Grant Broadhurst

Hi Dan ,

This isn't a 1957 piece it,s a postwar fire award from the state of Baden i think , i,m sure someone will correct me if i,m wrong .

The fire awards are tough to find as 1957,s and seller,s usually want top dollar for them , they look exactly like their WW2 brother,s except they have the disc with the swastika missing in the centre .

Here is the first class :

This looks like a later issue piece with the thick rim around the back , the wound badge,s are still fairly easy to find so you shouldn't have a problem !

Looks like a nice early one Dan

Does it have a maker mark ?

Thanks for showing her here Dan ,

I have one of these beauties but i need a piece of ribbon for her

Personally i think this is one award that looks better as a 1957 piece as the eagle,s on the third reich one,s look awful to me !

Hi Dan ,

Yes i got told the same that 1957,s were crap and not to bother with them . Then i think they realised there were really nice early pieces made to the same high standards as wartime pieces then everyone started taking an interest especially the knights cross .

As for the flak badge , it,s a Luftwaffe flak that has not had the eagle attached you can tell by the 2 small bumps at the top of the wreath .

I,m not sure it,s a 1957 though looks like a late war zinc made one to me ?

Thanks David ,

I was hoping one of the third reich guys would be able to put us straight on this , i,m sure i,ve read somewhere that you couldn't wear duplicate awards .

It was to do with the army para guys having to hand in their badges when they became luftwaffe and getting the luftwaffe para badge , also read somewhere that a army guy with the general assault when he moved to a luftwaffe field division had to swap it for a ground assault badge .

Hi ,

The EK,s are both nice early pieces the imperial EK1 being quite tough to find and the WW2 EK1 has the nice coke bottle pin .

The Bar is one of the last one,s to be made , it has the last of 3 pin types i,ve found on these .

I,ll start a thread on these when i unpack my 1957,s and show you what i mean .

The very early bars were burnished and frosted with a very delicate pin attachment , then the second type came out with a very thick and long pin which was longer than the bar .

Lastly came the bar you have shown above with the modern badge type pin often found today , with what looks like the circle mark at the bottom which indicate,s it was made by S & L .

The stickpin group is a nice unusual combination with the navy clasp and lappland shield together .

Thanks for showing !

Grant

Hello David ,

Great catch , both look like early versions .

The aux cruiser has a nice toned globe which is a good indicator as the later ones are not even lightly washed with black to make the details stand out .

The shiled is a nice chocolate brown one when they actually painted them instead of just sending them out in their raw copper coloured state .

Hi Ed ,

you,ll have to forgive me as i am completly new to east german awards , is the hero of work a rare award if so approx. how many were issued ?

From the front it is similar to the last staybright horrors that were made but the back gives it away , no 1957 EK1,s have a pin assembly as bad as that !

To be fair the seller does state it,s a copy .

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1957-Iron-Cross-1st-...1QQcmdZViewItem

Hello Gordon

These are very nice examples. Thanks for showing them. It is it possible to tell early shields from later or even 'collectors produced' items ?

Hi Dave ,

i hope you and Gordon don't mind me butting in on this but having seen a few shields is that you can only really go off the finish , the early cholm has a frosted finish to it and is almost matt where as the later one,s are just silver . Regarding the Krim and kuban the nice early one,s are a lovely chocolate brown colour and the later one,s are almost copper in colour . If i remember rightly their is not much difference round the back regarding the pins and their position etc .

Cheers

Grant

Grant, I believe you are correct.

Unfortunately the manufacturers of "57" awards were a bit over enthusiastic in what they produced, even including "57" awards which never existed in wartime ( i.e. the U-Boot Frontspange in Gold etc)

Ah so that would account for the other oddities like the luft sea battle badge and the 200 class panzer , general assault and ground combat badges !

Hello Grant

Is it possible that this person served in both the army and the airforce at some point in his career ? It is known that some service personel did move from the army to the airforce and vise versa.

Hi Dave ,

Yes personnel did move from Army to Airforce and visa versa but if you won a flak in the army and transferred to the airforce and won the flak again wasn't there a rule that you could only wear the airforce one ?

It,s just that i,ve never seen a picture of a man wearing both so i,m assuming that the same would apply postwar , it,s like a para wearing the army and luftwaffe para badge,s isn't it ?

#9 is a 1997 Oder Flood Medal. I have no idea what the "5" is supposed to mean. Perhaps whoever made this bar is using it as a substitute for an unofficial veteran's association medal.

Thanks for the input Dave , yes the 5 has me confused as well !

although i,m sure i,ve seen it on something before i just can't recall at the moment .

Thanks very much for showing your 57,s Dave !

I especially like the blockade breaker it has nice detail and patina to it , looks like an early one on first impressions .

Hi ,

Seen this lovely on Eban but i,m sure a man can't be awarded both flak badges can he ????

Also what,s ribbon 9 ?

Cheers Darrell,

Is it true that the lappland was never officially sanctioned as a 1957 but a company making the shields ( i presume it was S & L ) made this anyway ?

Hi Gordon ,

Is that 50 class general assault in your collection ?

I,m having sleepless nights trying to track down a 25 and 50 general assault and can't figure out why they are so rare , is it a possibility that the vast majority were bought by vets ?

anyway thanks for showing these !

Very nice gordon thanks for showing !

Anybody got a nice lappland ?

The cased balloon observer is very nice .

It looks like a general case to house a 57 badge and it,s miniature as i have seen this case holding an Aux cruiser badge and an obsever badge.

great idea, grant!

i'll add the pieces i have, and hope

that there will be some great pieces

placed here.

good luck!

joe

Looking forward to seeing the pieces you guys have , i,ll post some of my own when i get time .

Hi Ed ,

To be honest i,m not sure !

I should think both east and west and the now united federal german awards would be welcome on this forum .

I focus on 1957 west german awards and i,m starting to spread into federal german awards but i know that east german awards have their own fans .

They were all a result of germany being split up after the war and all have their places in her history .

I have no problem with east german awards being shown here but i,m not the boss so i,ll leave that to the bigger boys to decide !

Hi darrell ,

Are you lucky enough to have a post war photo of Lang ?

Hi All ,

I would firstly just like to say a big thank you to Nick the Chairman for giving post war German awards a chance here on this excellent website .

I,m looking forward to seeing the excellent 1957 awards you guys have and posting pictures of my own awards .

Hopefully this will become a regular thing and we can all learn a little more about this grey area of Germany,s post war awards , East and West !!

Cheers !!

That,s another Beauty Darrell !

When i get a minute i,ll post my early RK .