Scowen

Robert, Thanks for posting your badge, it looks like one of the smaller lapel size ones, is it? About half of mine are unmarked the rest are C. Poellath, except for the small shield shaped ones in the group above which are Klammer. I was told along time ago to avoid any marked 'A.G. & Co. M?nchen' as a large number of these appeared with one particular German dealer in the 1970's. It not clear if they were unfinished period ones out of the woodwork or fakes, but the gold is never quite right on them & most are a bronze colour. I have about 25 different ones of these in various sizes & grade (Gold, Silver & Bronze) now. The finish doesn't last very well on them & sometimes the only way to see what grade they are is to look at the pin plate. They weren't made to last just for the competition really, which is strange considering the quality of the enamelling as you pointed out. Yes, the pins are quite pronounced on them, quite often they are pushed flat against the badge, I guess because they bashed so earily. Here's a nice silver I have, the image doesn't do it justice, it's stunning in hand. Cheers Don

An excellent & rare picture........ Thanks for showing it to us. Cheers Don

The individual four badges. They were all gilded originally, but as with the nature of zinc, are losing it, there are traces in the crevices of each badge.

Here you go, sorry about the poor quality, had trouble getting the light, been very dull here the last couple of days. From what I understand, these cases came with the 3yr Master Shooter badge (the enamelled one seen in an earlier picture) with spaces for the 3 other year badges (1941, '42 & '43). However as this guy also won the 4yr clasp I keep the 4 seperate badges ('41-'44 with clasp) in it & keep the 3yr seperately. Cheers Don

Give me a couple of days as I'll have to dig it out. Cheers Don

Posted on behalf of Robert as the size is just over the limit. Cheers Don

Here's a grouping I picked up a while back. It contains the Gau Master Shooter Badges for combined Rifle, Small Calibre & Pistole for 1941 - 1944, plus the 3yr Master shooter badge with it's Erenkarte & the 4yr Master Shooter Clasp attached to the 1944 badge. This is usually seen attached to the 3yr badge. Cheers Don

Anyone here collect or have any of the Austrian shooting achievement badges? I have quite a few now, I'll post an old scan I took a while back, but I do have quite a few more now. If anyone wants to see any detailed images of any just ask. Cheers Don

Very nice James. How many Party badges do you have now? Cheers Don

Posting too much!! Please keep it up my friend, we need more input....... Please do post the book, is there a membership number in the book anywhere? It's not something I'd thought about until Bob mentioned it. As to the maker marks, the "S" in a circle or oval is well known for this badge, but I don't as yet know who it actually was. I can't quite make out the other, what letters are they? Cheers Don

Reverse

Close up

Open

I thought I'd post my lignite mining 25yr service stickpin here as well rather than start a fresh thread. Hope that you don't mind This one came in a little book style case Cheers Don

Reverse

Just realised that I hadn't posted mine , M1/102 , Frank & Reif, Stuttgart. Cheers Don

Nice badge, I haven't got one of these yet.... I personally wouldn't be worried on an early badge like this one. Maybe on a later RZM piece or one with the guides made into it. It may be particular to the maker, to discover that we'd have to look at other examples of their work. Maybe some other members may like to post their opinions or badges (either by this maker or this design) if they have them? Cheers Don

Sorry Robert, we must have been posting at the same time as I missed your second comment. Yes, very much so. It's the first thing to look for. However, there are one or two other areas to check for if you look closely . Cheers Don

Welcome to the forum It's nice to see that someone else has one of these rare pins. Thanks for showing it. Cheers Don

And very nice too lucky boy! Cheers Don

Thanks Paul, indeed they are & were rare at the time. For example, the Rhineland cross above is known to have only been awarded 84 times....... Of course, as with any award more were made than awarded. Cheers Don

A different angle

Here's another. The Baden 25yr Service bar or spange with it's case. Cheers Don

Marcus, I didn't realise that the difference between these two wasn't widely known. Do you have images of the other variations including the packet? If so perhaps you would be kind enough to post them here as it could be a nice addition to the thread. Cheers Don

That sure is a beauty John, congratulations mate. Cheers Don