Kriegsmarine Strange 5-in-box U-Boat badge

[panzervii]

Please give me your assessment of this U-Boat Badge. It is stamped zinc with a narrow tapered non-magnetic pin. The thick wire catch is soldered to a pedestal platform. There is what appears to be a small italic numeral "5" in a square on the reverse.

I'm having difficulty posting images directly, but a member has been kind enough to offer to post them for me. Please be patient until they appear. Thank you for any opinions on this piece!

[Gordon Williamson]

Interesting piece. The badge has all the attributes you'd expect to see on a period made badge by Funcke & Bruninghaus with the bonus of the rarer cut out swastika.

The retaining clip style is known from original F&B badges and the pin style pretty much matches the wide type used by F&B.

The only wierd thing is the "5" maker mark. That being said, I have had a perfectly original EK1 Spange with the "5" mark. I suppose the question is, - Is it a number 5, or is it a letter S. Is it a maker mark or is it an inspection stamp , something found on several other KM badges.

A strange one, and one that many people might shy away from, but I wouldn't be quite ready to write it of off as fake yet. The basic badge looks sound and even seems to have the distinctive flaw on one of the wing feathers that is a "fingerprint" of this F&B style badge.

[panzervii]

To add to the mystery, I saw another pretty good-looking U-Boat badge at the recent "Show of Shows' militaria show in Louisville, Kentucky, USA, that also had a 5-in-box stamped on the reverse. However, the other badge had a larger numeral and the "box" was open at the four corners. The vendor admitted the badge was "controversial" for having the mark.

[Gordon Williamson]

Checking through my files I discovered images I had of an Auxiliary Cruiser badge with this same mark.

Unfortunately it was also a "debatable" piece with a horizontal pin and top hook, features not yet encountered on any verified original Auxiliary Cruiser badges.

So, it looks like this U-Boat badge would have to remain in the "not sure" category for now, but its certainly one that, if I owned it, I would be in no hurry to discard.

The Spange I mentioned with the "5" mark was slightly different as the mark was a normal stamp, without a border, and a definite numeral 5.

[Martin W]

Checking through my files I discovered images I had of an Auxiliary Cruiser badge with this same mark.

Hi Gordon,

for interests sake,and for my own personal curiosity, could you post images of the AC badge?

Much appreciated,Martin.