The Use Of Feinzink

[DUJAILAH]

Hi, does anybody know the year that German badge/medal production moved over to 'Feinzink'? Cheers, Richard.

[oradour]

Richard, all I do know is that it would seem Feinzinc (Fine zinc,nearly pure zink) light/silvery grey in colour was adopted as the war progressed (other metals needed in war production), later progressing to mid zink ( zinc with around 10% lead) this was medium to dark grey and then finally by late war in order to stretch out the supply of zinc came Kriegsmetal ( zinc with 30%+ lead, known as monkey metal or war metal) being a very dark almost black colour (suffers deterioration due to bloom), as for the precise dates I am unaware. The switchover which happened in the Second World War had occurred in the First World War, the switch overdate being 1916. Also be aware that many badges/awards were being made of Cupal, a far superior alternative to Kriegsmetal.
Prost ! Steve.

[DUJAILAH]

Thanks steve, all I can find in the books etc is mid war. I suppose it may have been a gradual process with makers changing gradually, cheers, Richard.

[oradour]

Richard, exactly...none of my reference books give dates, but rather the terms/phrases given in my reply, these dates must be out there...somewhere. Heres a couple of WW1 Kriegsmetal varients that would of been tombac or nusilber at the start of WW1, in my view the detail is still there, but the quality of the finish has gone.... Prost ! Steve.

[Adrian]

Great explanation Steve!
As you state, there was no tombak one day, zinc the next and there were several different types of zinc alloy used with varying degrees of quality. Zinc is an easy term to use to bracket several types of metal into one, although not strictly accurate.

[oradour]

Thanks Adrian, sorry to have impeded on your forum, but this scenario was also played out as the first War progressed and Imperial Germany found itself in pretty much the same position as the latter TR, with regards to commodities, so I like to think theres a common link here...in a way.
Prost ! Steve.

[Adrian]

No need to apologise Steve, your input is always valued and you explained it far better than I could.

[Walkwolf]

Zinc was not only adopted in Germany but in several other counties for coinage,
and in both wars as well.

TR coins (1,2,5 and 10 Pfennig - 50Pf was aluminum) appeared early in the war (1940)
and were coated with a fine silver 'plating' which wore off very quickly - the same way
that coatings have faded from some later WWII medals, ie: Ostfront, KVK,
KVK1, Westwall, etc..........

[Woolgar]

Richard, all I do know is that it would seem Feinzinc (Fine zinc,nearly pure zink) light/silvery grey in colour was adopted as the war progressed (other metals needed in war production), later progressing to mid zink ( zinc with around 10% lead) this was medium to dark grey and then finally by late war in order to stretch out the supply of zinc came Kriegsmetal ( zinc with 30%+ lead, known as monkey metal or war metal) being a very dark almost black colour (suffers deterioration due to bloom), as for the precise dates I am unaware. The switchover which happened in the Second World War had occurred in the First World War, the switch overdate being 1916. Also be aware that many badges/awards were being made of Cupal, a far superior alternative to Kriegsmetal.
Prost ! Steve.

Nicely stated Steve

Nick

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi Richard, this is a good question.

There were official restrictions placed upon use of various strategic materials starting in the late 1930's. As the country moved to a war economy these changes accelerated.

Cheers, Ade.