Organisational Badges Reichsluftschutz 3rd Model Badge - Opinions Please

[AlecH]

Interested in buying this Reichsluftschutz 3rd Model badge, I've looked through the internet found very little on this badge only three examples and no shots of the reverse. I do have a couple of concerns - my piece, the front has yellow enamel, the internet examples have green enamel. I own a Reichsluftschutz 2nd model badge on the back (reverse) which has a members number on the back, I expected to see it continued i.e. members number on the 3rd model, however there's none. Do members have any knowledge on these badges. Any information welcome

[Scowen]

Hi Alec,

I do not know that much about these pieces & have avoided them over the years due to my lack of knowledge on them. However, I do not like the example that you show because of the style of the maker mark on it. From what I can see it looks to be the known fake mark which is based on the Hermann Aurich mark. The correct mark should be a letter "H" sideways above a rounded, stylised "A". The fake mark blocks in the ends of the "H" to make it more like a rectangle with a line through the centre, or a capital "B" laying on its side...

There is not much about these in reference books or magazines, Littlejohn briefly mentions them in his book "Defending the Reich". He gives a very basic description, mentioning that there are variations of colour, but that is all. He states that it was probably first issued in early 1933 & had to be returned when the second more official version was introduced in June 1936 (the second version is the one with a black aircraft against a pale blue sky with Swastika flag below it). He does mention that the second version was issued by the Ministry of Aviation & was serially numbered, he does not say that the first version was numbered.

There is also an article in the April-May 2005 edition of the "Internationales Militaria-Magazin" #117, pages 12-13. This article is in German & unfortunately, I have not had the time to fully translate the article. However it does show a colour picture of one of these badges, one with a white aircraft & white enamel in the areas that yours is blue. It does say that there are copies with the fake Aurich mark which I have mentioned above.

Sorry that I cannot help more.

Cheers

Don

[AlecH]

Hi Don,

Thanks for your post. I shall not take this piece, your makers mark augment convinces me. What I had hoped for, was that collectors with these badges would post them particularly pictures of the reverse side. Enabling collectors to build up a consensus of what was really on the reverses i.e. which maker/s made them, whether they had membership numbers on them ? pin set up etc. Perhaps there still time for some collectors to post relevant pictures. Again thanks for the help.

[Scowen]

Hi Alec,

Yes, I hope some other members do post them if they have them... Originals are VERY rare.

Cheers

Don