Germany - Third Reich: Kriegsmarine Blockade Runner’s Badge, good quality early tombac version, long tapered pin, bearing makers marks on the reverse: ‘Fec Otto Placzek Berlin aif Schwerin Berlin’, and complete with matching half-size version, and housed in its original box of issue.
Condition: silvering slightly polished on highlights of both, about Good Very Fine.
The Blockade Runner Badge or the Badge for Blockade Runners (Abzeichen für Blockadebrecher) was awarded for service on warships or merchant vessels that attempted to break through the British sea blockade of Germany. It was instituted on 1st April, 1941 and first awarded on 1st July of the same year. The badge was designed by Otto Placzeck in Berlin. It was in either tombac or zinc and featured a ship with a large eagle grasping a swastika on its bow. Around the circumference of the badge is a chain, through which the ship is cutting. The eagle was silvered whilst the rest of the badge was a dark gray colour. The badge was worn on the left breast pocket of the uniform A smaller half-size version was awarded for use by civilians and members of the merchant marine.
