1957 Nachlass Heer Major Heinz Oppermann

[Skyhawk]

Hi All,

I am pleased to present the 1957 Nachlass of German Heer Major Heinz Oppermann. He spent the war as a Pioneer in Army Group A, 11th Heer Army, 72nd Division. He was one of the early awardees of the German Cross in Gold.

The full size 57er badges/clasp are all early to mid S&L produced, with solid hinge blocks. The Silver grade CCC has the broad first style pin. The remainder have the tapering pin from the mid period. The 57er mini pin is by Deumer. There was not a full size 57er Krim Shield with the group, so I have not added one. All awards pictured arrived together, and this would be considered a "solid" provenance group.

I hope you enjoy the presentation, and thank you to my good friend who facilitated the purchase.

Best,

Jeff

[Skyhawk]

Heer Major Heinz Oppermann

Additional Images

[Tony T-S]

What a grouping!!! I'm guessing the wounds he ended up with (WBG), stopped him from going to earn the RK. Everything is beautifully presented too.

[Tom B]

Beautiful grouping ! Tom

[Nigel N]

Very impressive group Jeff, the best we have seen in a long time!!
Congratulations!!
Could you show close-ups of each of the medals on the bar please, obverse and reverse if you could??
Thanks in advance and well done again for landing this one!!!
-Nigel

[Ghocking]

Amazing!!! 😜, really nice , well jealous

[xmember]

Bloody hell Jeff. I just fell off my chair. You could have warned me you were going to post something like this. I would have opened one eye at a time.

You just obtained one of the best groups I have seen in some time. Please post a picture of each of your pieces. I can't wait to see. Congrats Jeff. I know you must be beaming with this one.

Damn.....


Regards,
Rudy

[Mustangstje]

Congrats on this fantastic set my friend! The Frackkette is staggering, what a beauty!

Regards,
Nick

[Skyhawk]

Thank You to All

Thank you to All for the kind comments! I truly was lucky to get the opportunity to purchase this group. I guess this proves they are still "out there" and may become available at some point.


@ Rudy: You crack me up buddy! I hope you you have no injury before your nice trip!

@Nigel: I will take some more images when the sun appears again. The two Rumanian medals are wartime style, while the two German are 57er S&L. The wartime Crusade against Communism medal have an open "4" on the reverse, while the post war (did not say 57er ) have a closed "4". Also, the ring is very thick on the wartime as opposed to thin on the post war. All of the ribbons are UV positive, and are post war production.

I have basically exited the 57er market unless something "special" comes along, and this group definitely fit the description.

Best,

Jeff

[Matthieu]

Very nice indeed .... best group I've seen in a long time !

[BW-Sammler]

Jeff, that´s one of the best groupings I have seen in a long time
Congratulations and thanks for showing

Regards
Stefan

[Borzadow]

Wow

Very good job Jeff !!!!! Stunning group

[Nigel N]

Hi Jeff!
That's interesting to hear about the open vs closed "4", I haven't heard of that before, where did you learn of this???
I know the Romanian made (P Grant) medals have the open 4, and the postwar Souval's and S&L's have the closed "4", but I have seen variants which have the thick suspension loop, flat ribbon ring and Romanian style mounting, but with closed "4", they don't have the P Grant, so I believed they were wartime made German or Austrian versions, but the "4" theory makes them postwar!!
-Nigel

[Skyhawk]

Thanks gents for the additional nice comments!

@Nigel: I probably should have worded differently. The open "4" is a characteristic of the wartime Rumanian produced "P Grant" marked examples. As far as the closed "4" both the post war produced Souval and S&L examples have this characteristic. Also, there is a Souval produced example marked L/58 with a closed "4" that is the point of some controversy, not unusual for Souval produced awards.

Please have a look at this thread:

http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...d.php?t=524634

I do think it is possible Souval did produce Rumanian Crusade against Communism medals during wartime. Souval did produce the Italian African Campaign medal for example during wartime (and postwar too!). I guess the debate can go on about this topic.

As far as the medal bar owned by Major Oppermann, it is definitely a wartime Rumanian produced "P Grant" on the obverse marked example. I discussed the reverse as that is the outward facing side as most often seen on German medal bars. It is interesting the observe side is front facing on the mini medal bar. Also, on the mini bar the order of the two Rumanian medals is flipped. Now onto another question which is why were wartime Rumanian medallions used instead of the S&L produced post war examples? Was it simply a matter of what was available at the maker at that time? Did the vet specify or provide wartime examples to be used?

Best,

Jeff

[Nigel N]

Thanks Jeff......
Yes, I understand now what you are saying!!
The debate will go on for the Crusade medal I think, as from what I've seen, many collectors just describe the wartime types as "type 1" the Romanian original with P Grant on it, and "type 2" the German made version without the P Grant, but I think there are a lot more variants, and it is a lot more complex than is currently thought????
I think you are correct in that retailers assembling medalbars used whatever was at hand, if they had the wartime made Crusade medals, they would use those, if they had postwar versions by either Souval or S&L, they would use those instead?
The crusade medals seemed to be made in large numbers, and are still readily available now.......
Though I guess it was possible, to keep the cost down, that the vet could hand over his wartime pieces to the retailer for use too??
Think how many 57 period bars, that required one, had an original 30's Hindenburg cross on them..... probably 90%+ to find a bar with a post WW2 made Hindy on is a rarity!!
-Nigel