chaplains wound badge ...lol

[PAUL.H]

wonder how much this will hit . a chaplains wound badge / reality made from surplus awards as pilgrimage souvenirs by monks in italy . paul

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rare-and-O...4#ht_680wt_932

[reichenberg]

I used to have a wound badge reference book which mentioned those, but I have never seen one before. Yes, some monks found a large number of black wound badges in thier monastry after the Germans had left, and re designed them as pilgrims badges.

[Tom Yanacek]

Hello Paul,

I guess that is why the seller carefully chose the wording, "so called Chaplain's Wound Badge" in his item description. He mentions full documentation in Hamelman' book, yet he does not mention that Hamelman states, "... there was no such wound badge!" on page 20 and "There is NO Chaplain's Wound Badge" at the bottom of page 21.

Still a neat item, though: An original 1939 Wound Badge with the center area cut out and a cross added, made and sold by the Monks of Kloster Weingarten as a pilgrimage souvenir. I wouldn't mind getting one of these if the price was right. An interesting curio with some neat history.

Best regards,
Tom

[Tom Yanacek]

Here are the pictures so they don't get lost:

[Hans N]

I find it strange that they always shows to be made only from one makers badges...

[Mike Kenny]

I find it strange that they always shows to be made only from one makers badges...

Converserly, I would find it strange if they were NOT all from the same type of badge. It's more than likely that whatever command post received the order, all te badges came from the same produciton order at the same time.

Regards
Mike

[PAUL.H]

Here are the pictures so they don't get lost:

tks for saving the pics , beyond my computer skills.
would make an interesting addition to a collection ,but at £100 its a bit steep......paul

[Tom Yanacek]

Converserly, I would find it strange if they were NOT all from the same type of badge. It's more than likely that whatever command post received the order, all te badges came from the same produciton order at the same time.

Regards
Mike

I agree! It does not seem unusual to me that all of these are of the same type. You would almost have to expect this: A large lot of wound badges from the same maker/order, stockpiled at a monastery that served as a field hospital.

Hamelman writes that:

"Between 1946 and 1948, several hundred of the 1939 Black Wound Badges were converted into a cross memento and sold as Pilgerandenken."

These things have to be very very scarce if not rare.

Here is a picture postcard of Kloster Weingarten, the monastery where these badges were modified and sold after WW2.

Best regards,
Tom

[RonR]

Another one...different maker?

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[RonR]

Sword Hilts..........



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[Tom Yanacek]

Hello Ron,

Thanks for posting your example. A very interesting one too! It has an integral catch but an applied hinge.

Best regards,
Tom

[Mike Kenny]

Hi Ron,

A shot of the hinge would be useful to see if the current hinge is not a replacement (period or otherwise). I do not recall seeing an integral catch without an integral hinge before from any of the integral catch makers.

Regards
Mike

[Tom Yanacek]

Another interesting thing is that when these badges first appeared in the collector market, they were said to be WW1 (1914) Chaplain Wound Badges. But the wreath and construction is clearly of WW2 vintage.

Best regards,
Tom

[Tom Yanacek]

Hi Ron,

A shot of the hinge would be useful to see if the current hinge is not a replacement (period or otherwise). I do not recall seeing an integral catch without an integral hinge before from any of the integral catch makers.

Regards
Mike

I have never seen a wound badge with an integral catch and applied hinge either. It looks nicely done, though. I wonder if the hinge broke off during its initial assembly and a resourceful and conscientious factory worker made the reject badge serviceable.

Best regards,
Tom

[chainsawrich]

Huh ... I would not mind having one of those for myself. I think they are nicely done.