Heer Army Parachutist Badge

[PKeating]

Hallo Wayne,

The Type 3 Army Para Badge, in other words, the 1943/44 feinzink issue, is as rare as the prewar Type 2 aluminium badge. They were struck on the same dies by C E Juncker. There are a few examples of genuine Type 2 aluminium badges bearing the same maker's mark as that found on all of the Type 1 badges but they are very rare indeed. The same dies were used for the wreaths in 1937/38 and again in 1943/44 but there were substantial differences between the Type 1 and Type 2 badges in terms of hand-finishing. At some point, also, during Type 2 production, the wreaths were made thicker, clearly by the addition of a shim. The point is that the surface detailing imparted by the dies never changed so anything differing in this respect from known original badges by C E Juncker is highly unlikely to be genuine. The same dies were also used for the Type 2 and Type 3 diving eagles. Fakers have come quite close but never quite close enough, fortunately, so the same remarks apply. To date, there are no serious fakes of the Type 1 badge. I would illustrate my points but it is hard to get the images below the 60kb limit without losing important detail with the software I use, which is pro level Mac but here's a shot of the three basic types.

PK