Infanterie Sturmabzeichen in Silber, Unknown Maker, Pillow Crimp

[rbminis]

A new addition to my collection.
I picked up one of these before but, the catch was broken. I wanted to replace it and had to wait quite a while to find one in the condition that I like.
Ralph.

[big ned]

Hi Ralph,

Nice 'Vienna design' IAB you've got there. There was a rumour going around that these could possibly be made by Forster & Barth (L/21) after a MM one showed up a while back, but no others have been found to back it up as of yet.

Regards, Ned.

[rbminis]

Thanks Ned.
I had not heard that. I will do a little research.
Ralph.

[Adrian]

I hadn't heard about that either. Interesting.

Did F&B make any other Heer badges? I generally think of them as Kriegsmarine.

[big ned]

I've heard that they produced GAB's, Coastal Artillery badges and West Wall and KVK II medals with marked packets. They may have done Panzerkampf Abzeichen's as well, but details are very sketchy as the factory in Pforzheim was obliterated by bombing and a lot of tooling and records were lost.

I've managed to find a pic of the contentious L/21 stamped Infanterie Sturmabzeichen, you have to look carefully for it below the crimp. It could of course have been post war applied as is often seen on other awards to pimp them up.

Best wait for fischer me doth think.

[fischer]

Hi Guys

Congrats Ralph on your latest addition...a very nice Vienna Design "Pillow Crimp" example.

I have seen this L/21 stamped Pillow Crimp example before. I have also seen one with a wide pin that resembles the hardware used on the L/21 marked Heer Flak badges.
In regards to the L/21 stamped example; I am very leery of mm's that have been stamped in this manner. The L/21 maker marked examples I am familiar with have a relief marked L/21 with a recessed background.
The other example with the Flak hardware pin looked to me like it was just inserted into the pillow crimp recess.

The Vienna Design family of Infanterie Sturmabzeichen's consist of the following marked and unmarked examples;

Maker marked examples:
R. Souval
W. Hobacher
F. Orth
Grossman & Co.

The unmarked examples;
Cupal
Pillow Crimp
Zinc Hollow
Hollow Rifle solid
Semi-hollow rifle

The obverse details of all of these examples are very close to each other and shows us that some type of collaboration must have existed between them.
Possibly one of the four makers identified, produced one or more of the unmarked examples?
Maybe a master die maker constructed the dies for all these firms?

If we look at the Grossman examples, GR&Co marked Infanterie Sturmabzeichen's also use a type of "crimped in" method to attach the hardware set up to their badges.
In looking at the obverse details of the Pillow Crimp and a R. Souval; most would find it difficult to identify one from the other when placed side by side.

Förster & Barth - L/21
Did a member of the Liefergemeinschaft Pforzheim produce these Pillow Crimp examples, it is a possibility. Myself, I have some reservations about this theory.
If we look at the Heer Flak badges, there is an unmarked Pillow Crimp Flak example. The shape of the Flak pillow crimp and hardware are an exact match for the pillow crimp Infanterie Sturmabzeichen. I am certain the same firm made both the Pillow Crimp Infanterie Sturmabzeichen and the Heer Flak badges.
There is also a mm L/21 Heer Flak example. These have a completely different hardware set up and a different obverse design. If F&B made both the L/21 and the pillow crimp Flaks, one would think the obverse designs would have some similarities.

For me, the Pillow Crimp was probably produced by one of the makers from the Vienna area...I just think the designs are too close.

Best regards, fischer

[rbminis]

Thanks fischer!
Thanks also for such an informative post.
Ralph.

[Adrian]

Thank you Fischer, excellent information as always. Much appreciated.