Fallschirmschützenabzeichen des Heeres & Fallschirmschützenabzeichen der Luftwaffe badges, both bad?

[PNWcollector]

Hello all,

I stumbled on these listed for sale and figured it was worth an ask. My experience with these is very limited. I know the heer variant is rare and fetches a high price, which makes me 95% it's too good to be true. Seller states they could be fakes or could be real and leaves it to the buyer to judge. Portions look good to my untrained eye, while others look a little off, like the loop for the pin and the hinges, and the placement of the "JMM & Sohn". I've looked at many similar badges on the usual resources but figured I'd let the experts here weigh in. Looking forward to hearing what you all think. I hope everyone is well and as always, thank you for your input, it is much appreciated.

-Sam

Ps, sorry for posting both items in one post, I know that's a no no, but I hoped there were similar enough to let it slide?

[Rakkasan187]

Sam,

Red flag for me is that the seller doesn't know and leaves it up to the buyer which in my opinion the seller knows what he has and is giving all responsibility to the new prospective buyer leaving him out of it..

Not a reputation I would want if I were selling them..

Not a huge fan of either but again I would avoid after the statement made by the seller...

See what others think..

Best regards, stay safe

Smitty

[PNWcollector]

Hi Smitty,

Thanks for the quick reply. Agreed, seller certainly doesn't instill confidence. Story goes that he got them from a friend who got them from his dad who got them from who knows where. That story alone would normally be enough for me to pass on them, but I didn't want my lack of knowledge on these to get in the way of a possible good deal. I'm always willing to accept a little risk if the price is right. But the price in this case is a little higher than I'd want to gamble on. Thanks again.

-Sam

[Watchdog]

Sam,

Red flag for me is that the seller doesn't know and leaves it up to the buyer which in my opinion the seller knows what he has and is giving all responsibility to the new prospective buyer leaving him out of it.. Smitty

I agree, the seller seems like the mysterious comedy magician on TV who makes an apparently sincere statement like "you will observe (giving credit to the viewer for wisdom) this is....." then gives an aside to the camera saying behind his hand "or is it?" whilst twiddling his theatrical waxed moustache!

Like Smitty, I am not keen on either badge and the wreath on the LW badge when seen from the rear seems more like an S&L type than JMME&SOHN. I'm not sure about the positioning of the rivets either especially the one behind the eagles head.

However, the things you can't see are just as crucial as those you can. These pictures are terrible when you consider the supposed value of these if original. They are poorly focussed, taken at deceptive angles and don't give close up detail of important features.

Take this together with the very vague history since 1945 (if they were that old) and I would not go any closer to what would likely be a very unhappy mistake. If we were looking at a steel black or zinc silver wound badge then you might explore further but when a seller produces these pics and tells such a vague tale that would allow him to say later "I told you I didn't know" I'm afraid I would already be several pages away by now!

It's just my opinion but I wouldn't risk it.

Regards

Mark

[raz]

Better pictures would have helped but IMO both are bad . The Heeres para badge has a thick neck eagle that does not match any original I have looked at and the IMME marked badge eagle doesn't match their badges design . As others indicate - bad photos and bad presentation from seller not a good thing .