is a fake post-war fantasy piece. The GPB was a NSDAP award, nothing to do with the Reich or services to the Reich. The real award document was nothing like the other documents mentioned above by Br. James. The GPB was one of the highest awards of the Party and if you take a look at the document here, do you honestly believe it would suffice for such a prestigious award? Come on, the eagle isn't even in gold and "Der Führer" is not centralized! A poor and obvious fake in my opinion.
Max.

[Br. James]

Having never seen this document before, I primarily based my previous comment on Adrian Forman's book, which I cited in that note. Has anyone else seen this document in "Forman's Guide to Third Reich German Documents..." and if so, may we have your thoughts? Many thanks.

Br. James

[Hank C.]

Truthfully, better closeups / photos are necessary to determine the real quality of the print. From these pix it doesn't look as "impressive" as something like this should.

This is my opinion and based only on "what I think". Please don't bash my head in "electronically". That seems to be going on in other threads, and I don't really want this one to go that way.

best
Hank

[VtwinVince]

Are there umlauts over the 'u' in Wuerdigung and Muenchen? I can't tell from the scan. It certainly does not look like a period item.

[max history]

Having never seen this document before, I primarily based my previous comment on Adrian Forman's book, which I cited in that note. Has anyone else seen this document in "Forman's Guide to Third Reich German Documents..." and if so, may we have your thoughts? Many thanks.

Br. James

I know Adrian from the 1980s when he had a shop in Shepherd's Market, Mayfair, and I've seen his book. Before that I knew his father who specialised in antiques and items of historical interest.
During the 1970s and 1980s, many mistakes were made in publications on awards and documentation. For example, there was the controversy over the Hunting Association document to Friedrich Alpers in Christopher Ailsby's book. In those days, knowledge was not so refined as it is today and there were quite a few forgeries of high end items that were accepted as real, mainly because the quality was good and nobody had actually seen a real one to dispute the fact. High quality fantasy items were produced and taken for real, creeping onto the market and some appearing in books by respected authors.
One cannot say for certain that this example is real or fake without a proper examination, but in my opinion it is based upon one that I have described above. If someone comes up with a genuine one and this example holds up to physical examination, then I will be the first to admit that I was mistaken. Until then, I'll stick with my initial assessment.
Max.

[ValhallaMilitaria]

James- your wealth of knowledge it truly appreciated! A very interesting piece here indeed.
Many thanks for your time and expertise!
Eric

Hi Eric,

Your document appears to be the version of the official certificate of award of the Golden Party Badge presented to those who received the AH initialed and dated version of this most prestigious decoration, the Honorary Award of the GPB -- though your copy has not been completed with the recipient's name or signed by Hitler. The wording states: "In appreciation for his merits on behalf of our People and Nation, I confer upon ---." This document was the companion of the Besitzurkunde signed by Franz Xaver Schwarz upon presentation of the numbered version of the Golden Party Badge, as described by hucks216 below. While the Besitzurkunde bore witness that the numbered version of the GPB was a presentation of the NSDAP to those who were its earliest members and supporters, this document attested to the fact that the Honorary Award was made in response to meritorious service to the German nation. For a listing of your award document, see p.269 of "Forman's Guide to Third Reich German Documents...And Their Values," Volume 2, 1st Edition, by Adrian Forman, published by Bender Publishing in 1996.

Though I have never seen a completed and signed example of this document, it resembles many other official promotion and award documents and I would therefore assume that high-ranking officials -- both political and military -- could submit this document for Hitler's signature and award, and that the originating official would endorse the awarding of the Honorary GPB by placing his signature on the lower right-hand corner of this document, thereby verifying that he supported the conferring of this award.

Hope this is helpful,

Br. James

[ValhallaMilitaria]

I have better photos that could be e-mailed to an interested party, its foxed and waterstained a bit but that does not prove its a period TR item of course.

[max history]

James- your wealth of knowledge it truly appreciated! A very interesting piece here indeed.
Many thanks for your time and expertise!
Eric

There's nothing interesting about a fantasy piece and Br. James admits his information comes from another questionable example in a somewhat non-academic book.
I've accessed the files at the Bundesarchiv relating to GPBs and there was absolutely no evidence pointing to such a document. In fact all the pertinent paperwork had some sort of GPB motif which makes perfect sense.
No doubt you are hoping to sell it and that's why you appear to be ignoring alternative opinions, but I could be mistaken.

[randy@treadways]

Even suspect items can be interesting in one way or another.
Some people build collections of known forgeries. We just have to be careful to clearly identify them as such, once we are certain. Don't want to rewrite history.
Expressing skepticism or calling an item 'suspect' is a good thing if the person saying it is willing to share the details as to why. Sharing knowledge is the best thing about a board like this.

[JoeW]

Klaus Patzwall publised an excellent reference to the A.H. Gold Party Badges in 2004 and pictured an example of an issued Besiztzurkunde on pg. 46 that differed from the standard
GPB example with changes in the text.

A photo the alleged blank conferral A.H. GPB document is shown in Angolia's "Fur Fuhrer und Fatherland" on pg. 185, though he writes the national emblem and designation of the award were finished in gold and the document is parchment. As Angolia published in 1978, I would surmise Adrian included the document in his book based on its inclusion in Jack's book.

I will check my national archive copies of the AH award documentation to see if any mention is made of accompanying documents.

I would second Max's remarks concerning the document text mentioning service to the people and nation. There existed other national awards specifically designed for such recognition. The A.H. GPB were intended to bind non-party members such as Wehrmach officers closer to the ideals of National Socialism, as well as reward non-Alte Garde party members who had given considerable effort to party sevice with the "ultimate" party recognition.

[Br. James]

Dear friends,

My initial response to this document admittedly accepted it at face value -- I began with "Your document appears to be..." -- and with the resource of "Forman's Guide" as a credible resource for information about a document that I had never seen before, I put together a scenario based upon the document's own wording. I also respect and appreciate Max's research in the Bundesarchiv, and am grateful to Joe for his further input, especially locating an earlier example of this document among Jack Angolia's published works. In the end, I wonder what Eric at Valhalla Militaria should be left with regarding this document -- that it is, as Max puts it, "a fantasy piece?" If that is the consensus here, then I would not oppose it. Half the fun of research is found in the work itself!

Br. James