Kriegsmarine Kriegsmarine Badges

[Gordon Williamson]

My other main passion lies with Kriegsmarine material, especially U-Boat Badges. Anyone else into KM material ? I see John Temple-West is here so we have at least one advanced collector of Luftwaffe pieces too and I'm sure others will come along.

As for KM badges, one of my favourites is the Auxiliary Cruiser, and this one an early Tombak piece, but one which has definitely "been there" was picked up from EBay for peanuts.

[Laurence Strong]

I don't have any War badges at the momment, just Trade/Rank Badges

[Guest Darrell]

Hi Gordon,

KM Badges were some of the first I started to collect. Here is my humble few. They are definitely not mint, but have that "Been There" look:

A few LW are in the mix too.

[Gordon Williamson]

Your Aux Cruiser looks like too. Who is the maker ?

[Guest Darrell]

Your Aux Cruiser looks like too. Who is the maker ?

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It's an unmarked needle variety. Zincer.

[Gordon Williamson]

Gr?ner's standard work identifies the following vessels as "Hilfskreuzer"

HSK 1 Orion Crew 372

HSK 2 Atlantis Crew 346

HSK 3 Widder Crew 359

HSK 4 Thor Crew 341

HSK 5 Pinguin Crew 415

HSK 6 Stier Crew 321

HSK 7 Komet Crew 265

HSK 8 Kormoran Crew 393

HSK 9 Michel Crew 395

HSK 10 Coronel Crew 347

A total of 3554. Even allowing for some crew changes and rotation of various crew members on/off these ships, thats a very low number and suggests the Aux Cruiser Badge could be rarer in award terms than the Knight's Cross, and certainly a lot rarer than the German Cross in Gold.

Edited April 2, 2005 by Gordon Williamson

[Jim Baker]

Oh, you gentlemen got my attention with the Aux. Cruiser badges. I think this is the most attractive of the KM badges.

I might be interested into venturing back into badges with some help. I got burned so badly in my early years I just gave up on them.

Any suggestions for reference in the area of badges??

[Dave B]

As this thread is about KM badges,I wouldn't mind some opinions on this coastal artillery badge.Its a zinker with a crimped in hinge.

Cheers

Dave

[Dave B]

reverse

[Guest Darrell]

Dave,

There is a match in Tucker / Previtera's "German Combat Badges of the Third Reich" Page 410-411. In that example it is a Maker Marked piece attributed to Hermann Aurich (HA) :food-smiley-004:

P.S. It is also a Zincer ...

Edited April 2, 2005 by Darrell

[Dave B]

Dave,

There is a match in Tucker / Previtera's "German Combat Badges of the Third Reich" Page 410-411. In that example it is a Maker Marked piece attributed to Hermann Aurich (HA)  :food-smiley-004:

P.S. It is also a Zincer ...

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That's exactly what I thought,I have been looking at the book and thought they looked alike!

Cheers

Dave

[Jim Baker]

Darrell and Dave,

Where can I get a copy of that book???

There are two of them aren't there???

[Dave B]

Darrell and Dave,

Where can I get a copy of that book???

There are two of them aren't there???

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I don't know where you can get it in the US Jim mate but it shouldn't be too difficult.

I don't think the other book to go with this one is out yet,I think it covers Luftwaffe awards etc.

Dave

Edited April 2, 2005 by Dave B

[Guest Darrell]

Jim,

You can get it here. Warning .. it is EXPENSIVE

BUT .. great pictures and extreme closeups of details. There are a few fakes in it .. but pretty decent.

http://winidorepress.com/books/German_Comb...s/synopsis.html

Make sure you click on the .pdf format for a quick look at a couple of typical pages in it.

[Jim Baker]

Thanks D.

God, you guys are going to have me spending more money. I told myself I'd stay away from badges, but these are just irresistable.