Gau Essen buckles: Another huge profit source...

[Jean Pierre Redeuilh]

Not too long ago I warned once more collectors that Gau Essen buckles could be buckles made for whatever purpose but certainly not for distribution/attribution to the SS. Just do a search and you will find many articles related to this subject. The reason why I took the time to do so was because one of those buckles was promoted as "SS Gau Essen buckle", probably to be sold at the sky high price collectors could have paid years ago when the (false) link to the SS was still alive. Maybe the seller did not even know himself. At least my thread worked since the sale title was corrected and the "SS" affiliation was removed. But, if I am glad my thread contributed to educate some people (obviously including the seller of that buckle), I am absolutely stunned by the new detail to keep price up: "only xxx made" with "xxx" been a given number!!! How can we be so disrespectful of the truth just for money! I do not have any problem with any fluctuation of asking prices since it is just a matter of agreement between the seller and the buyer, and I am selling myself my collection to the highest price I can possibly obtain, but I for sure have a problem with accuracy of the listing! if it is a fake, and you know it, do not state it is an original. If you do not know what what you are selling, just state you do not know. There is no harm with truth, but misleading is evil. If there was ANY indicator of how many of those "Gau Essen" buckles were made, do you believe we should not know by now why, and for which purpose, those buckles were made???

[klr]

You must have seen the sales ad saying only 900 of these buckles were produced. I wondered where that number came from. Seems like a high number considering how few collectors own one and how many I have seen at the big shows. I would love to know what organization the buckle was for but I doubt that information will ever come to light . It is a great looking buckle and very well made.

[Jean Pierre Redeuilh]

I wondered where that number came from

Revenue oriented unscrupulous brain

It is a great looking buckle and very well made.

As any belt buckle made by the Assmann factory. No more no less IMO. The only truth behind those buckles is they were not made in large quantity.

[wilhelm Saris]

an average strike (at the Overhoff concern) was between 100 and 1.000 copies.
But occasionally much lesser.

[KC1]

Concur on all points presented and also agree that the "GAU ESSEN" buckle is just that.... a "GAU ESSEN" buckle; a handsome buckle and solidly constructed as Kirby stated, nothing more & nothing less. IMO, most serious buckle collectors realize that this specific buckle is not affiliated with the SS organization and that production numbers are unknown. Only Assmann firm documents could realistically tell us what the production runs were and when. The only other known fact is that the GE buckle was only manufactured from nickel which would validate somewhat the short production run, ie. prior to or = 1936 at the latest.

I know Christian is writing an depth TR Buckle book - I wonder if he will address the GE buckle or stick with only known Organizational buckles? Despite knowing what we know about the Assman firm, has anyone run across any documentation from this firm in regards towards the Gau Essen buckle?

[wilhelm Saris]

You could not or hardly get information from them in the 1970's.
If they still had letters, I do not know. They told me they did not have them!

The only thing they could do was telling me, to contact Overhoff. And so
did practically all concerns I wrote in those days. Some even were that
"brutal" they told me they never had produced buckles during the TR-period.

I had never such a laugh. From some I owned leaflets and such.

PS: I forgot to mention it was possible one of the dies broke already after
only a few strucks. New dies had to be made an so minor differences can
be found with buckles!

[KC1]

You could not or hardly get information from them in the 1970's.
If they still had letters, I do not know. They told me they did not have them!

The only thing they could do was telling me, to contact Overhoff. And so
did practically all concerns I wrote in those days. Some even were that
"brutal" they told me they never had produced buckles during the TR-period.

I had never such a laugh. From some I owned leaflets and such.

PS: I forgot to mention it was possible one of the dies broke already after
only a few strucks. New dies had to be made an so minor differences can
be found with buckles!

Thanks Wim - appreciate your insight as always.