Reichs Level Gala Bullion Armbands

[kyles bullets]

Wanted to start an individual thread on a recent find me and another collector had. Picked up estate fresh 2 Gala political bands, among other misc bits as well. Here is the one in my possession now first.

The quality of this piece is of very high quality. The roundel and swastika are made of wool. All the leaves are bullion, and the armband is pretty heavy. Note on the back side the armband has a size adjustment, which makes me believe this is a worn piece.

[kyles bullets]

Here are some close ups with a loop on the leaves. You can see the coil bullion look as well as some unterlagen under the leaves. You can see that in the previous scans as well in patches where the bullion work is not as clean after age. Interestingly it looks like in some patches that the unterlagen was yellow.

[kyles bullets]

Here is the other band that was acquired in the group. What is interesting about this piece is that the horizontal stripes under the leaves is actually just the yellow piping used for Reichs level. These pieces were private purchased so to me this doesn't seem like something unlikely to have been done. This one also has the wool roundel and swastika.

[kyles bullets]

Heres a couple more pictures showing the construction of this one as well. This band is in member all1knew's collection.

[kyles bullets]

I do have a question regarding the ranking of the first armband. At first because there was no horizontal piping I thought this was a Leiter eines Amtes band according to the Organisationsbuch der NSDAP. However the leaves are larger than they should be in the illustrations. The second armband seems to be a Leiter eines Oberstenamtes.

[Mark Costa]

I far as I have been able to determine over the years, these type of armbands were made for Robert Ley's state visit to Italy in April 1939 BEFORE the 1939 pattern insignias were finalized. Not only were the armbands very ornate but the Gauleiter tabs worn by Grohe and Koch were prototypes and Otto Marrenbach , Ley's Chief of Staff wore tabs that were never seen again. There were only a small delegation of PL's that were on this visit -- hence these armbands and tabs etc are extremely rare.


Mark Costa

[stonemint]

Kyle, I had been looking for examples of these going way back here:


http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...d.php?t=570917




thanks for posting...

[kyles bullets]

I far as I have been able to determine over the years, these type of armbands were made for Robert Ley's state visit to Italy in April 1939 BEFORE the 1939 pattern insignias were finalized. Not only were the armbands very ornate but the Gauleiter tabs worn by Grohe and Koch were prototypes and Otto Marrenbach , Ley's Chief of Staff wore tabs that were never seen again. There were only a small delegation of PL's that were on this visit -- hence these armbands and tabs etc are extremely rare.


Mark Costa

It seems surprising to me that there doesn't seem to be any period photos in wear during this visit, unless I was searching wrong for pictures. I do have this picture that I found interestingly, and it looks like there are a few bands in wear. Especially of interest is the 2nd to the left man, which looks to be wearing the rank I have (with fat leaves, and zero horizontal striping)

[Br. James]

Yes, a very interesting photo, Kyle...was Goebbels a part of that delegation visiting Italy in April of 1939, or are you saying that this photo was taken either before or following that visit?

Cheers,

Br. James

[Mark Costa]

There are many photos of this visit that took place in April 1939. Ley and others of his staff continued to wear these type of armbands even later on. You can also see Ley's armbands in color during Hitler's 50th birthday celebration in April 1939 as well. The man second from left in the photo just above is Otto Marrenbach who was on this visit as I mentioned earlier and wore collar tabs never seen again. It is not surprising to see him here with one of those armbands in wear as this photo was taken in early 1940 -- based on his rank of Befehlsleiter and Hugo Fischer being only a Hauptdienstleiter in this photo as well -- second from right. Goebbels was NOT on this visit. Goebbels never wore an ornate armband such as these.


Mark Costa

[Jeff Clark]

Robert Ley wearing that style July 39

[Berghof]

The quality of this piece is of very high quality.

I'd say. Incredible detail and excellent pictures.

[Br. James]

Thanks, Mark.

Br. James

[kyles bullets]

There are many photos of this visit that took place in April 1939. Ley and others of his staff continued to wear these type of armbands even later on. You can also see Ley's armbands in color during Hitler's 50th birthday celebration in April 1939 as well. The man second from left in the photo just above is Otto Marrenbach who was on this visit as I mentioned earlier and wore collar tabs never seen again. It is not surprising to see him here with one of those armbands in wear as this photo was taken in early 1940 -- based on his rank of Befehlsleiter and Hugo Fischer being only a Hauptdienstleiter in this photo as well -- second from right. Goebbels was NOT on this visit. Goebbels never wore an ornate armband such as these.


Mark Costa

Here is a photo of Ley's in wear at the birthday celebration.

Thank you very much for all this info.

Do you have any info on who could have worn the Leiter eines Oberstenamtes on the visit to italy?

[kyles bullets]

Also found this photo online when searching. Ley wearing the Gala armband upside down!