Rare Wiedmann Infanterie Sturmabzeichen

[eraser619]

This is my latest iab the most rare variant to the wiedmann badge with wide pin. Most of these have that ground dug look i only wonder why.
Only seen this variant once in mint condition in both classes in a collection

[Adrian]

Interesting pin on this one Wim. More like the shape associated with Forster & Barth or Steinhauer & Luck.

[fischer]

Hello

Congrats on your latest addition, a nice and rare wide pin Wiedmann...

There are two variants of the wide pin; the mm example like yours and an unmarked version. Most exhibit a worn, pitted or ground dug exterior as you state. My thinking this is caused by the low quality material used to form the badge itself and probably most being found in the ground.

The Wiedmann solid examples can be found with several different hardware set ups. These range from the standard sheet metal hinge, lily pad shaped hinge, barrel hinge, this wide pin set up and even the small block hinge can be found. Wiedmann seemed to use whatever hardware set up was available.
Obverse details, thickness of the badge and quality of the finish also varies with Wiedmann solid examples. Some, like the thicker, highly detailed, mm L/51 examples have a high quality finish with a brassy colored undercoating. The lily pad examples are noticeably thinner, have a low quality wash finish and softer details.

I consider these wide pin variants a late war examples. I attribute this to the quality of the finish, soft obverse details and the seemingly low quality zinc. I also think the wide pin hardware set up was used due to availability issues of other hardware types.

In regards to rarity, these are very tough to track down; especially ones like you say in decent condition. But, I consider the NS hollow attributed Wiedmann the most rare of all the Wiedmann variants.

Again, a very nice example you have added!

Best Regards, fischer

PS. I have come to these conclusions by inspecting the various Wiedmann examples for quality of finish, sharpness of details and badge materials. Knowing the hollow examples were produced first, the hollow die details can be seen replicated on the first solid examples. Later on, obverse details change, signifying a new set of dies being produced. Further on, obverse details again change along with the quality of finish degrading and the die strike lighter than previous examples. This is what I based my findings on.

[eraser619]

Thanks Fischer for the perfect explanation you did. That is a great and usefull reply i learned a lot more of the wiedmann badge today.
I assume the ns hollow version are found in near mint to mint consition because the are ns or am i wrong here.

Im still looking for the mm L/51 version but still no luck yet.

Ps: Do you have a hollow ns in youre collection and if so is it possible to see a picture of it im verry curios about it

[fischer]

I assume the ns hollow version are found in near mint to mint consition because the are ns or am i wrong here.

Hello
Like the NS Juncker examples, I have seen Wiedmann NS Infanterie Sturmabzeichen's polished to a point that all the patina has been removed and even some of the badge material.
To me, this destroys the character of the badge. Unless something is detrimental to the base material, hardware, etc. I leave my examples unpolished and uncleaned.

Do you have a hollow ns in youre collection and if so is it possible to see a picture of it im verry curios about it

Here are my some of my NS Infanterie Sturmabzeichen's.
The first group being (2) Wiedmann NS examples with an FLL NS example in the middle.
The second group are some of my Juncker NS examples.

Best Regards, fischer

[eraser619]

Thanks again for the great info. The difference between Wiedmann and Juncker is a world appart Juncker has a stronger finish based on youre picture's.