SA Sports badge for your review

[luftwaffenkopf]

what grade would this be? thank you

[mametz]

Looks bronze to me

[Lewis Bunker]

Is it just me or does it look like a gold with its finish worn off?

[Br. James]

No, Lewis, it isn't just you -- this looks like an SA Military Defense Badge, Gold Grade, with some condition issues both back and front. This example would be from the wartime (third) series of the badge.

Br. James

[luftwaffenkopf]

No, Lewis, it isn't just you -- this looks like an SA Military Defense Badge, Gold Grade, with some condition issues both back and front. This example would be from the wartime (third) series of the badge.

Br. James

thank you! you mentioned that it's a "Military Defense" badge, what is the difference between this and a regular SA Sports badge?

[Br. James]

The SA Sport Badge series was initially a peace-time program, but when war came in 1939, Hitler had the SA Führung (of which he was the supreme head) switch into a military mode and changed the classification of this badge series from SA-Sportabzeichen to SA-Wehrabzeichen.

Br. James

[mametz]

I may be wrong but I thought all gold grade badges wear numbered, never
read a definitive answer on this
Mametz

[luftwaffenkopf]

for what it's worth, here's one by the same maker, unnumbered as well,

http://www.emedals.com/europe/german...rade-by-w-redo

[Br. James]

As I understand it, none of the 3rd Issue -- SA Military Sport Badge -- series was numbered in any of the three grades. The Gold Grade piece in my collection, also by Redo, is unnumbered. To my understanding, this was due to the war effort and such things as documents numbered to match numbered badges were eliminated; the 3rd Issue documents had no corresponding numbers.

Br. James

[mametz]

Thanks for the explanation
Mametz

[luftwaffenkopf]

here it is in natural light. looks like it lost a lot of its gilding...

[Br. James]

We've not previously seen this badge in this string of notes -- it surely can't be the one offered by eMedals below, as that piece has much more of it's original finish intact than this last set of photos. From what I can see, the finish on this piece is in such poor condition that I cannot say with any certainty which grade of SA Military Defense Badge this is. (This is not surprising as the wartime economy took its effect on all manner of production.) Since the finish appears to be almost totally absent now, the only category I can put this piece in is the Bronze Grade. And with such a poor finish, I wouldn't want this one in my collection.

Br. James

[luftwaffenkopf]

We've not previously seen this badge in this string of notes -- it surely can't be the one offered by eMedals below, as that piece has much more of it's original finish intact than this last set of photos. From what I can see, the finish on this piece is in such poor condition that I cannot say with any certainty which grade of SA Military Defense Badge this is. (This is not surprising as the wartime economy took its effect on all manner of production.) Since the finish appears to be almost totally absent now, the only category I can put this piece in is the Bronze Grade. And with such a poor finish, I wouldn't want this one in my collection.

Br. James

it's in fact the same badge, just had its pics taken under different lighting. there is very little of the gilding left but it wouldn't be there at all if it was bronze.
just my thoughts on it... thank you

[Br. James]

If your last set of pix in note #11 provides an accurate appearance of this badge, then IMO there is too little of the original finish present to classify the grade of the piece. In my experience I have seen Bronze Grade badges with a very bright and light-colored finish that appear almost golden. I need to have more of the actual finish present in order to tell the difference between a Gold Grade and a Bronze Grade piece.

Again, this is only my opinion. As always, I hope it is helpful.

Br. James