Silver, possibly Gold wound badge?

[ravrick]

Hi,
I have this badge which I believe is a silver non marked badge, but when held up in the light the upper half has a goldish shine to it. I don't think it is a gold wash but more likely a badge where the bottom half of the silver coating has worn off over the years. Any other thoughts?
cheers,
Rick

[Thomas Durante]

Hi Rick,

The badge looks like an original BH Mayer in silver. I suspect it was stored poorly and the finish has reacted with moisture giving it a goldish hue. I have seen that quite a bit with close combat clasps that were ground dug.

Interesting to see the catch area, looks like they had a malfunction with the crimping tool necessitating them solder it on instead.

Tom

[ravrick]

Thanks Tom,
that makes sense, I remember seeing a similar reaction on some of the potential gold CCCs posted on the forum, it's a badge I picked up quite cheaply a few years ago and has been in the box of 'must check these out sometime' badges, much appreciated,
Rick

[Hans N]

An original SWB for shure but i don´t agree with Tom in calling them out as B.H.Mayer when unmarked although some are found marked L/18 beneath the catch crimping.

[Thomas Durante]

An original SWB for shure but i don´t agree with Tom in calling them out as B.H.Mayer when unmarked although some are found marked L/18 beneath the catch crimping.

Hi Hans,

Do the unmarked ones with pillow crimping like this have a different obverse design, or some other reason why you think they might not also be made from BH Mayer? The L/18 we typically see was stamped in by hand, so that certainly leaves out the possibility that some were simply not stamped, especially if the packet they came in was marked for BH Mayer. As I understand it, the badge didn't have to be marked as long as the packet was marked (per LDO and PK regulations).

Tom

[Hans N]

Hi Tom,

where are the L/18 marked Pillow crimped Heer Flaks, IAB´s, PAB´s; GAB´s then? Mayer is a plausible maker behind the pilliow crimped badges i´ll give you that much but credit them all just because there are only Pillow crimped WB´s are found L/18 marked is to far fetched at the moment IMO. The findings with Mayer packets are not enough either AFAIK. Are there any other Pillow Crimped badges found with Mayer packets?

This is like saying that the KVK credited to P&L with the L/18 marked pin is a Mayer made badge... or all the Schickle IAB´s, PAB´s, GAB´s, U-boot badges for that matter.