fischer

Here is one from my collection and is made from Neusilber. This variant is the largest of the known Luftwaffe Flak badges and has the typical Gablonz style ball hinge hardware.

The Infantry Assault Badge is a cast fake patterned after the injection molded Assmann, Lüdenscheid examples. The very soft, distorted obverse details, strange looking base material, does not have the cast in place integral catch and the RZM marking is incorrect. No Infantry Assault Badge was ever marked "RZM". Here is an original from my collection to compare. Best Regards, fischer

Hello Popaj5, This one is a bronze grade Karl Wurster PAB. Here is one I have to compare.

Hello JFarr29, Unfortunately, this example is a fake and most likely made for the reenactor market. In looking at the obverse wreath leaf vein pattern/head sculpt...I would say this one is "loosely" patterned after this zinc hollow BH Mayer/O. Schickle variant; the rest is fantasy.

Hello, The ISA on the left is an 4-vein unmarked Sohni Heubach & Co. and is made of zinc with a broken catch. The one on the right is attributed to the firm of Otto Schickle and is made of tombak. The Schickle is an early war variant with the hollow S.H.u.Co being produced later in 1943-44. Here are two from my collection to compare. Best Regards, fischer

Very nice collection! I also collect the miniatures...only mine are IAB mini's.

Hello Steve, Your IAB is an original unmarked Franke & Co., Lüdenscheid or FCL for short. As mentioned, the sloppy solder on the catch area is a known attribute of this maker. Here's one I have to compare. Best Regards, fischer

Hello Bill, Your nice IAB is a Richard Simm & Söhne and is from the Gablonz area...which is famous for the use of the Ball Hinge. Your example is the 5-vein variant bronze grade. Here is one I have to compare. Congrats on the very nice group! Best Regards, fischer

I also agree...a very nice Gablonz made Flak award. These are very high quality and probably my favorite Luft Flak. Here is one I have to compare. Best Regards, fischer

I agree with Tom...This one is a well known fake. Here is an original Wilhelm Hobacher from my collection. Best Regards, fischer

Here are the Berg & Nolte - Infantry Assault Badges. Sheet Metal Hinge Variant Block Hinge Variant Sheet Metal Hinge "Inserted" Variant Hollow Variant

Hello This example is a worn Black VMA. Silver and Gold examples were only produced as solids.

I pretty much focused on one award for my collection....I guess I'm a hoarder with OCD. ?

Hello Looks to be a good BHMeyer/O. Schickle attributed IAB made of zinc. I would say it's a silver grade. Your example has the round wire stock catch. This variant can also be found with the flat stock cut out catch as my example shows. Here's mine to compare. Best Regards, fischer

Hello I do like the 57 Mini-chain group...sorry I cannot help with the photo. Here is one of my 57 mini-chains. Best Regards, fischer

Can you post a pic of the reverse?

Hello Concerning your IAB...your intuition is correct and this one is a fake often found on the re-enactor sites. It is patterned after the ShuCo / ShuCo Design family of IAB's and has been aged to give it that "been there" look. Here is what they look like prior to the aging technique. Best Regards, fischer

Hello The pictures are not very good but, this one appears to be an original unmarked E. Ferd Wiedmann Design. The hardware set up is not encountered often consisting of the barrel hinge and rectangular shaped catch plate. Here is my example to compare. Best Regards, fischer

Hello Markus The infantry Assault Badge is attributed to the maker Friedrich Linden, Lüdenscheid. This hollow is one of two zinc based hollows in the FLL line of IAB's. It is also considered the later of the two hollow zinc examples; progression has been determined by the hardware used on this IAB. In looking at the catch, it was specifically made for a zinc solid having a hole for a type of "rivet / crimp" attachment method. One can see this catch was designed for a solid and not this hollow. Because of this, the argument can be made that this hollow must have followed the solid zinc examples using this hardware. Here is a solid I have to compare. The IAB Doc is the most commonly encountered but it has nice stamps and is in good condition. Best Regards, fischer

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