SA Reserve armband - opinions please

[ancientrelicsuk]

Hi Guys,

I would appreciate comments on this SA Reserve armband please. Does it have a chance? I was initially put off by the gray bands overlapping the swastika roundel but looking on another thread found a contemporary pic of a veteran wearing an armband just like it, so I am hopeful it is good.

Thanks for looking,

All the best, Guy

[rbno]

Common party armband modified by the addition of the gray edge stripes. Looks fine, but some may question when the modifications were made.

Al

[ancientrelicsuk]

Thanks for the comment Al, you make a very valid point. Thanks again, all the best, Guy

[Wim Vangossum]

Here is mine to compare…


Regards, Wim

[squidney86]

Wim's example is the type I have always been most comfortable with. Its a rock solid piece. The original post armband looks amateurish. The grey tresse isnt flush on the border and it overlaps the disc. Doesnt by any means mean its not real though.

Sydney

[Rich Moran]

Am going to add a thought here about the SA/SS Rerve cufftitle. 1st, the hakenkreuz weaving is right, as hard as it is to see.

Regarding these armbands, 2 color borders were issued. These were meant to be rolled under the armband when activated.

With 2 color tress, was white SA and grey SS?

[rbno]

Regarding the armband posted by Guy: The basic armband is fine. The addition of the edge stripes looks amateurish because the stripes were added by an amateur, whether it was in 1932 (as I suspect) or in 2002.

Wim, your armband also looks like another period piece to me, but a little out of the ordinary. It may indeed be SA reserve, but after studying it, I think it could possibly be something else entirely.

Frequently light blue shoulder strap piping denoting transport and supply on Heer or WSS has faded to gray. On my monitor, the edge stripes look like this faded blue shoulder strap piping rather than the normally used gray edge stripes. I propose that if this is indeed faded light blue, this may be an early, possibly transitional, political leader armband for the lowest Ortsgruppe ranks. Because it is a cotton armband, it would have been intended for wear with a brown shirt. Later armbands were wool with light blue wool piping, of course.

From what I have read, both the SS and SA reserve were to wear gray edge stripes. I believe the SS reserve wore these only while the SS still reported to the SA. After the SS was separated from the SA, the armband disappeared. BTW, I do not recall seeing a wool SS armband with gray edge stripes, which I would expect to be grosgrain ribbon, like the stripes on the textbook wool Allgemeine SS armband. They may exist, but I do not remember seeing one.

My collection includes 3 cotton SA reserve armbands. Two have the machine woven swastika on a white field zigzag stitched to the armband like the two examples shown here. Both of mine have factory sewn edge stripes. One has gray stripes and one has very light gray (almost white) stripes.

The 3rd is a standard BeVo armband with separately produced gray on red BeVo edge stripes zigzag stitched to the finished armband making it significantly wider than a standard armband. (~13.5cm vs. ~11.5cm)

Just my observations.

Al

[ancientrelicsuk]

Thanks for your observations Al. Wim's example is superb. I think these armbands are quite hard to find.