Kriegsmarine 'Marine-Frontspange'

Kriegsmarine 'Marine-Frontspange' (Naval Front Clasp). The Naval Front Clasp was a World War II German military decoration awarded to officers and men of the Kriegsmarine in recognition of long, hard front line service for all naval units. The award was instituted on 19 November 1944 by Oberbefehlshaber der Kriegsmarine und Großadmiral: 'Karl Dönitz'. As this badge was created so late in the war no serial production was ever done by any of the official award suppliers, resulting in all known examples having been shipboard produced by the crew from materials available. This example has been constructed of hand crafted copper plate having used a Kriegsmarine tunic button front as the center of the badge. A crudely soldered functional pin and catch are present on the reverse of the clasp. Extremely rare original example in very good condition!