It's reasonably rare and real!

[Bob Hunter]

I am not a big time Imperial Aviation collector but I do like a badge here and there to dress up a medal or ribbon bar display.

I have been looking for a Prussian Air Gunner for some time and thanks to Stogieman and his network I now have one in nickel silver, unmarked and the maker is unknown at this point.

I'm delighted because it has been a tough for me to find a "right" one.

[Bob Hunter]

reverse

[Blitz]

Good going Bob! Are there any numbers available as to how many of these were awarded during ww1?

[Bob Hunter]

Not that I know of but I've asked Stogieman to add what he can. As I understand it the badge was awarded during 1918 and since the German Air Service had about an 80% casualty rate there could not have been a large number of post war private purchases.

[Stogieman]

I'm not aware of any specific numbers available for the actual awards. I would estimate, given the very late institution of the badge, less than a 1000 actual awards. 99% of the private-purchase pieces are most likely post-war, with a very few by Juncker pre-1919 still bearing the Imperial Crescent Moon and 800 marks. But even that is just an educated guess. There's simply no available research material/data on this the rarest of the Imperial German flight badges.

[Blitz]

Ok, thanks guys. I thought that might be the case, but when i get curious, I have to ask..