✅ SOLVED Its a WWII Marksman Badge clasp, but whats it made of?

[OutdoorAdv]

It's a WWII Marksman Badge clasp, but whats it made of?

Its been bitter cold with lots of snow, so I've been going through some old finds. Every time I revisit this one display case, I keep looking at this one piece that appears silver and is marked "Rifle". I always thought it was part of some kids badge or something. So today I google it and I couldn't believe it, but its part of a WWII Marksman Badge for "Rifle" proficiency. It looks like Sterling and feels like Sterling, but its not marked Sterling! Even the one hoop that is in it looks silver.

Does anyone know if all of these were Sterling?

Here is mine.


If you google "WWII Marksman Badge", there are pictures everywhere and some are marked and others are not. Ebay has a lot and the Sterling markings seem random. Some of the badges are marked and some of the clasps are marked.. but they all look silver and it seems random as to which ones were marked and which ones were not. Possible with the number of places stamping these out during the war, some just never were marked.

On this one, on the left, the badge is marked, but none of the hanging clasps are marked (like mine). On the right, the badge isn't marked, but the hanging clasp is.


One type of badge these clasps were hanging from.


I read through some military collector forums, but I cant find anything on whether all of these were silver or not... and why some seem marked and others do not.

 

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[nhbenz]

The U.S Army still uses these qualification badges and clasps. They definately aren't made out of silver today, but I don't know when that switch-over happened.... Anyone know? That being said, I can't say if yours is silver or not, but it sorta' looks like the newer material, whatever that is, to me... But I could certainly be wrong.

 

[Slingshot]

I always thought the WWII Markmanship badges were silver, marked or not. They needed several million in a BIG HURRY and farmed the work out to many different companies and the contract may not have stipulated that they be marked but what metal they were to be made from. By Viet Nam aluminum had replaced a lot of the formerly silver items. An acid stone test should prove it to be silver or not. Nice find! Cheers!!

 

[Ant]

You can purchase sterling silver medals, they don't issue sterling silver medals. The medal would be worn on the dress uniform, the expert, sharpshooter, and marksman badges are also used to represent other specialties like grenade (M203 grenadire), etc, if you are expert with rifle, pistol, and M203 grenade launcher you could ware one expert medal with rifle, pistol, and grenade hanging underneath. I have found all kinds and posted them on t-net, potmetal, plated, and sterling, pilot wings too.

 

[Ant]

The badges for rifle qualification are issued to everyone, the others (pistol, grenade, etc) are earned at the unit and mainly awarded to Infantry, military police get pistol.

 

[OutdoorAdv]

Thanks everyone. My pictures are a little washed out, so here is a better one


Based on weight alone, its definitely not aluminum.

It sounds like I will need to acid test it or do specific gravity to find out if it really is silver.

I dug these two WWII Navy buttons on the same property.... and a WWII era great seal button too. Maybe a service man or veteran lived there at some time, which is why I thought this marksman badge clasp might also be from the same period.


I appreciate all of the responses. Thank you again.

 

[tokens70]

If I had to guess...I would definitely say that it is sterling...Just my opinion

 

[pistol-pete]

I won one of these in 1960, it is sterling silver and every piece is marked that way. They were a gray color as issued, and I've never seen one polished. We wore them as issued. Later issued ones, and reproduced ones are some kind of polished white metal, but NONE are sterling unless marked. Found this out in looking for a duplicate to wear, So I wouldn't loose the silver one. Here's mine, Hope this helps. Pete

 

[Ant]

The soldier qualifies at a certified range, some specialties have a written and hands on proficiency test. When a soldier passes the expert infantryman test he is awarded the rifle badge (not directly related to the topic) The solder will get these awards documented in his 201 File and then he would be authorized to wear it. The Army doesn't buy rank insignias or medals, the solder is responsible for that, that's why they pay the soldier a clothing allowance.

 

[nsdq]

The soldier qualifies at a certified range, some specialties have a written and hands on proficiency test. When a soldier passes the expert infantryman test he is awarded the rifle badge (not directly related to the topic) The solder will get these awards documented in his 201 File and then he would be authorized to wear it. The Army doesn't buy rank insignias or medals, the solder is responsible for that, that's why they pay the soldier a clothing allowance.

