NAZI Badge ID

[Ganderite]

My father in law was in WW2 with the Canadian Army in Europe. He talked very, very little of what went on there, other than once commenting on the smell.

In going through his estate, this badge is the only souvenir that surfaced. It is what I would call silk embroidery. It is a bit bigger than 4" x 2".

What is it and what would the value be?

Thanks.

 

[Don Kael]

Looks like an SS officer sleeve eagle, cut from a uniform.

Edit: http://www.collectorsmilitaria.com/A_Mint_Unissued_Bevo_Sleeve_Eagle_110309uc.htm

Similar, trying to pinpoint where yours was made though.

 

[Ganderite]

I have looked at the pictures of sleeve eagles. the wing tips are different. This is gold silk on black silk.

 

[militariacollector]

It's not an SS eagle as they have a different design. I'd say it is a Kriegsmarine (Navy) Breast eagle but it is interesting in that the head is facing left (they are supposed to face right). I did a quick search and found that left-facing eagles are an anomaly and are quite rare. You'll have better luck posting this on the Wehrmacht Awards forum, they should be able to help you out!

 

[student of history]

double post.

 

[student of history]

Militariacollector pretty well took the words right out of my mouth. Probably Kriegsmarine but with left facing head. Either a repro or something quite rare, cross your fingers

 

[sean69]

there are 2 of them here, yours probably had another patch to go with it...

http://www.snyderstreasures.com/pages/germancloth.htm - these are railway.

So some sort of civilian service patch, probably not possible to say exactly what branch for sure.

 

[Steve1987]

Sean69: Snyders treasures is notorious for fakes and fantasy items. I suggest not using his site for any sort of serious reference.

This badge looks promising to me, the threads have what appears to be a proper twist on the back. A fake would not be this advanced and screw up the eagles head.

-Steve

 

[Mike Webb]

Not likely a WW2 vet would have a fake patch hidden away for 60 years.

 

[Steve1987]

I had a little time today to take a better look at the badge. As suspected, there are no issues and the badge is 100% original. Of course as Mike points out, it also comes from a WW2 vet

The badge is an unsewn sleeve eagle for the Deutsches Reichsbahn which was the German National Railway maintained by the NSDAP during the third reich period. Appears to be a late war version of the badge, which would be commonly encountered and brought home by veterans as souvenirs, usually strait off the role found in liberated factory stocks.

While it does look similar to the more iconic Kriegsmarine eagle, it's the direction of the eagles head that gives it away as Deutsches Reichsbahn.

Nice badge!

Cheers,
-Steve

 

[Ganderite]

Thanks. My father in law was a clerical type in the Army. All he brought back was this badge and an assortment of local currencies. He was a coin and stamp collector. I wish he had brought back a bag of pistols, but no such luck.