Arbeiterjugend ▬ HJ Membership badge Opaque

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Do we have any Opaque versions of the HJ membership 1st pattern ? The FONT is also very nice, with shaped letters.

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Can't help unfortunately M. That's the first of those that I've seen.
 
Apropo the swastika showing more than usual.. Here is another, showing the mark for Otto Schickle, but 100% not made by them, instead made by a sub-contractor in Pforzheim, hard to date, around late 1933 to mid 1935.
This one is also showing more than usual of the "rising" swastika, and showing 23 sun rays instead of the usual 19.
:swiss

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Is a pattern emerging Jo? I mean, are the opaque badges all from a specific maker?
 
Hey Garry, i wouldnt know about that, but it is clear that sub-contractors used both, i can prove this as well, but only with makers in the Sudetenland and Germany AFTER about 1938-1939.
What i have been able to connect though, are a few Badges marked GES.GESCH with sub-contractors.

I would have no idea about this particular opaque HJ badge, but what is clear that both types of enamel were in use before Hitler was born, during the Third Reich and till today. Many fakes also have both, translucent and opaque.
I know that post war "collectors guides" have printed rubbish that opaque enamel is an indication that the item is fake, this is not true, there is also a chemical reason why what looks opaque to us now, started out as translucent.
In any case, i see no reason at all why the first badge could be suspect.

I just showed the HJ (75) badge made by the sub-contractor to show another example of a strange design where the Swastika shows more than usual :swiss
 
Good stuff Jo. The chemical change which results in that increased opacity sounds very interesting.
 
Garry, in this case with the first badge, it is opaque enamel no doubt, but there are occasions when the enamel can take on an "opaque" look due to a certain reason, thats not the case here though, at least i dont think so.
I suppose we find many "different" or slightly different design on badges like the swastika on these two, because the same applies to the RZM numbers and marks on badges at this time, individual interpretation, depending on what the die cutter or designer was "looking" at in order to get the design, i.e: a newspaper picture, a catalog picture from another maker?? just like the HJ badge pictured in the Richter catalog with 15 sun rays... and this one with 23.. there are more as well, 20,21 etc.... its also a good indication of why the RZM and from 1941 with medals the LDO was necessary, to uniform designs... getting everyone looking the same, wearing the same stuff. You only have to go back to the 1932 HJ photo i showed a while ago to see what they looked like around this time... the same dates that these HJ badges would have been made.... as much as it was "each lad for himself" it was each maker for himself. Sadly though many oddities gat a thumbs down because people try and compare apples to oranges.

I am all for debates on fake vs Original, but we really need to start these based on history and not a comparison of images found on the www.

The plus side, you can find oddities on sites that sit there for ages and are cheap simply because the community is scared, and wants a "textbook" original instead :)
:swissbtw. pm coming.....
 
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