A variant on the Pilot/Observer Badge, which was originally instituted as a combination of the Pilot Badge and the Observer Badge into a single award, the Badge in Gold with Diamonds had no officially established criteria, being awarded entirely at the discretion of the Luftwaffe. Broadly speaking, recipients of the reward fell into one of three categories; the first was exceptional men within their own ranks, including several of the top aces of the Battle of Britain, typically men who had engaged in combat action sufficient to receive the Knights Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords. The second was a select group of leading Wehrmacht and Party officials, including SS Chief Heinrich Himmler, Waffen-SS General Josef Dietrich and SS Colonel Otto Skorzeny; Skorzeny landed the coin on the edge between the first 2 groups, having received the award for his role in the joint Waffen-SS/Luftwaffe Operation Oak, also known as the Gran Sasso Raid, where a mixed group of SS Commandos and Fallschirmjaegers sprung Mussolini from Allied captivity in 1943. The third group was high ranking foreign leaders such as Francisco Franco of Spain (who remained neutral in World War II despite assistance from the Luftwaffe-organized Condor Legion during the Spanish Civil War), Baron Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim of Finland (who would later secure a separate peace with the Soviets and British, saving Finland from being forcibly claimed by the Soviet Union) and Regent Miklos Horthy of Hungary (who tried to pull the same stunt as Mannerheim, only to be forcibly abducted by a group of commandos led by Otto Skorzeny [see above]). Measuring 2 inches tall and 2 1/4 inches wide, the badge follows the overall pattern of the standard badge, with an eagle coming to perch on a swastika rendered in silver mounted to a half laurel, half oak wreath in gold, with the addition that virtually the entire feathered surface of the eagle and the body of the swastika has set diamonds, 17 in the swastika and 152 (yes, one hundred and fifty-two) in the eagle, with (approximate) sizes ranging from 1.1 to 2 millimeter in diameter. The rear of the eagle is rendered hollow, with perforations behind the diamonds, and secured to the wreath with one threaded screw on each wing and a thin silver wire at the swastika. No markings are present on the rear of the wreath, with a barrel hinge pin and a hinged safety catch. With a purple velvet lined case with the markings of Deutsch Goldschmiedtkunst-Werkstatten of Berlin, and an authenticity letter from one Detlev Niemann of Hamburg (in German), which describes this medal as a "contemporary original" in "authentic gold" with "authentic brilliants".

Excellent, with minimal handling marks overall.