Gausieger 1940 badge

[David R.]

I picked this up this weekend It looks OK to me But I'm not sure with all of the good fakes . I could not find one with this maker or 1940 made one. The color is a cream white color, not white.
Thanks for any help in advance!
David R.

[David R.]

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[David R.]

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[Richard]

David, there were no badges of this type made in the years from 1940 to 1943. This style only exists for the years 1938 and 1939. A similar style but painted rather than enamelled exists for 1944. I'm afraid this is a fake, and not a very good one. There are better fakes out there than this in execution with their downfall being some details and the color of the enamel.
Richard V

[Stan]

Gausiger 1940

David,

It is indeed a 1970's fake. Look at the glue holding the eagle and the poor quality of the "40" numbers. I have one just like it in my "mistakes box" from many years ago with the same makers mark but dated "1939".

Stan

[Nigel N]

h, i can't add much to what the guys have already said, these badges are only found in the enameled style for 1938 & 1939, they dont appear again until 1944, by which time the enamel had been replaced by a painted finish!! -Nigel

[David R.]

off to the junk box it goes,Thanks !
David R.

[Garry M.]

Just for reference the Reichsberufswettkampf was discontinued (until 1943 - see below) after the 1939 competition therefore any badge showing the years 1940, 1941, 1942 or 1943 can never be anything more than a fake.

The last badge was for the 1944 competition which was somewhat surprisingly resurrected on Hitler's order in 1943 to be completed in 1944 and which was renamed to 'Kriegsberufswettkampf'. The 1944 Kriegsberufswettkampf marked a return to the competition's roots in that only HJ members were eligible to compete. Another difference was that the finals were decentralised meaning that the respective Gausieger did not compete against each other directly in a Reich final at a central location as they had done in previous years. Instead of this, the eventual Reichsieger were selected by committee from the best of the Gausieger within the respective Gaue.

The 1944 badges were very different to the previous 1938/1939 pattern. A nice example can be found here:

http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...1944+gausieger

The Reichssieger badge for the compertition prior to 1938 was again different. In the bottom right in the picture you can see one I have for the 1937 competition:

[Stan]

Gausiger 1940

Garry,

You are indeed very fortunate to own that early style badge!

Stan

[Garry M.]

Thanks Stan. I added the Munich participants'/officials' badge to the set myself so that wasn't his but I do feel fortunate to own the set. I was able to research this boy actually after finding a local historian who knew the family. Alfred became Reichssieger in the trade group food/miller and after the war he returned to his father's mill ('NS-Musterbetrieb' in 1938). After the war Alfred returned to his trade and eventually took the mill on after his father retired. Alfred's son almost repeated his dad's success when he came second in the post-war version of the Berufswettkampf.

[Darin S.]

I really like that grouping Garry, I think it's your best one, I hope you hang on to that one.

[Garry M.]

Thanks G. I'd agree with that. Definitely my best grouping.

[Paul70]

This is indeed fake. I think this is one of those that came out in the early 90's. I never saw them until then, but maybe I just missed them. The ones I saw had a little gap between the eagle and the badge, like the two did not quite have the same curve. I looked at several and they all had the same problem. Is this one or am I thinking of a different fake?

Paul