BW Splinter set

[panzerwerk]

Been looking for a decent set of these for awhile , these came up on ebay and looked good as all the snaps and zippers worked !
What surprised me is the pants are unissued mint condition ,a huge plus !
Not sure why it has U.S. insignia , The seller said he went on to Vietnam after Germany , and the only thing I could find on U.S. Soldiers wearing German camo was for the Early LRP/LRRP program in Germany . And that would probably be a long shot for this set , it was most likely a traded item or souvenir set some soldier picked up , anyway I am happy for what I paid !

[sammlermws]

That is an awesome set, good score! If you don't mind, what was the price?

[panzerwerk]

About $260 shipped , Thanks , I think the pants alone are worth more then that , But I have no plans of selling , I waited a long time for a good set of Splittertarnan.

[Guardian 5]

panzerwerk,

Nice set of splittertarn, congratulations!

It is interesting to note that the insignia is from the U.S. 32nd Armored Cavalry Regiment. This is the unit Elvis Presley was stationed with in Cold War Germany.

A few years back on the old "Bundeswehr Lovers" thread we learned that an Australian by the name of Cpl. Green, 40 Air Dispatch PL RAASC (Royal Australian Army Service Corps), wore a Bundeswehr splittertarn jacket like yours while conducting resupply missions in the Vietnamese highlands.

Again, congratualtions on a wonderful acquisition.

All the best,
TJ

[panzerwerk]

Thank you TJ , the seller told me the guy who originally owned this set did the same thing , he wore the jacket in Vietnam till he got Tigers (cant imagine how hot he would be wearing these), How true it is I cant say , you know how it is with stories , But for me it was a win either way !!!
Thanks again !

Steve

original story I was told :

Up for auction is a set of large to extra large splitter tropical camo. They have 32nd armor regiment ID's on them. I bought them from a guy that was stationed in germany in the 1950's and then got reassigned and went to vietnam in the 1960's. He used them there until they were issued tiger stripe camo. They still have an empty bag of chewing tobacco from his time over there.

And I asked about his name and he replied :

His name was Mr. Jackson. I bought this, a front seam helmet, and m1 carbine slinge after i saw him at a garage sell. Ive actually had those for about 6 months. He told me he was station in germany in the late 50's then went to southeast asia. i never got his first name. Maybe this will help alittle bit. i bought this set because i had never seen this type of camo other than ww2 german splitter type and it looked alittle similar.

[Collectinsteve]

Hi Steve,

Glad you wound up with that one. I bid on it for awhile on the off chance it would go cheap. It went for a decent price. Pieces in this condition usually go for around EUR 125-150 on German eBay, though of course they sometimes go up from there if two people are hot for it.

I have a set which was worn by a US Army Captain who trained German troops in the early 1960s before he went off to Vietnam. He had it all badged up as if it were a US Army uniform. For years I thought some veteran stuck the stuff on after his service, but with the help of Google I came to a different conclusion.

The guy is still alive but I'm not having much luck contacting him politely. Just cold calling him (I have his phone number) seems rude. One question I have is if he took the set off to Vietnam with him. I tend to doubt a soldier would wear one for very long. These uniforms would be horrible for jungle conditions. And dry rot would probably not take long to destroy a uniform like this, and yet your set is damned fine as is mine.

In short, maybe the story you got with your set is true. But I'm a little leery of the worn in Vietnam claim. The rest of it sounds fine to me.

Steve

[panzerwerk]

Yup , thats why I said stories are stories ......

Your price quote to another member was a little more generous, and pants are fresh off the shelf , brand new !!

But no mind , seeing what folks pay for tore up faded reapired jackets and pants , I know I got these at a super price , and since I bought them as a German set ,the American connection is just a interesting side show .

02-23-2012, 01:04 PM #2 Collectinsteve
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Collectinsteve is online now
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: New England
Posts: 983


Congrats! It's always a little hard to tell which color variant I'm looking at when the uniform is this worn, but it appears you have both items in the Blue variation.

