EKM, unusual shape, can somebody help ?

[Gazal Al Shaqab]

Hi everybody,
I'm new in writing here. First, above all, I would like to thank so much this awsome forum and its members for all their knowledge and the time spent sharing it. I love reading it and learning.

Could anybody tell me something about that EKM ? I know it is not a "classic" size, and I suppose it can be a post-war made, not original WW2. Is the text fantasy ? (what could "LH" mean, is it Hiwi ?). Thanks in advance for any opinion.

[Matt L]

Hi Gazal, welcome to the forum We're glad you find it interesting and useful.

Indeed those Trennschlitzen are extremely large compared to those of typical Erkennungsmarken; but it's the letters that are the real problem- both capitals and lower-case letters match known fakes, so it's definitely bad I'm afraid. I've cut a couple of letters from images of fake discs and you can see they match perfectly:



Oh and I could swear I've seen that 'LH' mark somewhere, but I can't recall where or if I ever found out what it means; it might have been on another fake and could simply be an idiot faker just putting things on he doesn't understand and getting them wrong or otherwise just making things up.

[Gazal Al Shaqab]

Thank You very much, Matt, for the answer : I was thinking it could be modern "manufactured" item, but I didn't check the letters; you did - and it is cristal clear now, it is not from WW2

Thanks again for your help. I will certainly have other questions about other Erkennungsmarken in the future; meanwhile, I will try to read some other threads from the forum and learn more, as in this subject I am just a beginner.

[Matt L]

Sure thing Gazal, I wish it were a more positive answer, but it is better to know the truth I suppose. You were definitely right to wonder about the disc since it is rather atypical, and now you know for sure to always be suspicious of a disc with such large slits. And at the beginning of the Erkennungsmarke section is a permanent thread showing common fake fonts- the capitals on this one are in there, so in the future you can try comparing letters on a disc you think is possibly odd. It takes practice to recognize them of course. One of the first things I always tell people about fonts is always be suspicious of sans-serif types, especially capitals, and especially forms that are tall and narrow with straight sides; note all of those on the 'G' in this case. The second thing to always check is did the unit even exist- you can look at the Lexikon der Wehrmacht site for that (also in a permanent thread at the beginning of this section); in this case it did, so that wouldn't help authenticate the disc, but it's always worth a look.

[Stacez]

Hello,

There is nothing wrong with this ID. For sure is original. Anyway, who would fake usual "LH = Landeseigene-Hilfskraft - local helper" disc from regular Grenadier-Regiment?

Grenadier

[Glenn66]

Surely having the identical font to known fakes must be the nail in the coffin for the above disc? Perhaps due to suspicion of 'rare' unit discs some fakers are knocking out 'common' discs now?

[Matt L]

Oh excellent Stacez- I knew I'd seen that LH mark before. This time I'll add the definition to my list so I'll be able to find it next time

But if your only evidence for the disc being real is that mark isn't ficiticious, it's hardly enough to excuse the presence of not one, but two known fake fonts; all it means is a faker copied a real disc he saw somewhere. Text being right doesn't prove a disc is authentic- it's at best circumstantial evidence if the text is quite obscure, which this isn't; it's only hard evidence when it's clearly wrong.

I've seen fakes of regular Heer unit discs before- they're just not so common; and this is not just a regular one, it's that rather uncommon Landeseigene-Hilfskraft type, so has a specific market of those who would buy HIWI, etc. discs.