I have no idea why I called it Wasserkruppe, which should have been Wasserkuppe, which does make a big difference.
Silesien, I did check the book and yes you are correct a very similar badge is in the book.
MW, you make some valid points and I do have to agree with you on a lot on this. I personally have not seen another one like it so I don’t have much to compare it to other than what is in the book. When looking at this badge there is nothing cheap about it everything had a lot of detail, well made, good enamel, and a heavy badge. If one would fake this one you would have to make a lot of them to recover your investment. Were all the other badges? One day we may find out more and come to the conclusion that yes of course it is an original.
Just to add a little story that happened to me. A few years ago I had a one-piece construction Spanish Cross in bronze without swords. I was trying to sell it but not many people were interested and said oh this is a fake. I went to a very well known dealer and said that I like to sell it and once he found out it was a one-piece construction he no longer was interested. Today this same dealer is selling the same thing and now I see it sold on all sorts of websites plus on even more well known dealers. So overnight the fake became an original! Did somebody in the community say it is an original now and you all can now buy it? Or do we now know more about it? The point I am trying to make is that today we don’t know everything and most of us say it is wrong since somebody else before us said it is wrong. There are only a few of us that come out and say it is a fake and than substantiate their argument with solid facts. It takes a lot of guts to come out and say something is correct or incorrect and support it with some solid fact. We need more information on this. So you out there if you know something about this badge let us know. In the end it still may be a fake but maybe not. Thank you all for any and all of your feedback. JME