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**Marc verstraete** · 12-01-2002, 05:49 AM

Hello Gene,
As per your request, I post the picture of an aluminium 1940 LW buckle with tab dated 1940.
As you can see, the buckle is also dated. I have other buckles with 1940 dated tabs but this one is the nicest. This buckle is part of my collection and not for sale.
Marc V.

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dscn3091.jpg (89.0 KB, 231 views)

**Marc verstraete** · 12-01-2002, 05:50 AM

buckle and date.

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dscn3092.jpg (69.0 KB, 224 views)

**Gene** · 12-01-2002, 10:44 PM

Marc,

Thanx a lot. I'm just an email away if you decide to part with it! Might you have any buckles dated 1941 or later, in aluminum with tabs? Anyone? Anyone? Beuhler?

**Marc verstraete** · 12-02-2002, 03:02 AM

Hello Gene,
I will look for a 1940 aluminium buckle for you and will let you know if I see something.
As for later dates (1941) in aluminium, they theoretically do not exist, from 1941 on all buckles are in steel, aluminium been forbidden to use due to the war effort for saving rare metals for the production of planes.
Marc V.

**Willi Z.** · 12-03-2002, 06:01 PM

Thanks for showing the buckle Marc. I too was curious about '40 dated aluminum buckles. The latest one I have is dated '39 and the earliest blue-gray steel buckle I have is dated '40. So, I would assume that 1940 was the transition period.

Willi

**Jean Pierre Redeuilh** · 12-03-2002, 08:51 PM

Well, 1940 is at least a turning point for belt buckles manufacture since aluminum buckles were replaced by steel buckles. The same was also true in 1936/37 when nickel silver was definitively left for aluminum. Each time there is a reason.
In a public message posted in another Forum in winter 2000, Tom Reid said he talked in 1999 with someone in Lüdenscheid who told him that aluminum, even if available, had to be reserved for "secret weapons", especially for V1/V2 rockets sent over England, and this as soon as 1941.

I will try to find and post the exact message.

**Jean Pierre Redeuilh** · 12-03-2002, 09:08 PM

Found It !!

So, this is just a copy/paste of Tom Reid input. I did not change anything, just removing names and email address:

-------------------
Date: Mon Oct 9, 2000 9:55 am
Subject: Re: Red cross EM buckles

ALL - (Or y'all as we say in east Texas)
This is in response to -------'s note about the DRK (Red Cross) buckles.
Since writing my book, I have had a number of opportunities to talk with
workers in Luedenscheid and Altena (an even smaller town) about "late war"
items. At this time I would back off on dating anything as "late" because it
is made of "pot metal". The real term for this cheap, heavy metal alloy is
"Weissmetall" and it is an alloy of lead, tin, and copper. This began to be
used about 1941, not 1943. Several firms in Luedenscheid began getting
contracts for high quality aluminum rocket parts about that time, and buckle
materials went down quickly in quality. I would also suggest that the DRK
buckle I earlier described as a "prototype" was probably a limited production
item by a single company. Still very scarce, but probably not much later in
production than the "standard" or commoner version. Both have the smooth
back side typical of injection moulding.
Tombac Mecklenburg-Strelitz? That would have to be private purchase,
since that state had no Garde battalions or regiments. Very rare I'd say.

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