Heer Army Para by Juncker

[Stan]

I bought this badge many years ago and have recently read that these 2nd pattern juncker badges should be un-marked and that the ones as shown are 1960 copies. Well I was certainly collecting during the 1960's and didn't come across too many of these. The rivets certainly look like Juncker.

Opinons welcome.

Stan

[PKeating]

I am afraid that this is a type of fake first seen in the late 1960s and still offered as original by some dealers. These have caught a lot of people out. Some Type 2 aluminium Army Para Badges bore C E Juncker's stamp on the reverse of the diving eagle but it was quite different to this stamp, which is more like the stamp seen on some wartime Luftwaffe badges. Here's an extract from an article I wrote a while ago:

Note the ?ghostbusters? or ?Caspar the Friendly Ghost? silhouette of the Wehrmacht eagle when viewed from the back. Other points to note include the Question Mark hook rather than the correct C form hook and the odd-looking gold finish applied over some kind of black primer, used presumably to fill in the blowholes in the cast aluminium wreath, which is not even cast from an original. These fakes are usually but not always marked with a fake and incorrect mid-war C E Juncker hallmark when, in fact, only three Juncker-marked Type 2 badges are known to exist. They have caught out many collectors and continue to be offered as original by dealers.

The diving eagles appear to be well struck and are probably from a stock of 1957-pattern denazified Fallschirmsch?tzdenabzeichen but the wreaths are, as I said, cast. Have a look at how this fake compares to a known, original Type 2 aluminium badge.

PK

[PKeating]

Here is another of these fakes, offered as original by a British dealer, side by side with a genuine 1957-pattern badge. The diving eagles are, as you can see, similar though not identical. The comparison supports the contention that the diving eagles on the type of fake in question were sourced from a firm producing 1957-pattern badges. This image came from an article by the dealer in question and I am posting it here under Fair Use provisions.

PK

Edited April 4, 2007 by PKeating

[PKeating]

And here is an original Type 2 FSA (Heer). This is the Type 2b with the thicker wreath but struck on the same dies as the Type 2a and, incidentally, the 1943/1944 badges in feinzink.

PK

Edited April 5, 2007 by PKeating

[PKeating]

Incidentally, the above Type 2b badge is for sale. See "Original Genuine Sales" elsewhere on this website. It is not advertised anywhere else.

PK

[mmiller]

Stan,

I agree with Prosper. The finish on your example is not what the Juncker should look like. I am posting the 2b (with the thick wreath) side-by-side with a '43 zinker. As is readilly apparent, the strike is the same. Only one die existed. No 'variants' exist with this badge.

Regards,

Mark

Edited April 6, 2007 by mmiller

[PKeating]

That 43/44 badge is in nice condition, which attests to the quality of C E Juncker badges in general. Even though the finish is duller than that of the aluminium badges, although the eagles appear to have been frosted, the crispness of the strikings is evident.

PK

[mmiller]

Funny that they didn't restrike the zinker sooner. It wasn't like they had to remake the Die! If they would have, lots of the Aluminium badges we collect might not have so many repaired catches and modified hinges.

I really like the reverse of this '43. A textbook (I know we hate that word!!!) example of 'bubbling' beneath the finish.

Mark

That 43/44 badge is in nice condition, which attests to the quality of C E Juncker badges in general. Even though the finish is duller than that of the aluminium badges, although the eagles appear to have been frosted, the crispness of the strikings is evident.

PK

Edited April 8, 2007 by mmiller

[andyg]

Nice awards.Heres my type 2a alu.

[andyg]

rear

[andyg]

side

[andyg]

another side

[PKeating]

Very nice, worn example with what seems to be the typical kind of period repair to the hook. The majority of aluminium badges have one of more repairs as their recipients continued wearing them as a mark of pride in their former membership of the Fallschirm-Infanterie-Kompanie/Bataillon and replacements were hard to come by. It is relatively rare to find these badges with their fragile aluminium hooks intact.

PK

[PKeating]

Here is Richard Heidrich in Italy in 1944.

[PKeating]

Same pose but six years earlier, as CO of the Fallschirm-Infanterie-Btl.

[andyg]

Nice phots PK,especially in the old army kit!! The catch on my apb is still intact,as you say seen many repaired due to their light construction.

[Dave B]

Sorry about hijacking this thread but I wonder if I could get an opinon on this Heer Para?

[PKeating]

110% original 1943/44 badge in feinzink by C E Juncker, Dave. Regarding the hook on Andy's badge, it must a trick of the light when one looks at the obverse of the wreath. I tend to presume that these badges are repaired! There are some nice badges appearing here.

PK

[Dave B]

110% original 1943/44 badge in feinzink by C E Juncker, Dave. Regarding the hook on Andy's badge, it must a trick of the light when one looks at the obverse of the wreath. I tend to presume that these badges are repaired! There are some nice badges appearing here.

PK

Thanks Prosper mate

Dave