RichardT

Martin, I think it may be a combination of both hammering and filing. I can see file marking on the front of the swastika, although not really visable in the photo and if you look at the reverse side of the swastika you can see a bit of damage which may have been caused by it sitting on an anvil of some sort while some one attempted to flatten out the swastika highlights.

Richard

Another really great group Erik.

Richard

The pin catch looks like it was replaced at some time , IMO it looks like it was damaged and repaired or it was lost and this is a soldered on replacement ?

Best Regards,

Joe

It's just the glare in the photo Joe. It's never been replaced and the only damage to the pin catch was that it was squashed flat holding the pin down. In fact when I purchased it, I never even noticed that it was a marked badge. It wasn't until I got it home and pried the catch up a little so that the pin was free that I noticed the maker's mark.

Richard

reverse with maker's mark:

reverse side:

I picked up a beautiful vaulted Tombac RK Minesweeper Badge with probably 95% finish remaining. Unfortunately it's been de-nazified with the details of the swastika having been filed down. It was still too nice a badge to pass on as the price was reasonable.

Richard

Richard, you are absolutely correct;

Let's say the likelihood of a Herman Z having been a crewmember of U96 is very slim.

Another problem is that in German Hermann is always spelled with two n at the end but there again - perhaps he run out of real-estate and had to shorten his name to one n.

Hardy

No disagreement here Hardy.

Richard

Bison - there is no one by the Name of Herman Z listed as a crew member of U96.

http://ubootwaffe.net/crews/crews.cgi?surn...=;year=;bquery=

Hardy

Hardy, be mindful the "ubootwaffe's" crew lists are not complete so there may or may not have been a Herman Z who once served on U-96.

Richard

Absolutely great albums and pictures Erik and what can be said about the gift packages other than that they are "WOW".

Richard

WOW!

Richard

Nice pair of books Mike.

Richard

Thanks for the reply Gordon. You were one step ahead of me. After days of trying to figure it out I went back to my Sutterlinscrift and then it dawned on me who it was.

Richard

Ian, and any other takers, you did such a good job with the last one, any idea on this one? I've seen it on a number of EK and Minesweeper documents. The Commander of the Aegean in late 1943 was Werner Lange in the reference material that I've been through, but who is this? Is it coincidental that both of these are in December 1943? Was Lange away and some one else filling in?

Richard

As always Ian, thanks for your help.

Richard

Can any one tell me the owner of this signature? Thanks.

Richard

Eric, what a great group.

Richard

Thanks, I'm gonna haveto pick that book up.

Two of the best books on Canadian Airborne Insignia are as follows:

The Badges and Insignia of the Canadian Airborne Forces by Major Louis E. Grimshaw, published in 1981

Canadian Airborne Insignia 1942 - Present by Thomas Clark and Harry Pugh, published in 1994, ISBN No. 0-9633231-3-X

Hope this helps.

Richard

Martin is correct, the reverse will tell you right away. If its Zinc, then the retaining hook will be soldered to a small disc rather than directly to the reverse of the badge as with Tombak pieces.

Martin and Gordon thanks. It is tombak then as the retaining hook is soldered directly to the badge (ie no disc). I learned something new again today.

Richard

Yet another Schwerin Blockade Breaker with burnished swastika, chain and wing hilites. I'm not 100% certain that it's zinc but there is some corrosion on back in the area of the pin hinge leading me to believe that it's zinc. Don't have a scale to weigh it or a weight for comparison to be more certain.

Richard

A Bacqueville Coastal Artillery badge with bad finish. The camera flash actually enhances the appearance of the remaining finish in this case.

Richard

An example of how bad the Bacqueville badges are after the gilting and other finish has deteriorated can be seen on this Aux. Cruiser badge.

Richard

My Bacqueville Auxiliary Cruiser, gilding pretty much intact apart from some rubbing to the longship's sail

Nice Cruiser Gordon. Mine has only 5-10% gilding left.

Richard

My 1st Pattern Bacqueville E-boat with most of finish still intact. Bacqueville badges didn't seem to retain their finishes very well so this is a nice one.

Richard

My 2nd Pattern E-boat, by Souval, with most finish still intact. Sorry picture is a bit "glarey".

Richard

My FLL Coastal Artillery, not mint but very nice.

Richard