Gold and Silver Hitler Youth shooting badges (Scharfschütze, Meisterschütze) M1/102, M1/63

Joe B

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I am not an expert on badges , can someone with more knowledge than myself please give me there opinions ?

Sharpshooter M1/102, Master Shot M1/63

Thank you

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both look like nice badges to me, i know the 102 has been well faked but this matches the accepted good ones
stu
 
The Scharfschütze looks fine to me too. The M1/102 Meisterschütze badges are difficult though. My question with these is whether a badge with such a small run would have needed more than one manufacturer (M1/63 and M1/102). By 1943 and according to the Reichsjugendführung's own statistics 852 Meisterschütze badges had been awarded (Das kommende Deutschland, Günter Kaufmann). Clearly more would have been awarded after that point though and when I was researching the article on the shooting badge series in an attempt to establish the actual total awarded by 1945 I came across supporting documentation for two badges which help to give a more realistic number. The first badge is a little higher (serial number 989 - awarded 14th of Feb 1943) but I also found a second shooting book showing the award of badge serial number 2303 (8th of April 1944).

Now, even with that higher number of over 2300 awarded the question still needs to be asked: would two manufacturers (M1/63 and M1/102) have been required to make such a relatively small number of badges? Edit: three actually as we can add M1/120 to the list. The M1/63 versions are generally accepted as good but can anyone confirm which of the makers had a contract for the Meisterschütze badge? That would be a great help because the Meisterschütze Joe shows looks nice and it would be great to get rid of the doubt surrounding the 102s/120s.

Another thing which bugs me is the differences between badges from the same maker. Have a look at the M1/120 I've attached below from Hüsken and compare it to the one Joe shows. Would such a small production run have resulted in such major differences? I don't know but it would be good to find out more on these badges.

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i have no prob with joe's i had mine from a good source and it was given the mass :thumbup: and its the same as joe's , i have seen bad 102's and they are differant to the ones shown.

as for the need for 2 makers, when these contracts where given out i dont suppose they thought that they where going to make so few over such a short period of time , they where thinking that they would still be making them today. losing the war wasnt really on the minds of the germans at that point
 
Just trying to get a definitive answer where possible Stu. Light into the darkness. You know me :) The only badges I've personally been convinced by were the M1/63s because I've seen two of those with good accompanying paperwork. I've never seen a 120 or 102 with the same. A lot of this collecting lark comes down to personal experience though which is why I'd love to see a definitive answer on whether 102 and 120 had contracts for the Meisterschütze.

I take your point in the second paragraph but then again, the Meisterschütze test was something only the very best could achieve and I imagine that this was taken into account when the orders were being placed. Again, that's conjecture only though.
 
Hi,

No, not M1/68. There is an M1/63 version of the sharpshooter (scharfschütze) badge but care is needed because this MM is found on all manner of fakes too.
 
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