I picked up a small lot of items that were brought back from the war by a Canadian nurse, among them was this KM cap badge. It looks very similar to the one on this thread: http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...+small+unusual
but it has a few critical differences that have me stumped. My understanding is that the original design had a cockade that attached to the hat with 2 prongs, and a seperate eagle that just had a long pin holding it on. As the eagle was prone to falling off, they started soldering the eagle to the cockade as one unit, and the badge would now be held on either with JUST the 2 prongs, or the 2 prongs as well as the long pin. Enter my badge:
It does not have the 2 prongs on the cockade (they may have been there but been removed and filed flat?). Instead it has 1 big pin soldered to the eagle to hold the whole business on. As well, the eagle has 2 lumps, one on the backside of each wing, that appear to be solder, almost as if some mounting prongs had been removed from the eagle. Oddly enough, the gold finish on the eagle goes over these lumps. This does not appear to be paint but a very nice high quality gold plating on the eagle. I can't figure out what would result in a combo like this, and I can't imagine this being made up this way post war. Any thoughts?
but it has a few critical differences that have me stumped. My understanding is that the original design had a cockade that attached to the hat with 2 prongs, and a seperate eagle that just had a long pin holding it on. As the eagle was prone to falling off, they started soldering the eagle to the cockade as one unit, and the badge would now be held on either with JUST the 2 prongs, or the 2 prongs as well as the long pin. Enter my badge:
It does not have the 2 prongs on the cockade (they may have been there but been removed and filed flat?). Instead it has 1 big pin soldered to the eagle to hold the whole business on. As well, the eagle has 2 lumps, one on the backside of each wing, that appear to be solder, almost as if some mounting prongs had been removed from the eagle. Oddly enough, the gold finish on the eagle goes over these lumps. This does not appear to be paint but a very nice high quality gold plating on the eagle. I can't figure out what would result in a combo like this, and I can't imagine this being made up this way post war. Any thoughts?
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