German Sports Badges 1913-1945

[J Howland]

I've seen a photo posted recently on one or two threads that shows a full sized DRA or DRL state sport badge that does not have the letters completely pierced out. In the twenty years in the 70's and 80's that I constantly rooted around gun shows looking for pre-'45 German sports stuff, the only state sport badges that I ever encountered with unpierced monograms were miniatures: lapel pins and stick pins. .. all the full sized badges had completely cut out letters and virtually all had the same manufacturer's name and badge design patent number.

I'd be interested to know if anyone has in their collection a definite "vet bring back" full sized state sports badge with a solid background around the monogram...

I did own a bronze DRL badge that the original owner had carefully filed away the swastika and attempted to recreate the bow at the bottom of the wreath... I was once told that before the Deutsche Sport Bund got itself up and running (in the 50's, I think) and began to issue its own "DSB" badges, that there were various attempts by athletic types to reuse older (and swastika-free) sport badge designs in the late 40's/very early '50's. Maybe that's the time period that the more solid full size badges (and perhaps some of the trademark-free badges) date to?

Jim

[George Stimson]

Stitched bronze DRL.

[George Stimson]

Reverse.

[George Stimson]

Stitched silver DRL.

[George Stimson]

Silver reverse.

[Besian B.]

From a previous thread, the DRL unpierced cypher/no maker reverse/coke bottle pin badge



reverse

[dmwg40]

From a previous thread, the DRL unpierced cypher/no maker reverse/coke bottle pin badge



reverse

hi what do you guys think ??
is it worth try to clean up and if so how and what with ?
this is info i got with item......
RARE GERMAN WW II 1ST PATTERN DRA BRONZE GRADE SPORTS BADGE, STICKPIN. THE FIRST PATTERN BADGE IS RARER THAN THE 2ND PATTERN, AND WAS AWARDED FROM 1932-45. IN EXCELLENT CONDITION AND COMPLETE WITH ITS KNURLED PIN, AND ALSO MAKER MARKED TO THE REVERSE.
wernstein jena marking on back.

[Darrell]

Hi Rick,

You are right with your Golden DRA by Eugen Marcus, Hofjuwelier being one of the rare ones that was awarded until WWI broke loose.
Cheers, Frank

Rick / Frank,

I will be receiving one of these from Germany this week. It has this maker marking on the reverse. Except it doesnt have the silver stamping (that I can see in the pics anyway). So are these maker exclusive to Pre-1914?

[Richard]

Darrell, I can't believe that these would be that limited. I've run across 3 golds by this maker already. I now own 2 of them and am thinking about buying the 3rd as it isn't being offered at a premium over other makers of this badge. However none of them have the silver mark either. It may be the silver marked versions of this badge that are the rarity.
Richard V

[Darrell]

Darrell, I can't believe that these would be that limited. I've run across 3 golds by this maker already. I now own 2 of them and am thinking about buying the 3rd as it isn't being offered at a premium over other makers of this badge. However none of them have the silver mark either. It may be the silver marked versions of this badge that are the rarity.
Richard V

Thanks Richard. Would you mind posting them here again for me peepers? Seems the pictures you posted a while back have disappeared.

[Richard]

Unfortunately I did a weblink and have since deleted them from my files. I'll try to do some additional scans and get them posted. Probably won't be until this weekend though.
Richard V

[Richard]

Here are some scans of the 2 Eugen Marcus DRA badges that I have. The one on the right had some storage problems in the past with moisture. It shows damage to the guilding and a bronze metal exposed where the gold wash has come off. The pin has been replaced. I suspect the gold wash to be genuine. I would have a hard time believing that someone had colored a bronze badge gold to increase the value as I purchased it for $25 about 2 years ago, The one on the left appears to be a gold wash over some type of metal. There is none of the base metal exposed so I can't tell if it is bronze like the badge on the right. This one has the original pin. Neither of these have a 900 silver stamp. I have never seen this manufacturer in any badge type other than gold.
Richard V

[Richard]

reverse.

[Darrell]

Hi Richard. I'm going to post my Gold that I received today in another topic. Mine is a match to the one you have to the left. Right down to that "die flaw" line on the bottom right looking at the reverse

Thanks for sharing ...

[Richard]

Mine were definitely struck from 2 different dies as you can tell by looking at the position of the S in Marcus on the reverse. I would assume they would have used the same dies for all three grades (if indeed there was a silver and bronze of this maker produced). Perhaps the die flaw evident on the badge on the left got bad enough that they had to prepare another die for production.
Richard V