Westwall bandspange

[Pretorian81]

Hello guys,

Can anyone confirm this is an original ww2 Westwall bandspange?

Thanks in advance!

[wehrpasswilly]

Westwall

Looks pretty decent to me, I would have it in my collection

[Rommel1933]

Hello... have you UV /Black lighted it??

Thank you, Scott

[Pretorian81]

Yes, the bandspange is UV-negative...

[Pretorian81]

What do the other guys think about this one?

[luftkrieg]

Hi Pretorian81,

The overall construction looks good. Nice to hear it is UV negative also.

Is there any trace of stitching across the top and bottom of the backing? It is unusual for the sides to be stitched and nothing on the top and bottom.


Kind regards
Pierce

[luftkrieg]

Looking at the front- the horizontal ribbon weaves seem to be a bit spaced, not as tight as I would expect, a bit like on repro ribbons. Each of these weaves seem to be made up of singular segments too. There appears to be like a cross hatch weave to this piece of ribbon. Here is a piece of repro Anschluss ribbon to compare with; it is quite similar.

If I’m honest I would pass on this one. An original should not be too hard to find and would be quite inexpensive anyway so I would not get too caught up on this particular piece.

Kind regards
Pierce

[VonPeter]

I have a similar one that I have doubts about.
The diffrences is that i have stitches all around and the thread is in the correct color, other then that i think its maybe the same german guy that have faked them. IF the are fakes...

[luftkrieg]

I have a similar one that I have doubts about.
The diffrences is that i have stitches all around and the thread is in the correct color, other then that i think its maybe the same german guy that have faked them. IF the are fakes...

At the back of my mind there is a voice asking why would anyone bother faking these....they are not exactly going to bring in the big bucks!! Though I guess they are easily made and if you make enough of them............and of course more or less EVERYTHING is faked now.

EDIT: I have compared the photos posted to some ribbons I have on original medal bars. I cannot see the same intregal weave pattern on the medal bar ribbons as I do on these West Wall ribbons (which are the same width as ribbons used to make medal bars). Here is one example.

Kind regards
Pierce

[VonPeter]

At the back of my mind there is a voice asking why would anyone bother faking these....they are not exactly going to bring in the big bucks!! Though I guess they are easily made and if you make enough of them.....

Like you say, there are easy and also cheap to make. And if you make hundreds of different singel bars and have continuously running ads on ebay, militaria321 and so on, i think there is a buck to be made.

Or its just my old paranoia kickin in.

[VonPeter]

I took a close-up pic of the bar and added pics of a real and a fake ribbon.
I think the ribbon on the bar is good, it definitely looks more like number 2 then number 1.

This does of course not mean that the bar is good, it may still be a fake using a correct ribbon.

Opinions?

[Pretorian81]

Hello luftkreig,

there is no trace of stitching across the top and bottom of the backing.
It's weird that the thread has another(yellow) color than the front(orange).

I don't know if this is normal..

And the bandspange is already in my collection...

[Pretorian81]

I agree with VonPeter, it looks more like number 2...

Difficult to say it's a good one or not..

[5ribbonbar]

I think what Pierce has stated in this case holds true...if you have doubts just move on. This is hardly a rare find, and locating a perfectly good original is an inexpensive venture.

Cheers,

Glen

[VonPeter]

Its not a matter of how easy it is to find another one, its just that it would be foolish to throw away a genuine historical piece, no matter how cheap it was.

Pretorian81, where did you get yours from?