Croatian legion pilote badge

[Claude Bertin]

Hello, is that Croatian legion pilote badge a good one ? What is its value ? Thanks for your opinions, Claude.

[rajko84]

One like that just sold at auction here for about $150. But I am not expert on them so I cannot tell you if yours is the good one. I hope this helped. You can probobly get more for it there in Europe, from somebody who collect HDZ things.
Regards Rajko

[Gene]

$150 for this wing is an absolute steal if it's original. I would ask member JohnT for his opinion as to this wing's originality, and as for value I'd say $400 minimum if genuine.

[Kristijan]

Hi,
This is a reproduction, not an original air legion badge.

[Jos L C]

How does a original look like ?

Some say they should have a serial number on the back ?

Jos.

[Peppe864]

I saw that every other dealer at the Kassel show had these badges, this one looks artificially aged. Some of the badges on the show looked like they were made yesterday and some artificially aged liek this one.

So there is appearently a batch of fakes on the market.

[Mike H]

...

I had an original of one of these at one time -- no number.

Have a look at the link below. This is actually what is called an "Air Force Legion" badge, though I have no idea what that means. The Army Pilot badges can also be seen on that website:

http://www.ww2wings.com/wings/croati...celegion.shtml

[Peppe864]

I had an original of one of these at one time -- no number.

Have a look at the link below. This is actually what is called an "Air Force Legion" badge, though I have no idea what that means. The Army Pilot badges can also be seen on that website:

http://www.ww2wings.com/wings/croati...celegion.shtml

The pictured badge in the link looks like an original, just like the one in the book "Croatian Uniforms and insignia 1941-1945" (Krunoslav Mikulan & Sinisa Pogacic). It is described as the Air Force Legion badge and refers to the Croatian Air Force Legion which was Croatian volunteers in the Luftwaffe, formed 1 st of July 1941 in Zagreb.

[Mike H]

...

Excellent info -- I didn't know that.

That reminds me of a wonderful photo that may have been posted here a couple of years ago. A bunch of Croatians in Luftwaffe uniform, with this badge on the right breast of their fliegerbluse.

Best,

Mike

[Kristijan]

How does a original look like ?

Some say they should have a serial number on the back ?

Jos.

German made ones have a number on the back, Croatian made ones don't.

Regarding the fakes and reproductions, the market is full of them. Unlike the one from this topic, some of them are actually quite good, and inexperienced collector can easily be fulled. The best repro was made in 1960s. That one is almost identical to the original one, the only difference is the letter 'U', which is much thinner on the original badges than the repros.

This badge was used by the Croatian Air Legion members. The legion was part of Luftwaffe, fighting against the Russian communists.

[Claude Bertin]

HI all, Thanks for your comments, even they are sad ! Claude.

[Gene]

I believe this to be an original example:

[Mike H]

..

In metal and cloth ....

Mike

[Kristijan]

In metal and cloth ....

Mike

Mike,
the cloth one is reproduction.

Kristijan

[Gene]

Kristijan,

Can you elaborate a little more on why the cloth wing is fake? Do you have a genuine one to compare to? If so, I'd love to see it--

Gene