That once a year clothing allowance was barely 200 bucks after 6 years in as a E4 when i was in ,so you really use your reg pay to maintain your gear

 

[SkaBa]

that's why they pay the soldier a clothing allowance

Marines got no clothing allowance, at least when I was in.

 

[Dug]

If those came out of the ground like that then it has to have some silver content.

 

[ikesdad]

Marine marksmanship awards were sterling, at least up thru the 60s. Don't know about after that. And I don't know about Army, but it's a fair bet that what you have is silver.

 

[Ant]

I don't beleave the silver was ever issued. The unit might buy it or a collection was taken up to pin on silver but that doesn't fit either because marksmanship metals aren't pinned on a warfighter.

This was taken 5 minutes ago, 3 years Army active, 12 years DOD Army, 22 Years DOD Navy with 17 of that as a Civilian Marine...
I've been to more than a dozen military museums and the stinking nazis had the best uniforms and equipment, silver, gold and diamond insignias and medals. What the heckh they stole it the stinking badtards, sorry for that.

 

[Dug]

This was taken 5 minutes ago, 3 years Army active, 12 years DOD Army, 22 Years DOD Navy with 17 of that as a Civilian Marine...
I've been to more than a dozen military museums and the stinking nazis had the best uniforms and equipment, silver, gold and diamond insignias and medals. What the heckh they stole it the stinking badtards, sorry for that.

You have been around the proverbial military block a few times.

 

[OutdoorAdv]

Thanks for the responses and info everyone.

If those came out of the ground like that then it has to have some silver content.

It came out of the ground looking like silver, with some spots of black oxidation. I dug this about 20 years ago. Since it wasn't stamped sterling, I thought it was part of some kids toy. But every time I would reexamine it, I was convinced it was silver... thats when I googled "medal marked rifle" and discovered what it really was after all this time. I typically don't clean much, but rather try to preserve... so to remove the oxidation spots on this, I used Buckleboys method for blackened silver (http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/cleaning-preservation/442189-how-clean-blackened-silver-coins.html) That converts the silver sulfide, back to silver... and smells like sulfur in the process (another clue this is probably sterling)

Marine marksmanship awards were sterling, at least up thru the 60s. Don't know about after that. And I don't know about Army, but it's a fair bet that what you have is silver.

I have a scale arriving tomorrow that is accurate to the 100's of a gram. I will do a specific gravity test and post the results on here. That will at least tell me if its 92.5% silver or something else.

I appreciate all the info and will update this shortly.

 

[OutdoorAdv]

My new scale arrived today.

The specific gravity of Sterling Silver is supposed to be 10.36



2.16/0.21 = 10.29

Control: sterling stamped leaf I dug.


3.44/0.34 = 10.12

I noticed that even a fluctuation of 1/100th of a gram in my calculations can change the specific gravity by 1/10th to a couple 100th's. The marked sterling pin came in lower, but its marginal... and the pin has some enamel still on it and the base of a broken non-sterling pin soldered to the back.

So, I'm calling this rifle pin an Unmarked piece of Sterling silver. Based on the other WWII items I dug at the same site, I's say there is a good chance this one is from that era, and most likely not stamped due to quality control with war contracts. The 3rd picture in my original post (first picture from an online source) shows the backs of two medals that are toned identical and look like toned sterling. One badge is marked, with no marked clasps and the other is an unmarked badge, with marked clasps.... I'd be willing to bet, based on the toning of those pieces and the fact that the sterling marks appear random, that all of those pieces are silver.

I'm not saying that all these unmarked pieces are silver, but just that its possible to have an unmarked piece that is silver!

On another note, two days ago I won an auction for a sterling marked badge with no clasps for $4.99... since my "Rifle" clasps isn't all that cool on its own, I am going to mate it back to a badge for a proper display.

Thanks again everyone.

Rediscovering old finds in piles of stuff is what gets me through winter!
If it wasn't for rock solid frozen ground, this rifle pin would still be part of a kids toy on the back shelf of a display case. ha