Early Nickel Silver Juncker Panzer Badge

Product Description: The Early Nickel Silver Juncker Panzer Badge is one that you will never grow tired of seeing. The early Nickel Silver Juncker Panzer Badge are amongst the very first Panzer Badges manufactured and awarded at the onset of the war. Many of them were awarded to the veterans of the Poland and France Campaigns in 1939 to 1940.

Every badge collector will tell you that no badge maker is the exact same. Some of the larger awards manufacturing firms had in-house die engravers putting their own artistic flair in the details of each award. In our opinion, the early Juncker design takes the prize. The delicate head of the eagle takes on the shape of a determined bird. The panzer itself looks like it’s popping out of the wreath, and the grass area has an amazing amount of detail right down to each blade of grass. Also, because they are made of a hardy nickel-silver, they held up to the rigors of every day wear. Each piece took on its own unique patina and wear pattern that is just not seen on other makers of badges. Because of this, its not uncommon to see collectors hoard these panzers in their collections due to the uniqueness of each one.

The early Nickel Silver Juncker Panzer Badge utilizes a simple sheet metal hinge with a small foot at the bottom which gave the hinge more surface area to securely fasten to the reverse of the eagles breast area. The simple nickel silver wire hook is soldered directly to the reverse of the badge to secure the pin in place for wear.  The badge is void of any repairs and the hardware is textbook “Juncker”. These early panzers do not often show up on the open market. Here is your chance to add a lovely example to your collection.

Historical Background: 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 crewman 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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