288 SVB metal insignia

[90th Light]

Arab "Bazaar" made ring

and photo of seemingly some Arab NCO's amongst this group but where was it taken ???,

Chris

[90th Light]

What is the verdict on this one ???

http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...d.php?t=228846

Arab made, German pin ? May be an order while in Afrika or is POW also a possibility ?

Chris

[90th Light]

And another

Were these intended for the cap ???

That would make sense,

Chris

[Tim O'Keefe]

Would like to see a wartime photo of one these being worn on a cap ? Agree they were meant for the cap or pith.

Nice photos Chris but no-one is wearing this badge. How many men of SV 288 do you think wore this type of badge ? Are you talking a platoon or even a Company ?

[90th Light]

Would like to see a wartime photo of one these being worn on a cap ? Agree they were meant for the cap or pith.

Nice photos Chris but no-one is wearing this badge. How many men of SV 288 do you think wore this type of badge ? Are you talking a platoon or even a Company ?

Who knows,

there was no such thing as a British platoon or Company that wore badges made by the Arabs. It simply varied from what one individual needed/ desired to buy from the next individual. May be small orders were placed by someone higher up, just to have a few in stock ?

Have a read of this; http://www.warrelics.eu/forum/orders...adge-215942-3/

Perhaps these badges were like the rings, plates & decorated shell cases. Just something they sold in the Bazaars that could be purchased on an individual basis but never official in any way.

May-be because 288 had a mountain unit and they could wear their edelweiss on the tropical cap. Someone got it through their head that the rest of 288 might at some stage get to wear a badge on their caps also. After all, it was popular with KM personal and they often purchased their tradition cap badges locally or made them,

Chris

[Tim O'Keefe]

Hi Chris

Thanks for the link, though almost everyone's comments are in the negative.... I meant do you think as many as 30 or even 100 men from SV288 wore this badge ? The lack of photograghic evidence suggests otherwise ? Are these fantasy badges afterall ?

If the threadstarter is so bad it could just be good ? How much better does the fake have to be before it's a fake?

[OSS]

I, for one, have no special knowledge of these badges and have never held an original (if originals indeed exist) in my hand, so I should have probably refrained from comment. This is an interesting area of study and certainly worthy of informed discussion. I suppose the subject badge struck me as surprisingly crude and not appearing to show the age of an item over seventy years old.

[pauke]

badge

The crude execution does not match anything I have ever seen of Arabian hand work and cannot imagine such a heavy piece of metal on the side of a field cap. Without photographic evidence it looks like a post=war item, more likely a fake.

[90th Light]

Well I do not own one. I have no bone in the fight except pure interest in the unit and speculation based on other sand cast badges.

I agree, there is certainly a lack of photographic evidence which is not a good sign if they are real.

On the other hand, for a fantasy badge there seems to be an array of them that have been around for some time.

Arab Bazaar made items can range from the simple to the sophisticated.

Would I pay much money for one, "no". Would I throw the one that started this thread in the rubbish bin, "no". There is a chance that this is a type of badge was made at the time but in the absence of real evidence not much more can be said.

May-be I have been over exposed to too much of the souvenir rubbish that the New Zealander's brought back from Egypt at the time. This ranges from the hideous to the impressive,

Chris

[afrikasandman]

Well the locals were always willing to make anything or get you anything for money. I have shopped the Bazaars in Iraq and can assure you that if you want it they will have it for you next week. So its not out of the realm of possibilities but the variation would be all over the place. I don't doubt that originals of these type of badges do exist but again it will take a leap of faith. I wouldn't pay much without some iron clad provenance but they are still interesting.

Matt