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This rare heavy steel Nazi DDAC radiator badge die is **SOLD**.

• IF you wish to purchase optional insurance, add $5.95.

• We will be happy to ship abroad at the additional cost of $70.95.

The very heavy tool steel die we offer here is an ORIGINAL NAZI DIE actually used during the Third Reich for the manufacture of the most elegant and most expensive auto radiator badge for Der Deutsche Automobil Club (The German Automobile Club).

To manufacture such a badge, the 2-1/4 x 4 x 5-3/4 inch, 15 pound piece of steel with a reverse image cut into it was mounted in a huge stamping press. A thick sheet of pure, soft copper was placed on the die and pounded into it creating a series of cloisons or raised lines. The space between the lines was filled with colored powdered glass mixed with water to form a slurry or paste. Once the paste dried it was fired at a temperature of around 1500° Fahrenheit until it returned to its original form as colored glass filling the cloison.

While the example shown in our top photo next to the die is a good example of a cloisonné DDAC badge, it is not the exact DDAC badge manufactured in this die. The badge shown above is the most common type of DDAC badge and is smaller than the badges manufactured in the die we are offering here. In addition to being larger, the badges made in the die we are offering here utilized transparent red and back colors rather than opaque red and black colors, and were made with a threaded screw brazed to the back rather than having holes in the badge for mounting it to a car radiator. We know this because of the detail in the ring surrounding the swastika. That ring has detailing in the bottom which would show up only if filled with transparent red cloisonné color.

Tool steel dies used for the manufacture of large size badges of this type can cost many hundreds, even thousands of dollars today. This original Nazi die is in very fine condition and could still be used to manufacture the same product that was made in it 70 years ago. The resulting product would of course, be identical to the badges made in this die during the Third Reich. We are not suggesting that that is either the highest and best use for this die or what should be done with it, but rather trying to explain what a rare and historic piece of Nazi material it is.

This die has a further historical connection. As often happened in the die making business, a separate and different die was engraved on the back of the steel block to conserve steel and to reduce the inventory of steel blocks in the die stamping warehouse. The bottom side of this DDAC die block is engraved in relief with an image for manufacturing a badge 3-7/8 inches long for a company in Pfarrkirchen-Rottal, Germany, just across the Inn river from the town in which Hitler was born - Braunau am Inn.