Brass / Tombak for silver WB ?

[SammyT]

In my never ending process of learning I am curious to learn more about the materials used in the construction of wound badges, particularly the silver grade. In reading up on this matter it's said that early silver badges were constructed of bronze base metal while later models were make of zinc base metal. It was also mentioned that there were silver badges made of Tombak.

Is the metal Tombak the same as Brass or is there a difference between them?

Were silver badges ever made from Tombak?

Thanks.

Sammy T.

[Mike Kenny]

Hi Sammy,

Brass, bronze and tombak are all similar in composition. Brass and bronze are English descriptions, Tombak is the German description. For collectors tombak and bronze are essentially the same visually, so either term is OK - unless an actual contrary metallurgical analysis for an item is available!

Regards
Mike

PS: yes, early Silver WBs were made of tombak and then heavily plated, most likely with nickel (German) silver (not real - echt - silver)

[Norm F]

Hi Guys,

Just a few qualifications on the metallurgy.

1) Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc.
2) Tombak is just one type of brass in which the copper content is high (generally 85% or greater), and this was the conventional metal used in medals pre- and early wartime.
3) Bronze is an alloy of copper and tin, and I'm not aware of bronze being used for medals.

Here's another discussion of metals in the context of KM badges.

Best regards,
---Norm

[SammyT]

Thanks for the input and discussion guys. Very much appreciated. Also, in my thread I did not mean to write "bronze" but rather brass. By the time I realized my error I was unable to edit the posting and thus was stuck using the incorrect term "bronze". Thanks again for the lesson in metalurgy!

Sammy T.