Help with Otto Hoffmann HJ Badge.

[JCM - 1963]

Hi all,

I have a friend who is interested in this badge from the Maker, Otto Hoffmann.

Is the badge a good one?

Was Otto Hoffmann a good maker? Are they badges made by Otto Hoffmann more expensive than the others?

Thanks for your help.

Julio.

[Waffe]

Hello:
They are considered fakes. See this thread-

http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...offmann&page=2

I have one just like yours. I was on the fence about it for a while, but now I am convinced.

Regards,
Kent G.

[Terry OToole]

widely considered fake ,Becks seem to have some dubious stuff !

[sjl]

The Hoffmann badges come in every fantasy colour of the rainbow. Hoffmann may have been a small HJ cloth supplier, but there is no record found that they ever made metal badges. Looks like the fakers grabbed the name and have been making thousands of these badges since about the 1990s.

[Wim Vangossum]

I don't like the Hoffmann badges, especially the colored ones are hilarious but there is one little fact about these badges that you should now and that is that someone found traces in period documents that confirm that this maker really existed during the time.

But like I said:I would not like a Hoffmann in my own collection.



Regards, Wim

[sjl]

Be careful with the wording - there is no "trace" that this manufacturer ever made metal badges. There was according to one of our members a small textile supplier named Otto Hoffmann. Any metal badge marked Otto Hoffmann can be regarded as a fake.

Loose wording and murky understanding is how a completely bad badge worms its way to eventual respectability.

[stuart a.]

agreed, only thing we know about hoffmann is he made some textile, there is no evidence whatsoever that he ever made any metal badges or any things else for that matter

[Gary Symonds]

I own a Hoffman HJ badge, which I paid a repro price for, as a reproduction. The fact is, that these badges in my opinion are consistent in quality with original HJ badges. The enamel work and the red beading are the same as originals. If these had no maker marks, I believe these would pass as originals.

The fact that the Hoffman name does not show up in the records as a badge maker is not proof positive that these are all fakes. We know that the amount of destruction from the war of business records, and the Party's business dealings in letting out contracts that may have not survived, should give pause to this "rush to judgment".

[Silesien]

Anyone who ever goes to the MAX show : look for the dealer who has these Otto Hoffmanns by the 100's in any color imaginable, he puts them out in heaps on plates , take your choice of colors, or buy one of each; they are only $3.oo each. He always has plenty under his tables by the handful to refill the plates each day.

[stuart a.]

the hoffmans are fake and widely available in many colours, i agree that without the maker mark the red ones would look pretty good, the prob here is to make sure that people are aware they are fake and that in the future they remain that way, because it doesnt take much for people to start believeing and before you know 10yrs down the line people are calling these fakes , good badges

[Garry M.]

There is more on this over on the Hitler Youth Forum. HERE

The point of the linked thread is not to offer a lifeline to people with Hoffmann badges but rather to scotch the rumour that there was never a TR manufacturer by the name of Otto Hoffmann. There is no evidence that this company made metal badges.