Strange marking
That in itself may not seem strange, but it’s written in Sütterlin script- that form of cursive handwriting hasn’t been used probably since the 50s; my Dad had to go to my Grandmother to get her to read wartime letters written in Sütterlin since he never learned it in school. Luckily this text is very clear and it names one ‘Bodemann, Horst’ and I wonder- was he the soldier who carried this disc? Clearly it was worn as the wear on the neck cord holes demosntrates, and it’s in good shape and intact, meaning he survived the war; I wonder if perhaps he kept the disc and at some point put his name on it- or he gave it to someone who did.
The fact that the name is written in Sütterlin would seem to suggest it was written a long time ago, so it’s not likely a product of more recent investigation. It’s hard to tell if the pencil is on top of the mild oxidation and discolouration on the aluminum or below it, but under magnification it doesn’t look to be on top- the dark patches to the right do appear to run up to the pencil line and stop, and the graphite itself is not clean or shiny overall suggesting it’s newer; so I doubt it was the disc’s first buyer asking the elderly soldier or relative to write the name on for them or anything like that.
Regardless of the timing, the only logical reason I can see for the name being put on the disc is that it was the wartime owner- so this disc may be a rare example of knowing just who carried a particular Erkennungsmarke…
