German pilot WW1 badge

[samland]

Original ?

[MAP]

I'll let you know in 12 days....I'm getting my WW1 Flight Awards reference book for Christmas! Came in the mail today but pretended not to notice.

I do have some other reference materials but they only cover Junkers.

99 out of 100 of these are fake, so tread carefully.

[samland]

I need to know the answer faster!

[Chopperman]

I'm no expert but I don't like this one. The details in the airplane
are really bad. The few photo examples of good originals that I have saved to my
files have much better details.

Also, the example that you show is Bavarian not German (different crown)

[ww1czechlegion]

I agree with Greg.

While I'm no expert on these, the detail on the airplane is very weak.

And the catch is wrong on the back side.

This particular style of Bavarian pilot badge has been discussed recently on the WAF forum (in the last 2-3 weeks), and the catch has been pointed out as being incorrect in the way they tried to make it.

This particular style with a "Poellath" marked case has literally been flooding the market on eBay USA over the past year or more from a seller in Germany who has an endless supply of them, along with Pour le Merite, Tank Badges, Sub Badges, etcetera. He lists and sells them week after week, for over a year's time.

I honestly don't know if the buyers of the garbage from this eBay seller from Germany think they are getting a "bargain" on something they hope is real, or if they know their badge is bad and they simply want an expensive "filler" for their collection. I don't know what the mindset is of the endless supply of customers for this seller on eBay USA. And he has No negative feedback which is amazing.

If you seriously want to collect these Imperial Flight Badges, you need to "Pony Up" and buy the 2-volume set by Stephen Previtera (Imperial Sky, Vol 1 & 2), the Carsten Baldes book, and the Robert Pandis books (which I do not have yet).

Best Regards,

Alan

[Chopperman]

If you seriously want to collect these Imperial Flight Badges, you need to "Pony Up" and buy the 2-volume set by Stephen Previtera (Imperial Sky, Vol 1 & 2), the Carsten Baldes book, and the Robert Pandis books (which I do not have yet).

I like the Pandis books. Especially sence I'm listed in the photo credits

[MAP]

My Christmas present is the Pandis books

[samland]

Thanks for the detailed explanation!

[toot]

odd that there are no hall marks that I can see? odd?

[ww1czechlegion]

toot:

odd that there are no hall marks that I can see? odd?

No, Quite to the Contrary. It would be very odd if any hollow back or "cliche" stamped open backside Pilot badge that looks like this would have any hallmark on it whatsoever. Only the hollow ones that have the plate over the back are the type that were hallmarked. And then not all of those type were hallmarked.

Best Regards,

Alan