hagwalther

I'm with Rick here. Gold ones always look like gold and bronze ones sometimes look gold. It's bronze in my opinion. Regards Chris

One of the best badges from the IAB/GAB/PAB range. I was lucky to pick the same up a couple of weeks ago - TR badges like this really make collecting of such items a bit of an addiction. Regards Chris

Yes, I quite agree too. Regards Chris

Difficult to tell from the angle of the photos but I'll go for 1.29.2 Unknown maker #12 - classification from The General Assault Badge by Frank Heukemes. Regards Chris

It's a cheap piece of junk which is a bit of a surprise as if you were going to pull a stunt like this you would use one of the many high end fakes that abound this type of award. Regards Chris

Thanks Don, Good looking badges and good luck with the gold version at the MAX show. I have asked a fellow collector up on packets and cases to take a look at the case when he has a moment but in the mean time here is a cased silver with stickpin that was my other impuse buy a year or so ago. Cases are different but show quite a few similarities so fingers crossed here too. Regards Chris

Thanks Guys, Here is some more information on the badge: Dimensions: Height - 46.00 mm Width - 39.86 mm Weight - 7.75 grams Regards Chris

Last Shot - Case Hinge.

Case Catch.

Case Top - Well worn.

Clasp.

Hinge.

Reverse.

Obverse.

In Case 2

Hi Guys, These badges are certainly not my thing and I have never really looked at these let alone handled one before. Looking around I have not seen to many of these gold naval versions which suggests that they are not as common as the army related award. I picked this up as a bit of an impulse buy from the internet for 35 pounds as it came with a case (I like cased awards) that although looked well worn appeared to (and does) fit with the badge very well. I also managed to check out a few photos of black and silver versions on this forum and compare it with a few army versions that I own to compare clasp and hinge. No alarm bells rang and an receipt found that it has a beautiful vaulted structure with a magnetic body and pin. Hinge and clasp are not magnetic though. Case looks authentic to me and compares with other cases I own in respect to a couple of Imperial awards. However, I need some expert opinion here - I'm temped to say that award and case are good but I need to know if I '...did my dough...' Mind you at 35 pounds I can put this on my folly shelf as a warning to future impuse purchases that I may be temped to make. I have a few photos to post - last one will be of the case hinge. Regards Chris

Field modification to projectiles to 'dum-dum specification' is a very dangerous practice for the person who discharges such a round. What often happens is that on firing the cartridge the lead core is expelled from the projectile and exits the barrel but the copper jacket is left behind up into the barrel away from the chamber as it's structure has been changed so that it can no longer grip the lead core as it is being slowed down by the barrel rifling while the core is not. As the lead core is now exposed at both ends of the projectile it recieves the full power of the powder charge but has no front jacket (previously cut away) to keep it together with the copper jacket. The next round may well chamber correctly but when fired will encounter the previous jacket as an obstruction with the result that the barrel will more than likely burst with possible catastrophic results for the person discharging the weapon. Hollow point and exposed tip projectiles have jackets specially designed not to separate from the lead core on firing. Hollow point projectiles such as those used by full bore target rifle shooters have the jacket drawn from the rear of the projectile hence the jacket and lead core always remain together. Stories of soldiers adapting their issue ammunition do exist but if true they usually they only carry out and practice such modifications once. Regards Chris

Hi Guys, Thanks for all the comments. I just checked th case under UV light and nothing glows here at all - just a dull gray response as per the white ribbon lines. The lining is now yellowing and the elastic ribbon restraints are starting to lose their elasticity which seems to imply some ageing in both materials. Nice items though and many thanks for the JWS info as I know very little about imperial EKII's and it's nice to hear that it is a nice one. Regards Chris

Final photo - Maker Mark.

Reverse.

Obverse.

In Case.

Hi Guys, I picked this up a few years ago now and never really looked into it much. Am I right in thinking that "JWS" EKII's are desirable - I'm more TR combat badges and note that JWS also made badges in this era. I ask this due to a comments made in this thread here: http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=20982 Regards Chris

I used to have a quite wide selection of TR badges and medals but have narrowed this down to a few Kreigsmarine, IAB/GAB/PAB and a few Iron Crosses. These though are top quality, excellent/mint items and follow Prospers Quality v's Quantity statement. Since the age of 14 I have collected British Army Staybrite cap badges and have about 400 different items. These were (and probably still are) considered rubbish by more established cap badge collectors but many are days becoming more expensive that their pre-staybrite variants. However, with the rise in most Queens Crown badges being faked and sold as 're-strikes' this market is very dodgy to say the least for a new collector to enter. Staybrites though are also starting to be faked and sold off by 'established' staybrite commentators so beware of fakes here too. It seems that anything collectible is now faked so you need to know your area very well and have good expert backup to help before purchase. Regards ...

... and a damn good reply it was too. Regards