Luftwaffe Early Unmarked Flak badge.

[J Temple-West]

Although unmarked, this early nickel silver (known as the "Ball hinge") flak badge has the reverse setup of the maker... Adolf Scholze, Grunwald.

My thanks to Kurt for passing it on to me.

[J Temple-West]

Reverse.

[Reini]

You're very welcome! Glad you like it!

Best

Kurt

[ERIC]

Hey John,

Great Flak! On all of this style Flak Badge, I've never come across a maker mark of any kind whatsoever - with the exception of this example that I acquired awhile back. A lieferant #5 is found smack dab in the middle of the 88's reverse. I've never seen another one like it. The only difference that I see between it and your example is this marking, and a difference in the catch style - mine has a round stock catch. Is there any possible way to connect the "5" to Scholze??

ERIC

[attachmentid=10008]

[Reini]

Nice! I have seen some authentic badges with postwar maker marks , but this one has the same toning as the rest of the badge , which leads me to believe it was applied at the time of manufacture. It that one extremely heavy , as well? This was easily the heaviest Luftwaffe badge I've handled. The number '5' is an interesting lead. Maybe we can follow it somewhere.

Best

Kurt

[J Temple-West]

Very interesting, Eric...

Number 5, as I'm sure you'll know, is for the maker 'Hermann Wernstein Jena-Lobstedt'.. As to why we find this 'flak' marked with the 'Wernstein' # instead of the normal 'W', in one form or another, logo (found on all Wernstein badges) has me stumped...

The maker # for 'Adolf Scholze' is 95...perhaps the person who stamped this particular badge forgot to stamp the nine??

Sorry, not much help on this one.

[Guest Darrell]

Very interesting, Eric...

Number 5, as I'm sure you'll know, is for the maker 'Hermann Wernstein Jena-Lobstedt'..  As to why we find this 'flak' marked with the 'Wernstein' # instead of the normal 'W', in one form or another, logo (found on all Wernstein badges) has me stumped...

The maker # for 'Adolf Scholze' is 95...perhaps the person who stamped this particular badge forgot to stamp the nine?? 

Sorry, not much help on this one. 

←

I wonder if the makers Adolf Scholze and Herman Wernstein collaborated with parts during the war?

[J Temple-West]

Hi D,

You could very well be right... 'Wernstein' are known for being a mid to late war producer of zinc flaks. Perhaps they bought in a certain amount of buntmetal pieces from ' Scholze' early on in the proceedings, marked them and sold them on.

Of course, it could have just as easily been post war marked to up the value on an unmarked piece, something that was done quite a lot.

It certainly is an enigma.

[Bob Hunter]

The early ball hinged variety gets my vote for best quality early flak badge.

[Peter J]

John, could you please post an image of the Wernstein logo you're refering to, so I know what we are talking about.

KR

Peter

Very interesting, Eric...

Number 5, as I'm sure you'll know, is for the maker 'Hermann Wernstein Jena-Lobstedt'..  As to why we find this 'flak' marked with the 'Wernstein' # instead of the normal 'W', in one form or another, logo (found on all Wernstein badges) has me stumped...

The maker # for 'Adolf Scholze' is 95...perhaps the person who stamped this particular badge forgot to stamp the nine?? 

Sorry, not much help on this one. 

←

[Guest Brian von Etzel]

Great to see that 5 on the flak badge! That's a new one for me. Like it.

[J Temple-West]

Here you go, Peter.

Maker mark for the company of 'Hermann Wernstein Jena-Lobstedt'.

[Peter J]

Thanks John, here's a shot of the very same.

P.s. I've sent you a pm d.s.

KR

Peter

[Flak88]

The Badge with the 5 marking is an Adolf Scholze. The 5 is either a distributor's marking or added later to enhance the value.

Marc

Edited October 25, 2005 by Flak88