Pictures of Salesmen Samples....

[dm5000]

Last fall i purchased these items at an estate auction. They, with a hodgepodge of others, where attached to a sheet of white cardboard. Another bidder remarked at the time that it was a salesmans sample board but I blew it off. I guess I expected something a little more grand. It looked to me like the GI had brought all these home in 1945 and affixed them to a plan sheet of white cardboard. The items were in no particular order and were numbered in pencil (european numerals). Now that I have seen two other salesman sample boards (including the one on GermanDaggers.com classifieds), I am quite sure that it was indeed a salesman sample board. All of the items that a GI would find with a cloth backing contained none (Drivers profeciency, Narvik and Krim shields) and the Narvik and Drivers badge were of identical manufacture. Also, none of the pieces had any wear whatsoever although some had begun to tarnish.
The Krim Shield is a duplicate for my collection. I have a Detlev with backing that I am fond of.
I guess my question is:
Are these items worth any more or less because they were salesmen samples? Am I crazy to sell the Krim Shield and keep the worn one with backing that I have?

It is my only Narvik and Drivers badge, so I will keep those, but I was contemplating selling the Krim Shield and RAD 4 year medal that came off this card.
I would appreciate your thoughts..
Dave

[don]

Hi ...I would find out if it is a salesmans sample first.If it is i would display as such.Some times you half to play the hand you are dealt.I would build around it,mabe get a salesmans catalogue.I would not break up.Hope this helps

don

[Bob Hritz]

These are not salesman sample boards. When the war was over, the left over stocks of medals and badges were sewn to these boards and sold to GI's for souvenirs. I have gotten a number of these from my ads and every former soldier told me they traded food or cash to the inidviduals who were selling them on the street. I have even seen one which had the medals and badges sewn to a cardboard placemat from the medal company cafeteria. You will even see some where the badges do not have pins applied, as they were not finished when the war ended. Often times there are numbers below the medals and badges, and the identification of the item is written on a peice of paper, on the reverse. These identifications have sometimes been in error.

Like daggers assempled from parts after the war, the postwar depressed economy of Germany meant the people who could find something to barter for cash or food, did so.

There was little need for salesman's sample boards. The true sample cases of German medals and badges were in deluxe cases with trays cut out for the medals and badges.

Bob Hritz

[JaimeH]

This will show my ignorance on the subject, can someone explain "salesmen sample boards" were not these awarded by the military along with documentation? Thanks:o

[dm5000]

Thank you Bob!

Fascinating. Thanks for clearing that up. It was exactly as you described. I also was sceptical when I first saw the board, but after seeing two others (nearly identical) labled as salesmen's samples I thought I had figured it out. The other bidder at the auction actually bought the piece of cardboard for $10, which is a little funny since he was the only bidder on it.

So the one in the classifieds of germandaggers.com is also not a salesmen sample?

I like the pieces (even though several prongs were broken off while removing them from the board, argh!).

Can we agree that they are pre-45 if they were attached to such a board? All the items on the board seemed to be unissued samples..... I guess taken from the manufacturer.

Thanks again,
Dave

[don]

Would dave be better off not breaking up this souvenir board?.This a interesting topic.I still would leave it alone.

don

[dm5000]

No doubt....

Yes, it would have been nice to keep the board together, but the medals were being auctioned off individually. After all the items had been "won" the auctioneer added them all up and offered the board as a complete set.. It came to over $500... Mostly for stuff I already had, EK1, Spanges, etc.... So neither I or the other bidder was willing to pay that for the whole collection. I bought about 1/3rd of them and the collector bought the other 2/3rds and the board. If I had known there was only one other collector in the crowd, I would have colluded.. drat. Still I think I paid $60 for the Narvik, $35 for the Krim and $15 for the rest (Drivers badge, RAD 4 year and October Medal)...

Dave

[Lorenzo Brown]

I'll have to plead "ignorance" along with JaimeH... what were "salesman samples" used for?

Who were they selling to?... retailers? If they were selling to retailers, wouldn't the "samples" be real badges?

[dm5000]

Here is the one on GermanDaggers.com...

Here is the picture of the "salesman samples" from GermanDaggers.com. Its quite interesting. The seller says that these are all from Wilhelm Deumer of Ludensheid, is that the Deumer logo in the right hand corner? The stylized "D". If so, where would the vendor have gotten this card? Did Deumer make these cards post-war for this purpose?

Bob Hritz, can you help us out on this one?
Thanks,
Dave

[Bob Hritz]

The cards range from desk ink blotters to cafeteria tray liners.

Bob Hritz

[Mike H]

More for the controversy ...

Not to add more fuel to the fire, but this is an interesting thread. Below appear a few photos of what I will simply call a "sample board" of Luftwaffe insignia. I purchased the board from George Petersen who told me that in his early days, working for James Atwood, they used to buy these and cut them up by the dozen to obtain the hardware. This is one that survived in George's collection. I do not know their actual purpose, but I think it is obvious this is not something assembled after the war. Please note that each piece of hardware has its own drawn off segment on the board and also a hand-written number. There is writing on the back, which is meaningless to me, other than what seems to be a price. This, of course, could be post-war. Thus, I do not believe that all of these things that we see from time to time are cardboard from the company cafeteria though I respect Bob's opinion and am quite sure that he is also right.

Mike Heuer