The Coburg Badge
Be careful of the Coburg Badge! It withholds several secrets and because of some of those you might end up with a fake when you thought you bought a real one. Even the "authorities" have a little disagreement about this badge.
The first "mystery", and it is a minor one, is where the Coburg badge fits in the scheme of things within the hierarchy of Third Reich medals. David Littlejohn in his book ORDERS, DECORATIONS, MEDALS AND BADGES OF THE THIRD REICH, states categorically that it ranked "higher than the Blood Order". R. Kahl, in INSIGNIA, DECORATIONS AND BADGES OF THE THIRD REICH, makes the same statement.And it's true. All of us who have seen pictures of the Nazi leaders strutting down the Munich streets with their Blood Orders and their Blood Flag will continue to wonder how the Coburg Badge could rank higher, but it really did!
In November of 1936 Hitler gave new "orders" for the "Orders and Awards" of the Third Reich. According to ORDERS, EHRENZEICHEN UND TITEL, by Hanns Dombrowski, published in 1940, the NSDAP awards are listed in this order: 1. Coburg Badge; 2. Nurnberg Party Badge of 1929; 3. , SA Treffen at Brunswick; 4. Golden Party Badges under 100,000; 5. The Blood Order; followed by the Gaubadges and the Golden HJ Badge.
Hitler caused the Coburg Badge to be struck in 1932 to memorialize an event that took place ten years earlier, on Saturday, October 14, 1922, and to honor the participants.
One of the finest books, if not the finest, on the early Nazi years is I KNEW HITLER, by Kurt G.W. Ludecke. Ludecke was a sort of "public relations" man for Hitler... he later came to the U.S. as special envoy for Hitler in an effort to woo U.S. Germans to the Nazi cause and later escaped with his life during the Blood Purge of 1934.
On that day in 1922 Hitler was invited to "German Day" in Coburg and asked to bring a few friends. I have written before that Hitler, if nothing else, was an exceptional opportunist. He rented an entire train and filled it with 800 of his followers (virtually the whole Party) and even bought his own 42 piece band, planning to take the town by storm.
Ludecke is ecstatic when he writes about what happen in Coburg. Remember, in 1922 Hitler was a nobody on the German national scene; only his fanatical little band of followers thought anything would come of the "little man with the silly mustache. Most Germans had never evenseen the swastika! According to Ludecke, "amassed burghers and wide-eyed Jews almost fell out of the express trains which passed them." Hiring the train was a huge bluff, the Nazi party had no money. Every man who climbed on the train bought one or more tickets, often with his last marks.
Coburg was a town which had long been dominated by Marxists. And the Marxists, of course, wanted no part of the Nazi "foreigners". When the Nazis arrived at Coburg, a uniformed policeman told them they could not march into the city with bands playing or flags flying. The words were music to the "opportunist" ears. Hitler pushed aside the policeman and they marched into the center of town, all flags flying, all instruments blaring. A crowd of thousands threatened to bar their way. No one was sure who these fanatics from Munich were. Suddenly some of the crowd (mostly Marxists) ,began to throw things and a furious fight ensued for perhaps 15 minutes. In time most of the crowd began to join the Nazis and before long they had won over the townspeople. Here, at last, they saw a savior" from the Communist repression. The town officials, of course, were not impressed or happy.
The next day as the Nazis triurnphantly boarded the train, Hitler was told the "Reds" would not run the train back to Munich. Again, Hitler saw an opportunity. He told the officials that he and his group would run the train themselves, but they would first kidnap every Communist they could find and would take them back to Munich on the commandeered train. What would then happen to the Communists was left to everyone's active imaginations. The Communists capitulated, the train ran. Hitler won!
And now to that badge and its secrets. No doubt that it is a heavy, solid bronze badge.
Ltc. John Angolia in his book FOR FUHRER AND FATHERLAND.. POLITICAL AND CIVIL AWARDS OF THE THIRD REICH says it was made of "massive bronze and was slightly convex, while later versions were thinner and flat." Forman's GUIDE TO THIRD REICH GERMAN AWARDS AND THEIR VALVES only mentions one version of the bronze medal (presumably the "massive convex" one mentioned by Angolia.) Littlejohn does not mention a "thinner" badge at all. HOWever, all authorities refer to another Coburg badge made of silver with a red swastika. Littlejohn says it's authentic; Forman gives it a price of $2000 and Angolia states it was probably a private purchase.
Forman lists the price of the bronze Coburg badge at $1,250. I have seen them on tables of reputable dealers for somewhat less than that. The problem, of course, is knowing if they are real. The fakes I have seen have "villages" on top that simply do not match the real ones. I saw one recently that was "thin" all right. It resembled a large, cheap tinnie. The asking price was $400. I passed.
Robert McCarthy, who has a fine example of a real Coburg badge, mentions that you should look for a small RZM on the lower reverse of the badge. Steve Wolfe says that the thinner version does exist, but without the RZM and that there is very little difference between the two versions.
Even thought "thinner" badges were apparently manufactured, my "authority quotient" would feel more comfortable with the heavier "massive" bronze medal, and with the RZM mark.There were only 436 of these badges awarded which makes originals fairly rare.
Mickey Huffman, "The Curious Case of the Coburg Badge", Der Gauleiter, 1989
Note: The picture is for an example only. I don't know if it's a real one. If you have a picture of one that you are sure is real please email it to me. Thanks, Bob
posted by GMC at
12:00 PM
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