Verwundetenabzeichen Condor Legion in Gold.

[michael giertz]

Hi! guys.

I have been offered this in gold.
I think they are so rare that it is difficult to determine authenticity.
Would be very grateful for any response.
Sincerely:
Michael

[KradSpam]

For a badge rookie can you clarify how you tell a condor WB from a normal one?

[Glenn66]

The helmet is the clue.

[KradSpam]

The helmet is the clue.

Doh........ what a muppet, I didn't notice that. And I collect helmets......

Cheers for that.

[Adrian]

An Imperial helmet with a swastika. If the Imperial helmet doesn't have a swastika then it is an Imperial badge.

[Brett]

Hello Michael
There were no gold badges awarded for the Spanish Campaign. 182 black & 1 silver were awarded. the one you show would be a first type 1939 badge . I have never seen a solid one of these. Only hollow backed or hollow with a soldered on backplate. I believe Ade has one of the latter. All of the badges with a backplate that I have seen, be they Gold or Silver match up with Ade's example both in obverse & reverse design & hardware. "Legion Condor " gets thrown around quite a bit with these badges & can be misleading. Spanish type would be a more accurate description.

Regards
Brett

[Duff]

Hello Michael
There were no gold badges awarded for the Spanish Campaign. 182 black & 1 silver were awarded. the one you show
would be a first type 1939 badge . I have never seen a solid one of these. Only hollow backed or hollow with a soldered
on backplate. I believe Ade has one of the latter. All of the badges with a backplate that I have seen, be they Gold or
Silver match up with Ade's example both in obverse & reverse design & hardware." Legion Condor " gets thrown around
quite a bit with these badges & can be misleading. Spanish type would be a more accurate description.

Regards
Brett

Brett - how would you know then, by look of the wound badge if you had that "magic #1 silver wound badge" from the Condor? I see tons of "hollow backed" silver 39' model wound badges floating around "claiming" to be Legion Condor... I guess, would either you or Ade know that? Curious...... THANKS! Duff

[KMMorris]

The "Condor " title for these awards are generically tied together because this first patten of Third Reich wound badges were first issued to war wounded during the Spanish civil war. Brett is right about the hardware in this badge.
Morris

[Duff]

I guess I "Hi-jacked" this thread then, sorry... I was wondering how you would tell this difference then.. By what it sounds like - you cant tell the difference between a 39' silver wound badge and a "Legion Condor" silver wound badge... correct, false?

[Adrian]

The Legion Condor Wound badge was introduced on May 22nd 1939 for troops returning from fighting in the Spanish Civil War. The reason the First World War style was used was because of the abundance of tooling to make the badges, the only modification needed was to add a swastika. They were only made in hollow back form. No-one was qualified to receive the Gold grade so as stated above only the black version and a single silver were awarded.

It is possible to find Imperial style badges minus the swastika manufactured during the TR era as they were issued to troops who qualified but never received their badge from WW1. These badges were awarded from 1936 up until 1941.

The TR era badge with the M35 style helmet was intoduced in 1939 just before the outbreak of WW2 but with an updated look to the wreath, swords and the then modern helmet style. These new badges were awarded in black, silver and gold, the black version being exclusively hollow back. The silver and gold versions exclusively solid back.