German Sports Badges 1913-1945

[Rick Research]

I'd say it's a bronze that somebody sometime tried to make look like gold. That sort of "eloxiert" lacquer?/paint?-ish "wash" finish shouldn't be on one of these:

I have NEVER seen a pre-DRL with swastika plated-finish badge in that sort of condition.

[Richard]

Rick, this one must have come in contact with moisture at some point in its life based on its condition. Either that or it was stored improperly as there is definite loss of finish down to the bare metal in the areas that are of a dark color as well as the familiar green copper oxidation. The laquer finish look is just my scans and the fact that it has soaked in an oil bath for the past 4 days to try to help get rid of the green copper pvc damage.

The gold color is not a simple wash per se. In the areas where it is still present it is impossible to scratch off. It is very well adhered. I can't even begin to explain why it isn't still all over this badge and why it appears to have worn in spots. The scan makes it appear that there is actually less gold color than there really is (cheap scanner or operator failure, don't know which).

It would also seem to be a lot of trouble to go to (adding gold wash) for a $25 sale, including the postage from overseas. It would easily have sold for this price as a Bronze DRL from 1913 -1914 without any of the trouble. The areas affected by damage indicate they happened after the gold color was applied, so the color must also have been present for some time as this kind of oxidation damage takes a while. Seems you would also pick a badge that didn't have a replaced pin. This is a DRA badge not a DRL. The DRA's as I understand, never had a swastika.
Richard V

[Rick Research]

Ah. Hard to get some finishs scanned "true." I've got an eloxiert DRL with swastika in gold and just can't get it to come out right.

[Mike Dunn]

Silver DRL...

that just came in from a friend in Germany. Thought I would post it and see what ya thinks! Mike

[Mike Dunn]

Here is the reverse!

[Rick Research]

they don't come any nicer than that!

[Mike Dunn]

Thanks Rick, I guess not as I was going to list it on E-stand and was PM'ed and sold before I could. Going to a good home! Mike

[Richard]

Thought I would share my finds to date. I never have liked the unmarked solid DRL badges but I cannot seem to find the cut out ones. They must be fairly few and far between.
Richard V

[Rick Research]

DRA in bronze embroidered "sports kit" type to be sewn onto the front left thigh of gym shorts. Obverse

[Rick Research]

Reverse

[Rick Research]

DRL with Swastka 1937+ type in gold, "eloxiert" finish, obverse:

[Rick Research]

And the reverse. I've had this badge for years and it has never changed at all. Polished bronzes will inevitably turn back dull and just have a "buffed" look to them unlike the clear surface on golds.

Tyler-- can you REpost Besian's DRL in gold obverse and then reverse HERE so this thread keeps going? thanks!

[J Howland]

This probably won't help your discussion much at all, but I collected Third Reich sports stuff obsessively from about 1970 through the early nineties.

Here are some "generic" memories:

1. There were fakes of the DRL sport badge as far back as the 1970's, though most of them seemed to be of the "war wounded" variety. They were very thin stampings, the gold wreath was some sort of gold colored plating on white metal and the silver letters seemed to be actually painted. As I recall, there was a considerable amount of flash around the letters but that - I am ashamed to admit it now - cleaned up nicely with a little filing. There were no maker marks on them and they all had needle pins.

2. The rarest sports badges in my experience, next to the state DRL and the SA Sports Badges "for war-wounded," were the "heavy athetics" badges [that show the weights in the middle of the wreath & wrestlers (as I recall) at the bottom]. In twenty-plus years of looking, I never found one - not even a fake.

3. Some of the few history-book mentions of Sports badges in the Third Reich center on the extensive fudging of the records that Himmler's staff members had to do in order to allow their boss to qualify for the state sport badge.

4. I can't say that they were being faked back in the 70's / 80's, but it seemed to me that there were a number of really suspicious looking cloth SA Sports badges out there. For the record, I never saw cloth versions of either war-wounded badge. If such exist, I'd think that they should be probably the rarest of the rare...

5. Any post-war state sport badge should have the DSB monogram. The badges were not permanent awards in pre-45 Germany but had to be requalified for every year or so - there would have been no need for 1957 versions...

6. The oddest sports badge I ever owned had the design of the state sport badge but a stylized monogram with the letters "SLA." Although I suppose that it was safe to assume that the letters stood for "Sports Leistungs Abzeichen," I never found a reference that could tell me what the badge was for.

Jim

[TerryG]

Drl

For what it's worth, here are my DRL's. The bronze is not marked and the gold....well...it looks very new.....

[TerryG]

Drl

For what it's worth, here are my DRL's. The bronze is not marked and the gold....well...it looks very new.....

Here is a clearer shot of the gold.