UBB.threads Forums Uniform & Accessories SS & SA Uniform Forum Odd SA Gold Plated Steel SA Badge

Hello,

I am new to this forum. I have had this SA badge for several years having purchased it from a collector in Holland. He was not sure that the gold plating was authentic though the badge itself is authentic late WW2 produced. I got it at a fair below price for one that is authentic. Due to his doubts about it having been plated gold, when all the other he saw were brass and made by makers that are known for having produced gold SA's; how it became to be gold plated was a mystery to him as it is for me. However i saw on this forum today another that had a similar badge that was also having traces of gold plating and this now makes me wonder even more as to whether these might have been made in the last days of WW2. Or could it be that a soldier after the war has a authentic steel example gold plated to fool a collector?

It is numbered 948757, made by "FECHLER BURNSBAUCH/SA" The gold plating is thickly applied. But It shows wear at the edges, and has tiny rust spots over most of the front surface, also what looks like corrosion on the top of the sword. The back has less corrosion spots through the plating. Apparently, this gold plating was done a long time ago. It does not look freshly applied, and shows wear from use.

Steve

These were awarded in bronze, silver, and gold. This appears to be a second type award (1935-1939).

So you think this is a second type award (1935-1939). It is magnetic steel, and I was told by a US collector that gold SA awards were never in steel, and only in gold plated brass. It is definitely gold plated on steel. And that plating appears to be over the corrosion of the underlying steel as seen on the top of the sword. Not sure how the Germans plated these awards. Maybe that corrosion was part of the etching process for the base metal before the plating was applied?

Early awards were brass. Later pieces could be magnetic. If the gold plating is in the corrosion, it was plated later to increase it's value.

yeah Vern nailed it... Take your magnifying glass and have a good look at the pitting on the front. IF there is gold IN them,,its been replated.................

The tiny brown pits do not have plating in them, nor do the tiny pits on the back. But the top of the sward does. Plated over a spot that was corroded before the plating. If the gold plating was done to fool a collector the person that did this made a very bad mistake. That extensive corrosion at the swords tip is a sure give away, obvious that it was plated gold when it was not originally gold plated.