In my search for SA unit tabs, (which is proving much harder than I anticipated), I was very fortunate to be directed by my Comrade RoyA towards a Brownshirt that had just appeared on Bill Shea's Ruptured Duck. When opportunity knocks....
The Brownshirt is made from a heavy ribbed cloth. The condition is FNM, with only very slight wear to the 'high spots' on creases, edges, seams etc. of the cloth which is typical for a worn garment.
The collar tabs are orange-yellow badge cloth and hand-tacked on. The right one has black chain-stitched 2/26 and the rank tab has a single pip (perfect gilding) and single Tresse with a ribbed texture and a black center stripe. According to Bill's description, the tabs indicate indicates that this was for an Oberscharführer assigned to the 2nd Sturm, 26th Standarte of Gruppe Mitte. Am I correct that this unit was in Magdeburg?
The white and black twisted cord on the collar has been hand-tacked on, and shows age and light soiling. When I roll the cord off the collar a bit with my thumb, it is much whiter where it touches the collar. Exactly what I look for on piping. The single shoulder strap is hand-tacked onto on the right shoulder and made from identical black and white twisted cord on orange-yellow badge cloth underlay; there is an intact paper RZM tag on the reverse. The left sleeve has a cotton NSDAP armband hand tacked on, with an intact paper RZM tag on the reverse. The swastika is made of machine sewn-on sections of black ribbed tape.
The breast pockets are pleated with slightly scalloped flaps. The left side has a pair of badges with loops that are a different thread from the insignia thread. The nicely marked SA Sports badge and the unmarked enamel Freikorps Grenzschutz-Ost Freiwilligenverband v. Kretschmann badge both appear to be original to the Brownshirt, as the cloth is slightly darker underneath, and both badges have outlines in the cloth where they touch, with some verdigris from the Sports Badge catch. is also hand-tacked on There are five stitched in pebbled belt hooks and the interior is unlined. Under pleats etc. the cloth is a different shade of brown as you would expect from sunlight during wear or age.
The front buttons are hollow 21mm smooth, gilt metal. I understand there is typically a horn button top and bottom. On this example though, the top button is a 14mm stamped zinc button (as found on trousers of the period), and the thread is the same as all the hand-stitched round holes for the metal button shanks. As well, the bottom front button is a gilt 17mm identical to the one on the shoulder strap, and the button hole is also hand-stitched from the same thread, so it was made like this. Does this indicate a time period?
I assume that the RZM tags indicate it was made sometime after 1935? However, as there is no RZM tag in the shirt, and as insignia was removed and reattached for laundering, could the shirt be earlier?
Although I have collected Imperial uniforms for decades, I admit openly that any knowledge I have about Brownshirts is limited to what I have read here in this Forum. But based upon the hundreds of uniforms that have passed through my hands, this Brownshirt seems correct and untouched to my eye. The first positive is it came from Bill Shea. The second was Peter Whamond of the Collector's Guild came to visit this weekend, and Peter described it as an "Untouched one-looker." So that is encouraging.
I never anticipated that studying the early SA would lead to me having an actual NSDAP SA Brownshirt from the 1930s but closely examining it was fascinating. Slightly creepy knowing their history, but still fascinating.
The Brownshirt is made from a heavy ribbed cloth. The condition is FNM, with only very slight wear to the 'high spots' on creases, edges, seams etc. of the cloth which is typical for a worn garment.
The collar tabs are orange-yellow badge cloth and hand-tacked on. The right one has black chain-stitched 2/26 and the rank tab has a single pip (perfect gilding) and single Tresse with a ribbed texture and a black center stripe. According to Bill's description, the tabs indicate indicates that this was for an Oberscharführer assigned to the 2nd Sturm, 26th Standarte of Gruppe Mitte. Am I correct that this unit was in Magdeburg?
The white and black twisted cord on the collar has been hand-tacked on, and shows age and light soiling. When I roll the cord off the collar a bit with my thumb, it is much whiter where it touches the collar. Exactly what I look for on piping. The single shoulder strap is hand-tacked onto on the right shoulder and made from identical black and white twisted cord on orange-yellow badge cloth underlay; there is an intact paper RZM tag on the reverse. The left sleeve has a cotton NSDAP armband hand tacked on, with an intact paper RZM tag on the reverse. The swastika is made of machine sewn-on sections of black ribbed tape.
The breast pockets are pleated with slightly scalloped flaps. The left side has a pair of badges with loops that are a different thread from the insignia thread. The nicely marked SA Sports badge and the unmarked enamel Freikorps Grenzschutz-Ost Freiwilligenverband v. Kretschmann badge both appear to be original to the Brownshirt, as the cloth is slightly darker underneath, and both badges have outlines in the cloth where they touch, with some verdigris from the Sports Badge catch. is also hand-tacked on There are five stitched in pebbled belt hooks and the interior is unlined. Under pleats etc. the cloth is a different shade of brown as you would expect from sunlight during wear or age.
The front buttons are hollow 21mm smooth, gilt metal. I understand there is typically a horn button top and bottom. On this example though, the top button is a 14mm stamped zinc button (as found on trousers of the period), and the thread is the same as all the hand-stitched round holes for the metal button shanks. As well, the bottom front button is a gilt 17mm identical to the one on the shoulder strap, and the button hole is also hand-stitched from the same thread, so it was made like this. Does this indicate a time period?
I assume that the RZM tags indicate it was made sometime after 1935? However, as there is no RZM tag in the shirt, and as insignia was removed and reattached for laundering, could the shirt be earlier?
Although I have collected Imperial uniforms for decades, I admit openly that any knowledge I have about Brownshirts is limited to what I have read here in this Forum. But based upon the hundreds of uniforms that have passed through my hands, this Brownshirt seems correct and untouched to my eye. The first positive is it came from Bill Shea. The second was Peter Whamond of the Collector's Guild came to visit this weekend, and Peter described it as an "Untouched one-looker." So that is encouraging.
I never anticipated that studying the early SA would lead to me having an actual NSDAP SA Brownshirt from the 1930s but closely examining it was fascinating. Slightly creepy knowing their history, but still fascinating.
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