Political Leader Gorget questions

[bgick]

I purchased this Nice numbers matching Political Leader Gorget probably 20 years ago. I didn't know much about them at the time , but price was right. I wanted to see if anybody here ever saw one that doesn't have the gold wash on the plate and eagle ? Mine is a bright gold color looks like when you polish up brass. I have looked at it close with magnifying glass and see no signs that it ever had the original gold wash on it. There are no scratch marks where someone might of took the wash off, , also the eagle is the same way , the wings are bright brass color and it has dirrent blackening in the wings that most other gorgets don't have. I was told by some people someone took the original gold wash off and polished up the metal unerneath wich is a alloy. I would believe that too , but like i said there are no sighns of it being taken off. Its a M/102 maker , located in the right spots. I was wondering if it was period done ? Maybe someone ordered it that way so the gorget would really stand out more ? What do you guys think ?

[rbminis]

You should also post a photo of the reverse, and any markings.
Ralph.

[NSDAP Sammler]

To me it looks like a beautiful original. The marking RZM M1/102 stands for Frank & Reif, Stuttgart. The light golden, shiny color is indeed unusual. To me it looks like the piece has been polished in some way. For comparison, a few photos of my PL gorget from Frank & Reif. But as Ralph rightly pointed out, photos of the back and markings would be helpful.

[bgick]

Thanks for your reply. Yes. I know its a original one. It does have the green felt backing and the correct maker mark on rear tab and chain , they are matching. I have 3 other Gorgets with the original gold wash on them. Just this one kind of baffles me. If you look under magnifying glass there are no signs of the original gold even in the little crevises , and there are no scratches on the plate or the eagle where buffing marks should be seen , but nothing there. It does look nice being polished like it is, I wonder if it was done in the period.

[NSDAP Sammler]

Thanks for your reply. Yes. I know its a original one. It does have the green felt backing and the correct maker mark on rear tab and chain , they are matching. I have 3 other Gorgets with the original gold wash on them. Just this one kind of baffles me. If you look under magnifying glass there are no signs of the original gold even in the little crevises , and there are no scratches on the plate or the eagle where buffing marks should be seen , but nothing there. It does look nice being polished like it is, I wonder if it was done in the period.

I don't think it was done period. There may have been those ugly dark age spots on the plate that are often seen on these pieces and are due to corrosion. Maybe someone wanted to polish these stains away. Who knows, I'm afraid we'll never know.