Westfalen Tschako Emblem?

[winterhilfswerk Book]

Hello everyone,

I received this in a large lot of tinnies and I was not 100% sure what it is. I know that it is from the Westfalen area but I am not sure if it was for a tschako or not. It seems a bit small for a tschako...but I am not sure what else it could be for. I am not even sure what time period it is from.

Anyone have any ideas?

Cheers!
Chrys

[Gunny Hartmann]

What size is it?....

[winterhilfswerk Book]

It is about the size of a German Cross...can't get to it right now....sorry I can not be more scientific. It is smaller than the normal sized tschako emblem that is for sure.

[Gunny Hartmann]

I think a normal cap badge!....

[robin morley]

Beat me to it Gunny,exactly what it is.

[winterhilfswerk Book]

Thanks Gunny!

[Watchdog]

Yep definately. It is a standard Polizei cap badge from the German state Nordrhein-Westfalen or Westphalia in English. Each of the states or Lande uses the same badge pattern with a different centre shield which in each case bears the Landeswappen or state emblem. The Bundesgrenzschutz (including the customs service or Zolldienst) use the same design with the Bundesadler or Federal Eagle on the central shield. I have what was a full set of these until re-unification but never got round to adding the new states from the former DDR!

They make a nice display if you have a few and the centre shields can be changed. The last time I checked (a couple of years back) these were retailing at about 12 euros IN Germany and currently about £6 - 7 in UK.

I hope this helps.

Regards
PS If you look closely you will probably see an OLC logo on the back
Mark

[stuka f]

The tshako badges are like cut off on the base.
They don't have the star branches running down below.
cheers
|<ris

[Watchdog]

I thought it might help to show a pic of a few more for illustration so I dug these out of an old box. From top left; Schleswig-Holstein (Holstein in English, Bremen, Hamburg, Berlin (different shield and recess here), Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony), Nordrhein-Westphalen (Westphalia), Saar (Saarland), Hesse (Hessia), Rhienland-Pfalz _Rhineland Palatinate), Baden-Wurttemburg (Wurtemburg) another different shape here, Rheinland Pfalz again (oops), Bayern (Bavaria) and the Bundesgrenzschutz. As I say there are several more from the former DDR such as Brandenburg, Thuringia, Sachsen-Anhalt, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern etc that I never added.

The first reverse picture shows the star and shield separated along with the Overhoff & Co Ludenschied seen on many TR badges (yours is a different one that I don't recognise). The 2nd reverse pic shows the different type of fastening on the badges (which are otherwise the same) used by the Wasserschutzpolizei in the states that have such units.

A point to note is that these badges are in fact much smaller than a German Cross.

I hope this is of interest.

Regards

Mark