Another nice original W.W.1 Imperial German collectable & a desirable badge to grace any collection, this Prussian W.W.1 heavy silver tombec Naval or Army Air Service pilots badge retains great patina & is in uncleaned condition! These badges were awarded from 23rd February 1915 throughout the war to qualified pilots who had completed all branches of flight training. There weren't so many produced because at the start of W.W.1 there were exactly 254 pilots in the Imperial Naval Air Service, some of those badges were never awarded because prior to 1915, those pilots that had retired, become wounded & unable to fly, or killed were not considered! A special commemorative badge was instituted in 1916 by the Prussians called The Commemorative Flyers Badge which was issued to such surviving servicemen. 

The official name (in German) of the award is “Orden Preussen Marine Flugzuegfuhrer Von Seeflugzeugen” & was made of a special material called Tombec Silver, it is a process where copper is added to the zinc mixture & then the 800 parts silver is adhered to the top, (silver doesn’t stick to zinc or lead). This makes the badges very weighty & a sturdy clasp suspension was devised with the flared thick pin. This was needed to pierce the heavy wool material of the period & once pierced, allowed the material to close itself around the pin. If the badge became unclipped it would generally still hold in place as opposed to a round pin (seen on many fakes. Please note the sturdy & well constructed clasp & assembly at the rear of the badge & the Paul Maybauer silversmiths stamp mark with half crescent moon & Imperial crown located directly under the flared pin. Also hallmarked 800 silver as required by the law of the time. Post war badges were produced but the Maybauer stamp marks omitted the Imperial crown due to the decline in Imperialism after the war!