Originally Posted by derjager
I recall you wrote elsewhere that a number of these showed up over a two year period. Over ordered surplus stored away and forgotten?

--dj--Joe


That is correct Joe. Ten years or so ago these were amongst the rarest of the Kreisschiessen badges, but these days the bronze, silver & gold grades are fairly common. This is due to a hoard being released onto the market a few years ago. I have managed to track down the person who obtained them from source & according to him a bag of badges were passed to him from someone connected with the current Lienzer shooting club. In the bag were a large number of bronze, silver & gold grades, but only 4 of the gold with oakleaf grade Kreismeister badges. There were also a large number of the 1943 lapel badges I mentioned earlier which ties in with the reports of these being issued at the 1943 Kreisschiessen.

These badges are undoubtedly genuine as die characteristics match between known awarded pieces. However at some stage many of the hoard were, lets say, "refurbished"..... It seems that over the years somehow some of the paint seems to have been lost some how & the badges have been "touched up" or repainted to a degree. I have attached a picture showing one of the Kreismeister from the hoard beside a known awarded piece, the difference in the colours can clearly been seen so a collector can easily tell between badges from the hoard & awarded pieces. I must emphasize here that BOTH badges are GENUINE, & the die characteristics are clearly visable on both pieces.

As to the reason for the hoard, according to period newspapers the badges were not available for the shoot (no reason was given). Sometime after the festival (I cannot remember exactly how long off the top of my head), a small advertisement appeared in the newspapers announcing that the badges were now available for collection on production of a score card showing eligibility to receive one.

I imagine that the local marksmen would have collected their badges, but as many participants would have travelled quite large distances to attend, would they have bothered or been able to return to collect a badge? Also would everyone entitled to a badge have kept their score card?

Don

Lienz Kreismeisters a.jpg (85.62 KB, 166 downloads)
"Much that once was, is lost, for none now live who remember it"

Galadriel, LotR.