Belt-buckle article in the latest "MILITARY ADVISOR"

[Pieter Verbruggen]

"The Military Advisor" Volume 15, number 3 Summer 2004.
...The Gau Essen Buckle and other Souvenirs from post World War II Germany....by Joseph Wotka.

I do not know how many of you have read this article , it tells the story of a young American collector who brought back after the war (1959) hundreds of buckles from the Assmann firm.

Among those a lot of prototypes or buckles with no evidence of issue, as he call's it.
I believe it is important for the beltbuckle collector that this article could be discussed e.g. on a forum like this one.
Certainly because it raises the question ...are these buckles an "unsalable creation of Assmann or a postwar creation for the young collectors..."
I think by leaving this question unanswered or undisussed, these belt buckles risk to end up in a place where they do not belong in my opinion. Certainly for new and upcomming generation of collectors.

I have personaly two questions fot Mr. J.Wotka
1) do you believe these buckles are unsalable creations of the Assmann firm ...or do you believe they are postwar creations for the young collectors.

2) you wrote "But our shrewd collector had the foresight to photograph some of the prestine pieces that came from those factories"
...Are you sure and positive these photos shown in plate A,B,C,Dand E were taken by that American collector when he brought these buckles back after the war.

I hope some one of the forum members are able to inform Mr. Wotka of this post because I believe he's not active on WAF.

I'm sure the moderators of this forum are aware of this article and are apreciated for there comments too.

Thank you.
Pieter Verbruggen.

[Marc verstraete]

Hello Pieter,<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o></o>

I post here a few of the pages you are talking about.<o></o>

Marc

[Marc verstraete]

Picture "A"

[Marc verstraete]

picture "B" "C" "D"

[Marc verstraete]

Picture "E"

[Marc verstraete]

A big lie, or how one can fool and manipulate collectors...

The text of the article is not really readable on the pictures I posted but it is of no importance as the whole article is a vast farce.

I heard of an upcoming article on the "SS" Gau Essen buckles, Landespolice and others rare buckles in the military Advisor last year and was waiting full of expectations to see what "new" evidence would be shown.

Last Friday, I received the latest edition of the Military Advisor with the famous long expected article. My condition went from excitement to disappointment, disbelief and finally anger.

Post-war letters of buckle and other "deals" with the Assmann factory and other Ludesheid factories are common. I personally have a full file of them in my archives, they are always price offers and bills, No historical record as what the buckles are, where used for or produced for.

Not only the article do not tell us anything more than was already known!!! But the top fraud here in this article are the Pictures the author used to illustrate the buckles so called "purchased form the factory"!!!!!! .

The author do not mention any credit for the pictures……… Of course, it would expose the fraud!! I do not condemn the author of the article yet, as he might be the victim of someone else’s fraud too….

Lets start with the first picture where one can see a few boxes of buckles, this picture belong to a well known US (former) collector and dealer in the Washington area and has nothing to do with Atwood.

The purpose of this article is mainly supposed to be the Gau Essen buckle. Well, where is the picture of the "full boxes" of these buckles???? I see only DAF, HJ and regular police buckles…. Only ONE Gau Essen buckle is pictured ( Plate C)… EVRYONE can make such picture’s!

By the way, it is not difficult to see that the Pictures are digital, "avant garde" in the 50’s I would say…

To respond to Pieter's question on the authenticity of this " Gau Essen" buckle, well…. A few collectors would really like to see this buckle considered as a fake, unfortunately for them I had one of these Gau Essen buckles tested in a Government recognised lab and the paint is 100% pre war! Gau Essen buckles are 1000 % ORIGINAL.

This has already been discussed in a few previous posts.

http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...ight=Gau+Essen

[Marc verstraete]

Secondly, the picture “Plate A” <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o></o>

I would REALY like to know where the author found this picture… Following his saying this picture was taken by the “original” businessman in the 50’s (By the way, he live in California) who bought all these buckles at the Assmann factory in (1959?) Well, I can assure you that a few of these buckles on the picture where NEVER produced by Assamnn! One of them, being the third row down and third from the right, next to the Political leader and custom buckle, Yes, you see it correctly…. It is a well-known FAKE! It is a buckle with the eagle attached to the buckle body with a nut!!!!! Fake that was produced in the 70’s……….

[Marc verstraete]

This is the FAKE buckle pictured as "Original from the factory" on the above picture next to the political leader buckle…

Or maybe it is original from today on??????… Wow, the value will go up on these buckles… Go buy them wherever you can… I’m rich already with the ones I have in my "Fakes" box. Buckles with nuts… they are all good now…

[Marc verstraete]

Nuts, nuts, nuts......

[GLM]

Marc -

Thank you for posting the pictures from the article. I was going to post them, but thought it might be a no-no posting someone else's pictures on the forum without their permission? Didn't know if this was copyright infringement or not?

