Gold Wound Badge - Opinions, Please

[Greg]

Hi All,

I recently got this badge in with a lot of other badges that were good, but I'd like your opinion because I haven't had a Wound Badge in Gold before (!) Lots of black and silver ones, but this is the first gold.

It's zinc, and weighs 27.4 grams.
Height 44.2 mm, width 36.8 mm. Width of swastika across the points is 10mm. None of the fittings are magnetic. It has no maker's mark. It has no die shear marks left, but shows abrasive marks from polishing on the edges.

It does have the "vein" or "leaf shadow" on the leaf below the right sword blade (see the next photo).

The hinge is similar to that used by Carl Wild on WBs, but with a smaller plate and without the recess in the back of the badge that Wild used. The catch is round wire, soldered to a small round plate, that is soldered to the badge.

My concerns
1. I haven't seen a hinge and catch setup just like this on solid WBs before.
2. The fire gilding (if that's what this finish is) was applied over everything, hinge catch and all. Was that normal?

Thanks,
Greg

[Greg]

Closeup with the "vein" in the leaf on the right side of the wreath.

[Greg]

The back...

[Greg]

The hinge...

[Greg]

The catch ...

[Chrvip68]

Hi Greg,

This badge has bad quality of construction and i can recall either i've never see this combination of catch/hinge/pin set-up on a known maker marked WB.

Catches from round wire soldered to a round plate and then soldered to the badge can be found in original badges. ie: 'L22' WB's.

I have notice that several times on Gold WB's the finish is applied over everything as you said.


My only concern is the hinge, for the picture the 'base' who is applied on the badge is too small for WB. But as i said could be from the picture.

Personally for Gold WB's i'm sticking only with the known makers and examples.

[Vadim K]

Like Chris said, it is safer to stick to known makers with Gold WBs, something you can compare against known good examples. I would probably pass on this one if it was offered to me, but thats just my gut feeling. Hinge/catch are suspect, detail is not the best and I do not like the shape of helmet (could be the angle of the photo though)

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi Guys, a good friend of mine and fellow forum member, Lee B, has been over to my house this evening and asked me to post this gold wound badge for your opinions. These are the only two photos that I took, as Lee does not have a camera yet.
Cheers, Ade.

[Adrian Stevenson]

Reverse of badge. My own feeling is the badge is a fake due to the poor detail, casting marks and very bright finish overall which includes the pin. The catch does not hold the pin shut either. Please give your opinions as Lee can obtain a refund.

[Greg]

Chris and Vadim,
Thanks for your comments. I also would not buy the badge I showed as a single item, for the fact that it doesn't conform to known maker configurations. As it came as part of a lot, if it's bad I'm not out much. I'm not convinced it's bad, but concerned for the reasons I gave above - I haven't seen that hinge/pin/catch setup before.

Thanks,
Greg