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Amico Submarine Combat with "Silver" Star - Info Sought


RickInVic
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I recently picked up this Amico Submarine Combat badge with a single star.  I thought I was purchasing a badge for 2 patrols but I think it may be for 5 patrols.  In the original listing I could see the star was a bit flatter than normal but I thought it has just been filed down a bit. I've seen pictures of that done to other badges so never thought further about it.  When it arrived I could clearly see not only that the star was "silver" but it appeared the silver layer was affixed on top of the standard bronze star.  The star is riveted in place as it should be.

 

My questions are has anyone else come across this modification to the bronze star?  For example, did Amico or another company sell a device to fix over top of the bronze star to allow a person to update their badge when they earned their 5th award?  Perhaps Amico even sold them prepared that way rather than producing badges with riveted silver stars?

I believe the silver modification to the star to be legit / periodic done and am just looking for information about this from others who may have seen this or something similar before.  Thanks in advance.

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Yes, literally anything is possible regarding these awards. You could pretty much assume that the silver star was affixed to represent 5, or possibly 6 Submarine War Patrols, as the 'Silver' stars were indeed used to indicate an multiple of 5. However, it just as easily have been attached by someone who simply didn't have an Bronze / Brass example available, so went ahead & used whatever he had ? Too bad you don't have any provenance as to its former owner ? If you did, you could always attempt to match his Navy Service up with the number of Stars. Hopefully, one of our true experts in this area will reply to your query ? I apologize for my somewhat dismal thoughts on the subject, but at first glance, that's my initial assumption.

 

              Best,     dpast32

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Thanks dpast32.  It's an interesting variation for sure. It'll be interesting to see if one of the other forum members have seen this before.

I should have included a photo of the reverse in the original post so people could see the maker's mark and riveting style.  I think I read it was only Amico badges that had the stars riveted but I could have misunderstood that.

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Well, upon further examination I think I was wrong about a silver cap / layer being added to the gold (bronze) star underneath.  I remembered I had a USB microscope so had a look with that.  Although flatter than the stars on the other Submarine Combat Badges in my collection, which gives it a bright silver look, I now think that's all it is: i.e. a worn down or filed down gold star.

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I posted an H-H patrol insignia with a “capped” star in the pinned Combat patrol badge thread.  You may want to compare.  The top of the star on your example is not typical for an AMICO produced star, despite it looking like one from the rear (rivet base).  It suggests your star was somehow modified.

 

-J

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Thanks Josh.  It's interesting comparing the details.  I have an Amico badge with 3 riveted stars that have a similar appearance.  At first I thought they were capped too but not as flat as the single star badge above. So I had a look at them under the USB microscope as well and am thinking the stamping style gives them a stepped shape which makes them look capped.  Looking straight on they also appear silver but under the microscope you can still see the gilt color on the sides of the stars.

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With these new images I agree that your first example has a filed down standard AMICO star. I’ll have to dig out that HH example some time and get a more detailed shot.  Maybe it was a lopsided strike AMICO star that was similarly filed. But if so that one was really off center as it convincingly looks to be two piece construction from a distance.  But I always wondered who would go through the trouble to make such a thing given how tiny it is.  Maybe the answer is they didn’t and AMICO send out some stars with fairly off center raised caps. 

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  • 5 months later...

Could it possibly be that these stars are simply die stamped this way out of Sterling and then coated with lacquer as were other Sterling insignia to prevent tarnishing, and the gold that you are seeing is just aged clearcoat? (they are incredibly small, and to file one down with such precision seems a bit much when they were available most readily, no?)

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