J Temple-West

Sorry Peter.. missed this one. Your comments are valid and I would have to agree with you on this one.

Taken quite a few years ago... A few added since then, but other things took over and edged weapons went to the bottom of the list.

1st & wartime patterns.

A period postcard showing the Juncker 1st pattern..

Comparison between Juncker and Assmann.

Maker mark.

Reverse..

When these 1st pattern badges were first catalogued, the general consensus was that the badge, although being accepted as ?Juncker?, was most likely collaboration between the factories of ?Juncker? and ?Assmann?, having the ?Assmann? eagle and the 1st pattern ?Juncker? wreath. On closer inspection, however, the differences can be clearly seen, giving us a totally ?Juncker? product. Instituted on the 5th November 1936 and detailed in Luftwaffe orders (Verordnungsblatt) on the 16th November ?36, under order # 475610612, these particular badges would have been the first production run for the newly formed Paratrooper regiments. The similarity between Juncker & Assmann eagles is quite remarkable, but when you consider that they were the foremost produces of Luftwaffe qualification badges and that they were both working from designer?s technical drawings, it?s not surprising. Assmann, although known for producing a heavier wartime wreath, continued to use the same style of eagle, from their 1st pattern, through to late war zinc examples. Juncker, on the other hand, perhaps released from the constraints of the initial design requirements, changed their dies a little more often, producing both heavier wreaths and eagles for their wartime examples. This example is nicely marked with the maker?s name, has a field repaired catch and would have to be described as slightly ?battle weary? ? Still, a rarely seen piece from the early days.

A very nice photo of "die Mutter die Kompanie", G. I wonder if there was a special pocket made for the report book they all carried?

Thanks G.. I'll pass on the bad news.

view 5.

view 4.

view 3.

Found in this leather case.

Reverse.

Just received these pix from a collector who has asked for some opinions.. I've sent him the link to the site and hopefully he'll fill us in on the story behind the piece.

Well, if it?s darts?.You definitely score 180. Those GWL?s are absolutely top draw, Larry. More, more...

To save a little time...I'll use an existing pic that shows the gold 9th grade.

Very nicely displayed, Bill... Luftwaffe Marksmanship Lanyards. On the 30th September 1936, an order (LV36, No 1447) was issued for a new system of marksmanship awards, these to replace the existing army pattern awards which were in the form of 8cm long aluminium Tresse stripes that were placed on the lower left sleeve. The new lanyards (Sch?tzenschnur) came in twelve grades. Grade 1: A blue-grey silk cord, interwoven with aluminium threads and dark oxidized shield. Grades 2-4: as above, with the addition of 1-3 dark oxidised acorns. Grade 5: Cord with aluminium threads interwoven with blue-grey silk and bright aluminium shield. Grades 6-8: as above, with the addition of 1-3 bright acorns. Grade 9: Cord of blue-grey silk, interwoven with dark gold coloured thread and gold shield. Grades 10-12: As above, with the addition of 1-3 gold acorns.

Reverse..

Just a couple from me..

Hi Larry, Any chance of posting some larger pix? Going on the pix we have, it appears to be a classic piece. B&NL only produced Para badges with zinc wreaths, this confirmed by the reverse setup, recessed catch and small hinge. However, examples can be found with eagles in gilded tombak and yours may well be one of those.

Maker mark.

Reverse.

Here's one that landed on the doorstep recently.. An early wartime tombak piece. The short barrel hinge is of the type found on pre-war 1st pattern badges. This example has the owner's name and number scratched on the reverse of the eagle.. ' W Hirte 97'