Imperial German W.W.1 Silver Panzer Crew Tank Badge, ORIGINAL rare boxed - A chance to own a very very rare badge from the German W.W.1 era (1914 to 1918), this boxed original hollowed silver badge is very sought after in original condition by collectors & dealers alike, simply because of the scarcity of an original badge! The badges weren't issued during W.W.1 but in fact as a commemorative badge to serving members of the Imperial German Army assigned to tank units! They were issued in 1921 & ceased around 1923 (2 years) but could be purchased by entitled personnel privately. They were officially worn in W.W.2 by veterans of W.W.1 but only around 100 full size badges are known to have been ordered, a few private purchase badges are also known, there are also original boxed badges that were NOT issued but captured from authorized jewellers at the end of W.W.2!
Why so few originals?? Quite simply because the Germans were behind the Allies in producing tanks & used captured allied tanks towards the end of the war until their own production model, the AV7 came into production & finally entered service in early 1918. It was designed by Joseph Vollmer in 1916 & developed by Allgemeines Kriegsdepartement 7 Abteilung Verkehrsweisen (hence the name AV7) & it carried a full crew of 18 personnel.
100 AV7’s were ordered but ONLY 20 entered military service for combat & first saw action on 21st March 1918. The first ever tank v tank battle occurred on 24th April 1918 at the 2nd battle of Villes-Brelonneux involving 3 AV7’S & 3 Allied tanks. 
The fate of all 20 serving German AV7’S is known & they were all numbered between 501 & 564 & almost all had an individual “name”. They were only in action till October 1918, a short life of 7 months!