Condition: Excellent
Maker: HA – Hermann Aurich
Pattern: Bronze
Base Material: Zinc
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Product Description: This Boxed Bronze Panzer Assault Badge is a great set. The badge is stamped from fine zing. It does not appear to have ever been worn, but as is often the case with original zinc badges, the original finish has faded due to microflaking. The obverse does retain some attractive golden toned bronze finish, but most of the surface reveals the gray color of the base metal. All of the crisp original detail is intact. The reverse of the badge is solid and flat, and is marked with the stylized “HA” maker mark of the firm of Hermann Aurich in Dresden. The hardware setup is intact and unrepaired, and is textbook for this maker, with a round wire pin and crimped-in plates for the hinge and catch. Much bronze finish is retained on the reverse. This badge is almost certainly an unissued example, and is still in the original box of issue, wrapped in the original tissue paper! The buff-colored paper wrapping is typical, and has the expected folds and wrinkles from protecting the badge for decades. The box is brown cardboard, held together with staples, and is complete, with only light age toning and just a hint of storage and handling wear. This Boxed Bronze Panzer Assault Badge is a desirable example of an increasingly scarce set to find. The condition is excellent.
Historical Description: The Panzer Assault Badge was instituted on December 20th, 1939. It was awarded in the silver grade to Panzer crewman who met the combat requirements. On June 1st, 1940, following the start of the blitzkrieg against France, the bronze grade was introduced to award armoured reconnaissance, motorcycle riflemen, and panzer-grenadier units. The requirements for both versions were the same, the soldier must have participated in three combat assaults on three separate days to be eligible.
The design of the Standard Panzer Assault Badge consists of an oakleaf wreath surrounding a Panzer (Tank) with the German National Eagle positioned at the top clutching a swastika. The Standard Panzer Assault Badges can still be a common occurrence at local gun and military shows even now. The German Army had tens of thousands of Panzer crewmen who became eligible for the award as the war progressed. Because of the large number of soldiers who had fulfilled the requirements to wear the award, a high demand for producing of the Panzer Assault Badge was needed. In response to this, approximately 35 manufacturers were authorized to produce the award between 1939 and 1945. Many of these manufacturers created their own version of the badge by artistically designing their own version of the eagles, wreath’s, and tanks on the badge. The design of one Panzer badge may not be identical to the next one encountered. This makes the collecting of the different manufacturers and their variants its own niche in the hobby.
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