Trying to choose between 4 Silver WB's HELP!!

[Glenn66]

OK, so i've got my BWB ordered and on its way to me and i've been telling myself to be patient and wait until it gets here, admire it for awhile, then look at getting a silver...BUT...I CAN'T WAIT!!!

These things are just so damned attractive! So i'm looking at throwing my own rules out the window and grabbing a SWB but from all the reading i've been doing over the last few days (things are quiet at work) it seems pretty obvious that the maker marked badges are the more desirable and they seem to be desired in the order of preference of MM 30 then 65 then maybe 100 then the rest are sort of debatable as everyone seems to have their preferences.

So i've trawled through a bunch of dealer websites selected based on the comments made by some of the moderators and experienced board members and at this stage i've narrowed my selection down to four badges. Now as the saying goes "THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE!"

Right now i've kind of got my heart set on this cased example, because it's (a) in such great condition, soooo shiny! and (b) it's engraved with the owners name on the reverse with a matching name in the case which if genuine gives it an added story to tell. BUT...it's not marked, the dealer tells me it's a '30' and I really couldn't say either way so that is kind of a letdown for me. Plus the dealer is asking Eur150 which seems to be absolute top dollar for a SWB if you ask me.







Then there is badge #2....

another unmarked '30' and again I can't confirm or deny that either way but it's got good silvering (maybe not as good as badge #1), it's claimed to be Buntmetal so it should be expected to hold it's finish better than zinc (I assume badge #1 is also Buntmetal given it's appearance after all these years) and more importantly it's only Eur70.





Moving right along to badge #3 we have another unmarked badge, this time allegedly a '65'. Now this little fella I think might be zinc? It just looks to me that the silver finish looks a little dull, although VERY clean The dealer is asking Eur50 for this item.





Finally badge #4 has a maker mark! It's a '127' and it's got to be zinc given the weird lines I can see running horizontally across the obverse which I take to be corrosion. Asking price is Eur55. BUT it DOES have that important MM..question is, is the MM all THAT important? I do wish that #3 had a MM as for Eur50 i'd be happy to accept the duller finish of the zinc.





As I say the cased example is mighty sexy and given that my BWB is a mint example, assuming I get a mint silver then i'll have to get a mint gold now won't I?

So the question is (apart from the obvious (1) 'are they genuine? and (2) are they the maker claimed by the dealer?) is 'which way to go'? If I shut my eyes and enter my credit card details quickly then the cased badge for Eur150 won't hurt too much I guess but is it overpriced? Mint examples aren't exactly growing on trees these days so I figure if you want the best you have to pay for it right?

What says the forum? Unmarked, expensive and pretty or marked, cheaper and not so pretty?

As always, thanks in advance for your comments.

[Adrian]

What a dilemma!

I think you should spend your money on the badge that will put the biggest smile on your face! There's nothing worse than buying something you're not entirely happy with, regretting it and wistfully staring at another badge on your monitor.......
Does it really need to be maker marked, after all, you're not going to display it reverse side facing out are you? Does it need to be cased? If you buy a cased silver you'll need to find a cased gold to go with it.......

The first badge is a beauty but as you say, at a premium price. The second is also a beautiful badge but because it shows some patina. The third does nothing for me while the fourth is in excellent condition for a zincer.

How will you display them? That could govern your choice, if you plan to frame an example of each than you don't need one of them to be cased. If in a display cabinet then a case will be a nice addition.

As you say, if you have a choice, get the best you can afford, in my opinion either the first or second badge. I would personally go for the second as I plan to frame my awards but if your heart is pulling you in a cased direction then go for that one.

I'm currently collecting an example of each Minesweeper badge. I had thought about getting a maker marked example of each but then realised that I could find better examples that weren't marked so does it really matter? Why buy a poor condition badge just because it's marked when a nice shiny example by the same maker can be found? As long as I know the maker of each badge and I've bought the badge that I like the most the makers mark doesn't mean so much to me, it's on the back, no-one will see it at the end of the day.


Disclaimer to my own philosophy - EKs are different and do need to be maker marked.

[Anubis]

Hello!

I would wait the coming Friday updates on different dealer's sites.These badges are not so hard to find.
The first one looks, nice, the observe is maybe cleaned, you can find these about 50-60€.I saw a case like this sold for 100€ some weeks ago, so if its too much you can sell the case, and you have a very nice SWB.
Here is mine which has similar finish(observed cleaned):
Kind Regards,
János

[Woolgar]

Glenn, Adrian has hit the nail on the head when he says go with what YOU like. I liked maker marked WBs, another member may not, some like mint, some like salty..you will never get a difinitive answer.
It also depends if you are going to start a focused collection of WBs or just one of each grade.

Follow your heart and be sure to get them checked out first! For the record I would go for the '127'

Here is my small collection:
Top L-R BWB 107 Carl Wild, BWB unmarked

Center L-R SWB 100 Wachtler & lange, SWB L/13 Paul Meybauer, SWB L/24 Fritz Zimmermann

Bottom L-R SWB 30 Hauptmunzampt Wien, SWB L/11 Wilhelm Deumer, GWB 107 Carl Wild

[Walkwolf]

All nice badges, I would do as the above members have said:
Follow your heart and go with the one you like best.

The cased version is nice, but I'd like to see a maker mark
on a more expensive badge - If it's a '30' it should say so.

#127, is very nice, as Wolfspear suggests, which would
probably be my pick also.

[pammy]

i can see why you like them ,as they are very nice looking and come in such a mix!!

[Glenn66]

Thanks for the opinions folks! Oh boy, decisions...decisions...

I plan to display in a display case similar to the collection of Norsk41elv in this thread My collection WWII (German medal & badges) so really I have to agree that a cased badge is superflous at this point, however that may not always be my method of display.

One point that hasn't been covered is the authenticity of each badge. Are they genuine and are the unmarked ones actually from the manufacturers claimed? I mean, how can I tell an unmarked 30 from an unmarked 65 anyway?

Cheers

[Adrian]

IMO they're all original, if they weren't I'm sure someone would've said by now. There are several marked '30' badges on the forum, try a search and then match to the unmarked examples above, obverse features, reverse hardware and you'll find the features that are the same.

[Walkwolf]

I think all these are good ones too !

If the badge is unmarked, just worry about it being an original !
Try a search, as Adrian says...........