Any insight on this RAD badge?

[train1]

Does anybody know what the first one is? I've had it since 1991 so the pin mod is old.





(Sorry if this is a double-post - flaky browser)

[Winterhilfswerk]

Hello
First is a cap badge from The Reich Labor Service but the red color in the middle is missing and the 2 mounting brackets to be no longer there the closure needle will not fit your badge is original from 1941
regrads
Guy

[train1]

"but the red color in the middle is missing"

Interesting! Is there a reference pic you can point me to to help visualize? How would color be applied in the manufacturing process (cheaply, assuming mass-production)?

[Wood]

As Guy says, the 2 pins are missing and someone has stuck the wrong type of fastening on the back. I seriously doubt that this was done in the period.
Here is what a painted one looks like. I guess the paint was applied by hand at the time.
http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...=RAD+cap+badge
Pete

[RonR]

A few more examples...........


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[RonR]

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[RonR]

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[train1]

Thanks for the replies. I think I remember paying $2-$4 for it back then so either the mod wasn't meant to add value or was so poorly done it killed whatever value was there!

Everything I've been posting pics of the past couple days was acquired when I was 15 on a trip to Germany in 1991 (shortly after the Berlin Wall came down and pre-internet). The whole area around Checkpoint Charlie and the other heavily-traveled tourist areas (literally as far as the eye could see in every direction) were people setting up card tables selling relics. It was like watching the free market being born. Of course that also lends itself to con-artists but spotting those was a big part of the fun.

I spent two months traveling historic WWII sites, scouring every shop, dealer and flea market along the way. With a limited budget the strategy was to focus on the more "common" items that were in immaculate condition and settle on basically the worst condition of anything "rarer". Anything that told a story and could be had for $10 caught my eye. By "common" and "rare" I mean our perception based on what we were seeing available on the market, their various conditions and prices. We didn't have an Ebay to reference! It was all gut and feel.

All this stuff has been in storage since 1995 and I'm only now looking into the real history behind it. I remember considering myself an "expert" back then. Nope!