Weight of some badges.

[Rudolf Karl]

A few weeks ago I received another wound badge or verwundetenabzeichen.
The other day I happened to have one in each hand and felt a noticeable difference in weight. Today I weighed them on a 100g X 0.01g calibrated scale.
Badge #1 has no maker mark but I was told on this forum that the pin,hinge & hook look like '30' ... Hauptmunzamt, Wien.
It weighed in at 32.70g.

Badge #2 is marked '26' ... B.H.Mayer's Kunst-prageanstalt, Pforzheim.
It weighed in at 24.49g.

8.21g seems like a big difference even for different makers. Would this have anything to do with cutting back on materials used for other than the war effort?
What's the deal and is there something that gives a range that certain medals need to be in?

While I'm at asking dumb questions, how the heck do you tell the wound badges apart? I know the ones from WW1 and the black but the rest get me every time. I see the dull ones that are silver and I see almost black ones that are silver, then I see some that look like the swas and other parts are gold or bright brass but they are also silver. Then come the ones that look like the other "silver" ones and they are gold. The only gold ones I can pick out are so gold colored they look phony.

Help before I purchase again ... could be tomorrow.

Thanks for listening to the ramblings of a new guy,
Rudy

[Adrian]

Hi Rudy, you raise some interesting points and questions.
The materials used have a bearing on the weights, obviously the hollow backed badges weigh less than the solid type, zinc different from tombak. Can you post any pics of the badges in question?
All Black badges are hollow backed so they're easy to identify. Silver and Gold are always solid so if you see a hollow backed badge in Gold or Silver then it's most likely to be Black badge that's been painted.
A badge made of tombak base material will hold it's finish much better than a zinc one so these are generally easy to tell what colour they should be. Also you can find Silver looking badges in zinc that were actually Gold but the finish has disappeared over time. Sometimes you can find zinc badges in Silver but the remains of the finish has toned gold! There have been a few discussions here on the forum trying to decide the actual colour of certain badges, usually you can tell eventually. If you're not sure or it's not obvious, post the badge in question here on the forum and let the guys take a look. Still confused?

[Rudolf Karl]

"Still confused?" ... not at all Adrian

Ok took some more pictures. Now if I can just get them uploaded in order. ( I read the sticky but that's like the badges)

The heavier badge is on the right.

32.70g

Maker # 26 - 24.49g

Backs to match first picture.

Heavier badge.


Hope this will help ... me

[Adrian]

Thanks Rudy.
Neither badge is a Black award. The badge by '26' is a zincer, note the hinge and catch have been cast into the badge. The heavier badge looks like a tombak base metal award and is therefore heavier because of the material. It looks like the finish has been removed from the swastika to reveal the yellow metal beneath.
Can you take any more pics in natural light so we can see the true colours of the badges please?

[Rudolf Karl]

I love it when I learn something new first off in the day. I never really was sure how to tell the zinc from the tombak.
I also learned that our clocks were set forward today and not tomorrow as I thought. That means that while I thought I'd have an hour
before this small militaria show I'm meeting friends at opens, It's now opening.

I'll try for the pictures when I return. Thanks for the help,
Rudy

[Woolgar]

Nice badges Rudi Adrian has described the differences perfectly. There is such a noticable difference in weight with these badges when you have them in hand !

Nick

[Rudolf Karl]

Thanks Nick and after just returning from this show I went to I also think they are nice. Of the maybe 20 or so pieces most were
ratty or fake looking and the prices over the top. I thought I'd walk away with a KVK or two but also nothing that warranted what
was being asked. Much larger show next month.

Rudy

[Adrian]

I should just clarify, not all zinc badges had the hinge and catch cast as an integral part of the badge.