Is this a KM chest eagle ?

[Edwin]

Gents,
All feedback is welcome

cheers

Edwin

[48RMC]

Yes it is, it's a nice eagle as well

[Norm F]

Hi Guys,

It strikes me that we haven't had any posted studies on KM officers' bullion eagles, and of course cloth items in general are a bit of a minefield due to the ease of reproduction.

I'm not saying this eagle is bad, but the construction isn't the "classic" type that makes me warm and fuzzy. Of course there's a wide range of possibilities, especially if one invokes the "foreign made" argument, but personally I like to see the wire binding at the bottom of the wreath surrounding the swastika, in either a cross pattern or two symmetrical placed slanting stitches (see attched images. Also, I like to see the bullion on the horizontal wing feathers to be in three separate segments with the ends lined up with the horizontal cotton threads. In contrast, the one posted lacks any wire binding on the wreath and the bullion on the wings is different lengths such that the horizontal wing segments are delineated only by the cotton thread.

Just my take.

Best regards,
---Norm

[Edwin]

Hi Guys,

It strikes me that we haven't had any posted studies on KM officers' bullion eagles, and of course cloth items in general are a bit of a minefield due to the ease of reproduction.

I'm not saying this eagle is bad, but the construction isn't the "classic" type that makes me warm and fuzzy. Of course there's a wide range of possibilities, especially if one invokes the "foreign made" argument, but personally I like to see the wire binding at the bottom of the wreath surrounding the swastika, in either a cross pattern or two symmetrical placed slanting stitches (see attched images. Also, I like to see the bullion on the horizontal wing feathers to be in three separate segments with the ends lined up with the horizontal cotton threads. In contrast, the one posted lacks any wire binding on the wreath and the bullion on the wings is different lengths such that the horizontal wing segments are delineated only by the cotton thread.

Just my take.

Best regards,
---Norm

hope this helps a bit

Edwin

[Norm F]

hope this helps a bit

Edwin

Hi Edwin,

Your closeups nicely show the typical structure of wire bullion which is composed of coils of fine wire (like tiny slinkies) through which a needle and thread are passed to hand sew segments to the backing.

The problem is wire bullion hasn't changed at all over the decades and the same product is still available today:
http://www.berlinembroidery.com/bullions.htm

As a result we have to concentrate on the sewing patterns, backing and wear patterns and how well that matches to accepted examples with provenance -- not an easy thing to be 100% sure about unless it's a really classic looking example or a really horrible looking fake.

Best regards,
---Norm

[Norm F]

Here are a couple more variations of what I would call "classic" wartime construction, one of which appears to be a nice Coastal Artillery officer's eagle (although billed as a less common Heer General's eagle since they're indistinguishable).

[Norm F]

couple more (2nd one is Coastal Artillery)

[Edwin]

thanks a lot Norm for the info.
I'll try to make a few more detailed shots tomorrow.

I've got this one with a lot of Original insignia from a solid sourse so I'm pretty certain it's a good one.

More tomorrow

Edwin

[Norm F]

And here's a fake you can buy on the internet in bulk for $12 each...

[Norm F]

I've got this one with a lot of Original insignia from a solid sourse so I'm pretty certain it's a good one.

Hi Edwin,

Like I said, I'm not saying it's not good, just that it's different from the classic construction so I don't have a reference point to verify that it's period. If I was a collector of eagle variants I might not care, but if I wanted to get one unequivocal classic original example for my collection then I would keep looking.

Now that I'm back at my computer, here's a clearer representation of the areas of difference between that one and all the other examples I posted. These differences would become irrelevant if one could find an example (or preferably several) with excellent provenance appearing on original tunics since that would establish it as a period variation.

Best regards,
---Norm

[steiner99]

Edwing, I had a lot of KM eagles in my hands and I can say for shure the eagle is 100% a fake!
Don't buy it or take your money back as fast as you can because you get unhappy with that repro.

Cheers,
steiner99