Golden Party Badge of the NSDAP

A Site for Collectors and Historians

INTRODUCTION

Because the Golden Party Badge is much sought after by collectors, it is inevitable that it has been copied. Early copies were crude, but more attention to detail has made these forgeries more convincing as time goes by. Have a look at these recent fakes. Some are sold as replicas initially, but make it into the reseller market to trap the unwary.

Generally, genuine Golden Party Badges should have the look and feel of good quality jewelry. Fakes usually lack both the rounded oak leaves found on originals and the quality of preparation is very poor. Most fakes are cast, while the originals were die struck. Scratches under the plating indicate finishing from a power tool to remove the roughness caused by casting.

What follows on this page and the next is a gallery of fakes currently being offered for sale as originals.

This fake of a 30.5mm pin came out about Jan. 2001, and presented collectors for the first time with both a good front and a plausible back. The "O" is more round and the leaves are well done. The way to tell this is a fake from the front is the hyphen is too far over the edge of the "L" and the swastika does not touch the inner edge of the border around the wording. Otherwise, very convincing and dangerous to the new collector.

The back of this convincing fake 30.5mm badge has both "Ges. Gesch." and the Deschler mark on the pin-pate. There should be a "u" between "Deschler" and "Sohn". The "Ges. Gesch." is sometimes found stamped this way, but is usually not this close the the edge, and should be uniformly deep. The numbers are not in a straight line and are thinner, taller and closer together than originals.

This Golden Party Honor Badge has been sold as an original. The leaves have very noticeable ridges and veins and don't go all the way to the edge. The "O" is also not round as it should be for the 30.5mm version, and the hyphen between the "L" and the "S" does not overlap the "L". The back has the "AH" and date raised instead of impressed, and the form of the letters and numbers is wrong.

A fair copy of the 25 mm Fuess badge, except the leaves have noticeable ridges for the Deschler version, and don't have the "railroad ties" of the Fuess version (which this is supposed to be). The center is properly silvered.

The reverse of the badge to the left. Fuess badges were never marked this way. They have attempted to recreate the way the numbers follow the bottom edge, but made the mistake of having them completely vertical.

The front of this fake looks very good - the "O" is round and the leaves of the wreath are well formed. It was probably cast from an original. The back is too plain and the front is flat instead of domed.

This is an interesting badge, but not a fake. This was a dressmaker's sample for display in RZM shop windows.

This is the back of a large Gold Party Badge with the maker "Souval" on the pin plate. Souval never had a contract for Gold Party Badges.

ON TO FAKE BADGES PART II