Imperial Gold Wound Badge Fake?

[BMUR82]

Hi All, I’m a new member. I’ve Just purchased an Imperial Gold Wound Badge to complete my set. However, upon receipt of the badge it feels quite thin, light and flimsy. The detail seems good and the aging seems okay. It’s non-magnetic, which isn’t a major problem, but it fails the strength test. What do you think, Fake?

[AZPhil]

Like the saying goes.
A Picture tells a 1000 words!

Semper Fi
Phil

[rbminis]

Hello and welcome to the forum!
Try this, and post some photos.
Visual Guide to Upload Photos
Ralph.

[BMUR82]

Hi, thanks for your replies. I’m trying to figure out how to navigate the forum. It’s quite difficult as a new member. I’ll try post pictures now.

[Brett]

Hi Mate. Try to orientate the photos correctly so that members aren't risking a visit to the chiropractor. This badge is a known & accepted pattern among Imperial wound badge collectors. What do you mean by "fails the strength test"? Contrary to certain forum lore you will find that some of these badges will be made of lesser metals than the usual steel, or tombac/brass offerings, hence the lighter weight.

Regards
Brett

[Brett]

Now that Ralph has put the photos right, makes assessment a lot easier. Have a look at the gold badge in the following link. It is a perfect match for yours:

https://www.warrelics.eu/forum/imper...n-gold-470400/

There were two of these for sale at Butschek's at the same time. I bought the other one.

Regards
Brett

[BMUR82]

Hi Brett, apologies about the picture orientation, it never even occurred to me. What I mean by the strength test is that this badge will bend under a bit of pressure. I know that usually late war examples of wound badges and medals were made from lesser metals due to shortages and therefore maybe lighter. But they still should bend and feel quite different than my black and silver magnetic examples, should they?

[Brett]

Mate, you have to remember that these badges were available as private purchase/replacement pieces from wars end to say the early 1940's. If you look at period manufacturers catalogues you will see that the badges were available at several different price points. You basically got what you paid for. Some badges are a lot more robust than others. I wouldn't recommend the bend test as the badges really weren't designed for this. You also have to consider Germany's post war economy. Cheaper materials most certainly would have been used as the norm in certain instances.

Regards
Brett

[BMUR82]

Hi Brett, thanks for the reply, it’s much appreciated. I can’t say I’ve ever seen a manufacturer’s catalogue. So, do you think my one is a genuine WW1 Badge then? Is it a late war issue or a post war privately purchased one? Also, I noticed, when comparing my imperial wound badges that my black one is slightly smaller than the silver one and the hinge is slightly lower set than the others as a result. Was this a feature of some manufacturers? The detail, period wear and tear and hinge/pin mechanism are okay, it’s just set a tiny bit lower than the others. I’m not at home currently so I can’t take a picture.

[tompress]

Hi,

- WW1 wound badge was instituted in March 1918, so only few were awarded in the war time. Official awarding period reaches at least up to 1936 (but later awardings are known). During these ca. 20 years many, many different variants were manufactured
- awarded originals were always made of iron/steel = magnetic
- there were many badges produced for private market, i.e for other uniform or to replace lost/damaged pieces. These replacements were from different metals or compositions, like brass, copper or silver

regards
Tomasz