A Sad Day for Imperial Aviation

[Stogieman]

Sadly, they (whoever the b*stards are) have now started making close (but no cigar) copies of the Imperial Prussian Air Gunner Badge. Following fotos were culled from eBay, playground of many crooks. This badge is close, closest yet. But it IS NOT real. flame

[Stogieman]

Reverse. Note the 3 rivets and almost perfect maker mark. flame

[Stogieman]

Details. Note that the rivets are bigger and appear to have "flattened" heads. Very close, but not the same as original, period badges.

[Stogieman]

Close-up of the eagle/target. Target is not a perfect match, nor is the bird... but a quick look, or crappy photos will fool the uninitiated buyer.

I must now advise anyone looking to add this (exceedingly) rare badge to their collections to excersise extreme caution when considering a purchase of one of these badges. flame

[Glenn R]

So annoying. How much are they getting away with? Forums like this have helped our cause but so many people must be sitting on a piece of crap like this having paid out money in good faith. I'd hate to be starting out again now.

[J Temple-West]

Rick, time for a definitive guide to original 'Imperial Aviation Awards'..

[Stogieman]

Here's a photo of a real one. Compare the details to the initial pix... can you spot all the differences?

(Photo cortesy of Niemann?, Hamburg. But I own this badge now.)

Edited May 13, 2005 by stogieman

[Stogieman]

Here's a photo of my pair of my Imperial Prussian Gunner Badges. Private Purchase in Silber on the left, Issue (stamped) Badge on the right. An interesting point is that of all the Imperial Flight Badges issued (as opposed to P/P); this is the only one that ever bore a maker mark.

[Stogieman]

Reverse of the gunner badges. Good set to study, these are real. The P/P in silber is the only one I ever found. On eBay germany of all places and at about 10 cents on the dollar...... I have had a total of 3 of the issue ones though. I cannot imagine that happening again in about a zillion years!

[Stogieman]

Here's a second authentic issue badge. This one had the cross atop the crown neatly filed off. The "Story du jour" I always heard was this was a sign of protest to the abdication of Wilhelm. No idea if that is true or not. Could just be "Urban Legend"....

[Stogieman]

And the reverse of our second example looks like this. This HD scan is an excellent one to compare rivets with note these; then pop back up to the "suspect badge"....... see la differance?

Edited May 13, 2005 by stogieman

[Stogieman]

Now, just to compare, here's a stamped pair.. Prussian Pilot & Gunner. Fronts:

[Stogieman]

And the reverses of same:

Edited May 13, 2005 by stogieman

[John]

It s a terrible shame that so many items are faked these days. I always thought that it was mainly Third Reich stuff that was faked.

Incidently, how much do these badges go for ?

John

[Stogieman]

Hi John. the stamped issue badge in decent condition could go anywhere from $900-$1200 USD. The silver one, think 2-3K. Difficult to judge, there's only been one auctioned off in Germany in the last 6 years.... it went over 2K Euro, plus premium! :speechless-smiley-004:

[John]

Thanks , Stogieman. They're really nice badges. I see the Germans still went for good design and quality even then.

I must admit, apart from the htree wound badges, I've never collected anything to Imperial Germany..... might start now, though!