First pattern army eagle on mid-green backing

[Mark_K]

Gentlemen,

I'm posting this for the eagle collectors, as it is a fantastic example of the first pattern army eagle on a mid-green background (as opposed to the pale green-grey backing these birds usually have). This was on a dealer's website, but it had already gone by the time I saw it (Aaaaargh!!!!) There does seem to have been a cross-over period where some first pattern eagles appeared on darker green backing, prior to the switch to the ubiquitous second pattern white-on-dark-green pattern took over. It's always interesting to see these fairly rare birds when they appear.

All the best,

Mark

[NickG]

Nice one!
For comparison here's my (more common) lighter green-gray early breast eagle on a pre-war "Landespolizei" impression (circa 1934 time frame)
which I restored last month...(Wurttemberg LaPo)
Your darker eagle would have color matched my tunic better! Great score!

[Glenn McInnes]

I think Fred G got this one,rare bird.








Glenn

[Fred Green]

Hello,

I already had one. Wish I could have picked this one too!!

Fred

[NickG]

and this would be yet another variant, this one in white on (darker) green! More common I assume?
Again another application example, again on an early 1930's LaPo uniform !

[tgn]

Here is another one on a dark green tunic I have.

[OSS]

Perhaps these green backed eagles were not used on any Heer tunics but rather Landespolizei. ( I've never seen one on a pre-war Heer tunic, only grey backed).

[NickG]

That's exactly what I was thinking (a color match) but LaPo on the other hand did also use light gray green backed eagles to...Who knows...Whatever was available I guess!

On lighter backing...

[NickG]

Darker green backed eagle on a Lapo uniforms...

[tgn]

Darker green backed eagle on a Lapo uniforms...

Nick, my tunic looks a lot like this one. Can you or anyone show me an example of what the shoulder boards/straps should look like? Mine is missing these and I would very much like to complete the tunic.

Tom

[NickG]

Nick, my tunic looks a lot like this one. Can you or anyone show me an example of what the shoulder boards/straps should look like? Mine is missing these and I would very much like to complete the tunic.

Tom

Tom does it have State property stamps? This will help identifying the region (and style) See plate!
Here's another example (from Angolia's Pol book Vol.1) including the color plate which shows the different styles depending on which State...
(Prussia, Wurttemberg,Baden, Bavaria, Thüringen, Hessen etc...)
as these Police uniforms were not yet standardized...(not until right around the Olympic Games in Berlin...when the TR pattern generic uniforms were introduced).
So different collars, different cuffs, different collar tabs/litzen and even different uniform color even... and many Police forces acted as LaPo, LandesPolizei units,
(camouflaged military because of the Versaille Treaty) adding transitional (early style) WH breast eagles when Hitler fully absorbed them into the military.

More in this thread too! (which show my uniform restoration)
http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...ht=LaPo&page=2

[Mark_K]

"Perhaps these green backed eagles were not used on any Heer tunics but rather Landespolizei. ( I've never seen one on a pre-war Heer tunic, only grey backed)."

This is fascinating. I never realised that the Landespolizei wore breast eagles like this, but that would be a perfect explanation for these first pattern eagles on darker green backing than their army equivalents. Definitely a nice type to pick up, as and when they turn up.

Mark

[NickG]

Perhaps these green backed eagles were not used on any Heer tunics but rather Landespolizei. ( I've never seen one on a pre-war Heer tunic, only grey backed).

That's why I put the Landespolizei theme in this thread...Some food for thought! Those early eagles on dark green do match pre 1936 "steel-green" police uniforms perfectly!

You'll find lighter and darker 1st pattern eagles on LaPo tunics but on the other hand on early RW/WH tunics and photos its always the lighter backed eagles for some reason (or not?) See here....