BACKGROUND: The wound badge was originally established on March 3RD 1918 by King Wilhelm II to recognise the sacrifice of those wounded during WWI. The badge was instituted in three classes with the class bestowed reflecting the number or severity of the wounds received. With the outbreak of WWII, on September 1ST 1939, Hitler re-instituted a slightly modified version of the badge. The badge was awarded to both military and uniformed non-military personnel and later to civilian personnel who received wounds as a result of enemy actions. The silver badge was awarded for three or four wounds, or if the wound was very severe, ie: loss of limb, blindness, etc.. Of Note: With the proper documentation, recipients of most Third Reich awards, including wound badges were permitted to privately purchase a jeweler’s copy of the award, at their own expense, if so desired. The LDO, Leistungsgemeinschaft der Deutschen Ordenshersteller, (Administration of German Medal Manufacturers), began regulating the manufacture of German awards in March 1941 as a quality control agent for awards that were intended for retail sale and manufacturers were to use an assigned LDO, "L", code on their products destined for retail sales. Awards that were to be bestowed by the government were also issued an official numerical government contract code known as a, Lieferantnummer, (Contractors Number), that was issued by the Präsidialkanzlei des Führers, (Presidential Council of the Führers), for formally approved manufacturers. The manufacturing firms that were licenced by both the Präsidialkanzlei des Führers and the LDO and would have used the same dies to stamp both the official issue and retail sales types of awards making them virtually indistinguishable from one another except for the markings.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1939 pattern, injection molded zinc/alloy construction, solid backed badge with a silver wash. The badge is in the form of an embossed, vertically oval, laurel leaf wreath encompassing an embossed M35 pattern helmet with high relief, canted, swastika to the center, superimposed over crossed swords on a pebbled base field. The plain, solid reverse has an integral, molded, hinge, a thin round vertical pin and an integral, molded, catch all intact. The reverse is well marked with the embossed, government contract manufacturers numerical code, "65" indicating manufacture by Klein & Quenzer of Idar/Oberstein. Comes with original case. Top lid of case needs to be repaired (all the parts are there).