HJ boards?

[afrikasandman]

Guys would appreciate some help here on these boards. I picked up a small box of vet acquired items about 13 years ago from a lady I worked with. She was given the box and the insignia/tinnies in it by the vet along with several bayonets (she gave those away to the Salvation Army when she was working at a Nursing home long before I bought the box of insignia) That said I have absolutely no idea what branch they belong to and just always assumed HJ. We all know what happens when one assumes but I do find these to be kinda interesting. You can see they had chain stitched numbers at one point and were picked out from the top and metal numerals put in to replace them. You can still see the stitching under the metal numbers. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Matt

[afrikasandman]

You can also see where several pips were removed towards the base of the boards and that has always made me believe they were HJ. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts and opinions on these. Matt

The vet also served in WW1 (where he got all the bayonets :/ shame I didn't get those but that is the way the ball bounces). Matt

[Darin S.]

A very neat set of H.J. straps. This set is obviously been converted from a set of tan 1934 pattern H.J. straps that have been redyed to conform to the new regulations introducing black background strap on September 30th 1938. This set if for Bann 131 Hamm of the West/Westfalen Gebiet and has had the original colored piping removed and been resewn with the silver litzen for lower level H.J. leaders IMO. Not unusual to have the pips removed over time but would have been worn with possibly 3 pips for a Gefolgshcaftsfurher or 4 for a Stammfuhrer IMO. You can still see the numerals from the previous Bann on the straps as the sewing of the numerals goes through the straps on 1934 pattern H.J. straps, unlike the woven numerals of the 1938 pattern H.J. straps. They appear to have been converted from a set from Bann 233 Gladbach-Rheydt of the West/Ruhr-Niederrhein Gebiet. This was possibly done after a promotion of the wearer and a change in his location. A very cool set of transitional H.J. straps. Congrats on the pick up.

Edit, on a closer look the colored piping is still present but has been dyed black.

[Darin S.]

Here are some examples from my collection of odd looking transitional period H.J. straps. Regulations were new and confusing and there was always a "grace" period to allow for H.J. members to update to the newly introduced insignia it seems.

[afrikasandman]

Darin,

thank you for the awesome explanation! I have never really been sure what they were so that is way more info than I had expected. Matt

[Darin S.]

You are welcome Matt. A great oddball set, I look forward to seeing them in hand!