J Temple-West

Reverse.

One of the harder Luftwaffe Ground Combat (Erdkampfabzeichen der Luftwaffe) badges to find. Marked ?R.K.? for the maker Rudolf Karneth & S?hne ? Gablonz. Obverse.

G.B. (Gustav Brehmer - Markneukirchen) maker mark.

Reverse.

A marked one for comparison.

An example of an Injection mould No.2, "A L/64" type with flat head rivet. If I had a choice of flat head or domed rivet... I know which one I'd go for.

As with most (if not all) late Assmann badges, the rivets used are of the flat head type.

Although I consider these injection moulded badges (mould 1-2 ?A? &?A L/64?) to be from original ?Assmann? dies, I think the argument for there being both wartime and post-war examples has credence. Based on a little logical thought, opinions given by some old collectors over the years and the couple examples seen in vet acquired groups, I have formulated a ?rule of thumb? that I stick to. Of course this is only a personal preference as to construction and finishing and is in no way definitive. So, my preference?. Original wartime badges should have the eagle gilded on both obverse and reverse and rivets should be of the flat head type. This is based on the couple I?ve seen in the aforementioned groups, and logically I consider the fact that when Assmann produced the last in the series of die-struck badges, in zinc, they were using flat head rivets which continued into the injection moulded series and will be found on the both No.1 - No.2 types. So where do domed rivets come into the equation? It?s my feeling that an answer will be hard to come by. IMO, it?s another one that comes down to personal preference. An example of an Assmann badge in zinc...being the last in the die-struck series. Obverse.

There are pieces of white 'Allach' out there that have had embellishments added, post war. Painted allach had the paint applied before glazing. Later additions will be on top of the glazing. Have a look at your piece and see if the paint is over or under the glaze. When it comes to "vergoldet" I believe that this means fire gilded gold and would have been nothing other than gold in colour.

Very nice, Stijn. Any connection with 'Gliders' ?

Looking good, Marc.

I echo that. It would seem that Brehmer used not only the large round cathplate but also this type and a square'ish one. They also used 'C' and '?' style catches. I wonder if they ground their round catchplates down to these different shapes for some reason, possibly to accommodate the different catch style?....something we'll have to have a look at.

Interesting! The piece looks good for a Karl Diebitsch #87 ...but, having not come across this colour scheme before, I have to ask...is the paint a later addition?

Ah ha!! So that's what's in the "Deumer" case! Nice set, CHE.

Nice, Wessel....very nice!

Hi conker If the one on the right has an eyelet at each corner it?s a field and vehicle identification flag (Feld und Fahrzeug Erkennungsflagge) Introduced in March 1940, the swastika flag replaced white painted Balkan crosses that were painted directly on all four sides of vehicles. In April 1941, swastika flags were replaced by flags bearing a black Balkan cross. The one on the left looks like the circular swastika piece that?s been removed from a large flag.

Hi dante This must be Major General Wolfgang von Wild. http://www.geocities.com/~orion47/WEHRMACH...D_WOLFGANG.html

A perfectly acceptable? fishing weight!

?Uniforms & Traditions of the Luftwaffe? Vol.1 Page?Ummmm? hang on a minute, Eric...turning pages.....page 534.

Reverse.

And another fully marked example....

Cheers guys... Full credit to John R Angolia for this one...

A little heavy handed with the finishing file on this one...otherwise, a nice original piece!

Comparison: original "CEJ" mark (left) bogus mark (right)

Hi Che Well, I have searched through some old files (being sure that I had a post-war marked Deumer... somewhere) and found this. A very nice example of an early Deumer Ob's badge with.....A bogus "CEJ" mark. I hope this will help in solving your riddle.