Infanterie Sturmabzeichen in Silber, FLL Late Zinc Hollow

[Saladin]

Hello All,
not one for normally buying odd badges I spotted this one today and thought it was worth a punt.

From what I have picked up from fischer in the past about wartime production of these type of badges I am pretty sure that it is a late war hollow zinc example with a silver wash and the earlier hinge pin and hook assembly that Fll tended to stick on these badges.

I do note the excessive filling of solder that I believe is common with these badges?

Any comments or opinions appreciated.

All the best
Doug

[Landsknecht]

A nice original, no issues with this piece...

[bigmacglenn]

Hopefully our friends Fischer and Ned will add their expertise...It's an attractive badge, I imagine noticeably heavier in hand vis a vis the usual hollow-backs?...
cheers, Glenn

[Saladin]

Surprisingly not Glenn. It weighs in at a minuscule 16.19 grams

Doug

[rbminis]

I believe this is considered the earlier of the two hollow versions produced by FLL. Yours has a barrel hinge and a round wire catch while my later version has a sheet metal wrap around hinge and different catch, posted here.
Infanterie Sturmabzeichen in Silber, FLL, Freidrich Linden, Ludenschied
Nice addition Doug, congrats!
Ralph.

[fischer]

Hi Doug

First off, nice zinc hollow Friedrich Linden, Lüdenscheid or FLL Design ISA...
This one has the smaller Block hinge and "?" style catch directly soldered to the reverse and I refer to this one as the Type 3.

In regards to early or late, we cannot be certain when it was produced.

At one time, hardware (among other things) was thought to give clues in regards to an evolutionary timeline for these FLL Design zinc hollows.
This one, having the smaller Block hinge and "?" style catch found also on the earlier tombak produced hollows lead to the assumption this was an earlier produced zinc hollow.
We now know this hardware set up was used on all three of the various FLL Design zinc hollows disproving this theory.
There are also multiple other hardware configurations found in use on all of these hollows.

My opinion now is we do not know if there is an early or late version of this ISA and we can only speculate on the actual production period.
The possibility also exists that these (3) hollows were produced at the same time using multiple die sets.

The Lüdenscheid ISA producers are a confusing lot and without creditable documentation, we can only speculate.

Best Regards, fischer

[fischer]

Hi Guys

Here are the three FLL Design Zinc Hollow ISA's and the easiest way to identify them.

The Type 1 has the area between the Swastika and Kar98k cut away (Green Circle).
The Type 2 does not have the area between the Swastika and Kar98k cut away.
The Type 3 does not have the area between the Swastika and Kar98k cut away and also has a die flaw between the Kar98k and the sling (Red Circle).

If you compare these three, you will see the differences.

Notice on Doug's example it has the uncut area between the swazy and Kar98k and has the die flaw...Type 3

Best regards, fischer

[Saladin]

Thank you All for your input. Thanks Ralph for the link to your badge with that unusual hardware...It was a first for me.
fischer once again thank you for the comprehensive input. Your knowledge is always appreciated.
I hadn't understood about the 3 hollow die variants but your description makes it easier to follow.
What I did notice on the example that Ralph owns is the progress of the die faults you mention.
Looking at your variant 2 with no die faults at the rifle sling I note that Ralphs is the same but it is beginning to show the die fault on the eagle's chest feathers




And then looking at your variant 3 and the one that I posted you can see both die faults are quite pronouced.
Indicating (I believe ) that my example and your variant 3 is produced at a later stage in time. This may give a better indication of the progress of badges from the FLL?




Best regards
Doug