SS Long service awards

[Antonio Scapini]

Today I show 3 of mine SS long service medals.

Both the 8 years are from the same maker, that for some collectors was Deschler, but we found some evidences (from the maker catalog) that might be produced from Schickle.

The 4 years I show is known as a Petz & Lorenz production.

The firms of Petz & Lorenz and Deschler/Schickle are the only I've ever encountered in my researches (and in period catalogs). I think that this is another field we should study more thoroughly, to avoid some mistakes we have seen in the past.

Please, if you have SS long service medals differents from those I show here, post them!

Here the medals.

SS 8 years "Type I"

[J C Gray]

I'm not seeing any pictures.

[Antonio Scapini]

Another SS 8 years "Type I"

[Antonio Scapini]

SS 4 years commonly know as "Petz & Lorenz". We should call it simply "Type II".

[J C Gray]

I can see the pictures now...very nice condition medals.

I have asked many times on this forum why these are attributed to Deschler and P&L, but have yet to receive any sort of answer. Although I personally have never seen the documentation for 'Deschler', I have it on good authority that there is period documentation stating that the SS-Dienstauszeichnung was produced by the aforementioned two firms and I have no reason to doubt it. Unfortunately, the quality of the images in both the Schickle & P&L catalogues make it difficult ascertain a match to any of the known originals, therefore, I prefer (at present) to refer to the alleged "Deschler" & "P&L" awards as "Type I" and "Type II" respectively. It has also been brought to my attention recently that all four grades of the SS-Service Award appear in one of the (1940???) St&L catalogues and although I have personally, not yet seen this particular publication I have seen the images of a period St&L showcase which features all four levels on display. Again, these images are not of great quality, but it can be seen that they all have the teardrop suspension loop. Four SS awards with teardrop loops also appear in the 1939 Reichsgesetzblatt with enough detail to determine that they are the 'Type I' version and very good quality photographs of the 4 & 8 year 'Type I' medals appear in the 1939-'41 books by Heinrich Doehle. The Doehle books also show the 'Type II' variants of the 12 & 25 year SS-DA which have a circular suspension loop, so, without any period images that link the 'Type I' directly to Deschler, I am of the opinion that the four levels with both teardrop suspension loop and the shorter, wider jump ring could possibly be attributed to Steinhauer & Lück.

[luftkrieg]

Stunning pieces Antonio!

Kind regards
Pierce

[Antonio Scapini]

Thanks guys!

In both catalogs P&L and Schickle the SS-DA have the soldered ring that is a simple circle, in no one we can find this ring with the shape of the known SS long service medals.

Now we consider original only 2 types of these medals, but I'm pretty sure there are others good. It's necessary a more deep study on them.

[CurtD]

Why has no one ever posted a scan from a manufacturer's catalog of these medals?

[Woolgar]

Beautiful examples Antonio

Nick

[J C Gray]

Why has no one ever posted a scan from a manufacturer's catalog of these medals?

They have been posted on various occasions by myself and others.
Here is a quick montage of some period images...

[Rommel1933]

Really great looking medals Antonio!

Thank you, Scott

[Antonio Scapini]

Thanks Nick, and thanks Scott!

I remember to all if you have SS long service medals to post them, maybe we can do some new discoveries about them.
And I also think it's time to change our way to call the known patterns "Petz & Lorenz" or "Deumer", and, as JC Gray said, start to call them as "first type" or "second type" until we'll be sure.

[peterm]

SS-Long Service f. 4 Years

Hi guys!

As Antonio requested: here is my SS-long service-medal.

Kind regards, Peter

[keifer kahn]

Looks good.

[Antonio Scapini]

Peter, you have a very nice 4 years medal!
Until today this was known as "Deschler", but as I wrote, we can call it "I type". My SS 4 years is a "II type" due to its characteristics.

We can do here a database of originals known.