As to the hand drawn catalog used in the article, I can tell you something about this company. I had dealings with them in the very early 1960's (1962-63 time period). This catalog company was known as Der Alte Oberst in, I believe, La Jolla, California. It was run by a retired U.S. Army Colonel by the name of Stoddard. I remember that he was old as dirt even back then. He mentioned on the front page of his catalog that he had many connections in Germany and was able to buy his German militaria directly from the wartime makers and other associates in Germany. I've been tearing my playroom apart looking for a couple of his catalogs I've kept all these years, but haven't found them yet. I was a young teenager then, so didn't have the money to buy his $4 or $5 EM buckles and certainly not his $5.50 Gau Essen buckle. Wish I had now and maybe our questions about this buckle would be answered in connection to the catalog and article. I do recall being very happy with his $1.25 LW breast eagles and wound badges, though. I still have a couple of them today and they are original. About 1966 or 67, Col. Stoddard, who I think was a very honest dealer, became very ill with lung cancer or emphysema and sold his company to a younger guy who almost immediately started selling fake crap. I now had a job and could buy badges...but who wants badges that are filled with lead and write like pencils on a piece of paper. In 1971 when I was stationed in California and being discharged from the Marines, I tried to look up and see if this company was still in business, but it was already gone.

I wasn't that impressed with the Advisor article either, but now I'm wondering if there might be a connection between Col. Stoddard's catalog and him being the source of these buckles found in Germany in 1959? Don't think we'll ever know now, but he did sell legitimate German stuff back then. Personally, I think the whole article might just be fantasy to make the reader's drool?

Regards,
Gary

[Marc verstraete]

Hello Gary, all,

Let me answer your first question regarding the "copyright" and posting pictures:

Nothing is wrong with posting pictures on the forum when one put the proper credit with them. It is something else when the original owner of the pictures (the one who took them) formally forbid the use of them OR If one agree that you take a picture of a piece in my collection and tell you it is ONLY for your record it is totally unethical to post them afterwards without improvement.

Certainly when you pretend they are yours and do not give the proper credit. We have a forum member, former moderator, who is a pro in doing this!

Furthermore, in this case, the pictures in the magazine do not mention any credit, this is strange, and one can believe they are the property of the author or the publisher, but this is not the case. If I had no problem posting these pictures it is because I have my reasons…

I know the name of the dealer Stoddard (I am too young to have met him) as well as the ORIGINAL young guy (he is in his 70’s now) who went to Ludensheid in the 50’s and bought the buckles and other stuff from Assamnn.

Like I say in my text above, this is an old story and everyone in the buckles collection who is over 40 knows this story. The Landespolizei buckles and the Gau Essen buckles did not come in bulk and in big boxes but the where originally packed in there small 10 / 15 or 20 piece boxes like it should be, nicely wrapped in silk paper. This is the reason they are always mint and without scratches! Must they have been in bulk (like one can see on the picture of the bulk boxes with DAF buckles) they would all have damage! They’re where more gold police buckles (a few boxes) than silver ones, only a few pieces of green ones and a few boxes of Gau Essen buckles.

I am surprised of seeing no reaction so far of mister JEAN PIERRE REDEUILH…. (Spelling ok?) On this article, If I remember well, mr. Redeuilh told us all a few months ago in another post and another forum that a "NEW" article with amazing "NEW" evidence on the Gau Essen buckles was going to shake the whole collectors world and "Prove" they where not SS and probably "fake"…

Was this the article??? If it is, well in that case, like the SS chapter in the Nash book, it is full of hot air…

Like you say Gary, just a put together story to make people drool.

But! One has to admit that the research and theoretical part on the Landespolizei is correct and accurate. Unfortunately, the part on the "Gau Essen" and the "period" pictures take all credibility away from the article, it is a pity as I am sure it was the author’s intention to really make something good, he might have been fooled himself by receiving wrong information.



Marc

[Robin Lumsden]

So what does all this say about Bender publishing??

[Marc verstraete]

Marc -

I wasn't that impressed with the Advisor article either, but now I'm wondering if there might be a connection between Col. Stoddard's catalog and him being the source of these buckles found in Germany in 1959? Don't think we'll ever know now, but he did sell legitimate German stuff back then. Personally, I think the whole article might just be fantasy to make the reader's drool?

Regards,
Gary

If one has to make someone else drool... Take the Bannerman Catalogue from the 40’s 50’s. This makes everyone really sick! 300 pages of pure marvels …<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o></o>

[Marc verstraete]

So what does all this say about Bender publishing??

Hi Robin,<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o></o>

I don’t think one can really blame the publisher too much, he publish what his given to him and what he things is OK. One cannot ask him to verify all the text that what is presented to him. He would not need authors anymore. In fact, and this is a totally personal opinion, I thing Bender is one of the better ones. The articles and books made by Wim Saris a published by Bender for example are all wonderfully accurate as he only bases himself on documented facts such an original period regulations. But you might have you own opinion and reasons not to like Bender. I noticed that today, whoever the publisher is, the affirmations of the articles has to be taken with some caution, I always try to know where the source of the information is. When the footnote says that the information comes from the original German regulation there is not much that can be wrong but when the article is just based on the affirmation of a collectors imagination one has to be very careful. Even the wonderfully illustrated book on the iron cross “Iron Time” has major mistakes in when one looks closely at some of the so called vet acquired knight crosses…<o></o>

The problem of the article we discuss here is that the whole story is but together with lots of different separated story’s and that the pictures do not belong to the article. It’s just a big fraud. Just as if someone would pretend the dinosaurs where pink and would make a computer generated image to prove it.<o></o>

Marc<o></o>

[Robin Lumsden]

Marc.

You're right, of course. Bender books have been amongst my favourites since the 1960s. And you're also right about Wim Saris - one of the true researchers in this hobby.

All I was trying to say was that even Bender (or at least his authors) can make mistakes from time to time.