First off, the belt is usually missing or at least was removed (as is the case with yours). Which is kinda funny because it came sewn onto the trousers, which means someone had to work at it to get it off. I've always assumed it was uncomfortable for the soldier and soldiers tend to act when uncomfortable.

Second, the hoods are rarely sold with the jackets. And when they are, chances are they were not together while in service. Hoods are found on eBay more frequently than the belts, so if you look consistently enough you'll get one.

Lastly, the damage/repairs seen on your uniform are pretty common ones. Especially the lower leg repairs. I've seen plenty of trousers for sale with worse damage that wasn't repaired, so at the very least you have one that is probably exactly like it was the last time it was used by someone in the BW.

About value. These uniforms are in high demand since they were only manufactured for about 2 years and were worn for upwards of 8 years. Which is why they aren't all that easy to find in better condition than what you have. And when they are... oh boy does the price go up steeply.


Prices lately have been all over the place. ROUGHLY speaking for decent condition stuff you can expect to pay roughly:

Hood - EUR 25-40
Jacket - EUR 90-200
Trousers - EUR 90-200

For a really good example, add about 50% to both the low and the high end.

Over the last 15 years I've probably had a dozen pieces, jackets and trousers, in my hands in order to get the 4 pieces I've kept for my collection. That's how many times I found something in better condition than what I already had. In fact, I have another jacket on it's way to me now that I'm hoping is better than what is in my collection.

Steve

http://70.87.163.50/forums/showthread.php?t=576895

[panzerwerk]

Some recent ebay auctions :

Tore up pair of pants :

http://www.ebay.de/itm/ws/eBayISAPI....vip=true&rt=nc

Decent jacket , missing snap and more faded then mine

http://www.ebay.de/itm/ws/eBayISAPI....vip=true&rt=nc

Decent looking hood

http://www.ebay.de/itm/ws/eBayISAPI....vip=true&rt=nc

Another decent jacket :

http://www.ebay.de/itm/ws/eBayISAPI....vip=true&rt=nc

Another jacket nice :

http://www.ebay.de/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&_trksid=p4340.l2557&hash=it em257195b6ee&item=160819427054&nma=true&pt=Militar ia&rt=nc&si=3UPvdcdJr%252BGNT5wEsOWCepoKKHw%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc

I am just glad I did not have to pay shipping from Europe !!

[panzerwerk]

Here we go , mint pair of pants very nice !!

http://www.ebay.de/itm/Splitter-tarn...item35bc184430

[Collectinsteve]

Note that the post of mine you quoted is 2 years old, so that was made for the time it was posted in. Oddly enough it seems to be relevant again

I haven't been paying too much attention for the lsat few months, so it seems pricing has crept up again. Like so many other things on eBay, these things go in cycles. I think the last jacket I bought, in pretty good condition, cost me under EUR 70. And yeah, as I noted back in 2009 the really good stuff comes up rarely and usually goes for at least 50% more. Or like the mint one you linked to, nearly 100% more. With such a small sample size it's kinda hard to peg where these auctions will wind up. Especially these days with eBay prices being rather unstable.

You got yourself a great find. Especially since you didn't have to pay about $50 in shipping costs on top of the purchase price. If I didn't already have a mint set I'd have kept bidding because even with the declining Euro you got a really good deal. That would be very hard to match on German eBay even without thinking of the shipping costs.

Steve

[panzerwerk]

Thanks Steve ! I am very happy to have won it , I had a feeling you were bidding as well .. Thanks

[Collectinsteve]

Heh... whoops! I see my previous post was from this Winter, not 2009. That's my join date.

Yeah, I saw a dip in prices after that post of mine. I guess it wasn't either consistent or sustained. As many collectors have been discussing, eBay has been a crazy place the last year in particular. The only thing that's predictable is that pricing ins't predictable

Having said that, in general early BW prices are still trending higher. Or at least they aren't in decline like some other topics.

You got a great set. If it were mine I'd take the US DUI off the epaulettes and put them in a chest pocket.

Steve