what do you think????

[Chad Williams]

Hello all...someone sent me photos of this, and right off the bet i dont like it, but there is still a jury in my head that has reasonable doubt...please give me your thoughts...supposedly this is a vets family estate find ...who knows....maybe it could be a very early pre standards NSDAP or SA buckle...doubt it, but what the hell...chad

[Chad Williams]

front

[Chad Williams]

back

to me, by the looks of the back...this has a WWI prong /bar attachment...i dont see any solder in the 2 holes on the back of the buckle...this could be a conversion from a 2 piece WWI buckle(most likely repro in my mind)..what do you think...

[Kevin Rea]

Hello Chad,
The buckle is definitely a hand-crafted piece using an original WWI buckle as a base. The question is when was it "hand-crafted"? It has the look of a labour of love by some impecunious early Nazi who couldn't afford all the gear, but it is wise to be wary these days and take every "barn-find/vet's estate" story with a large dose of salt. The only way would be to check it out in person and look at the wear, patina, etc. There are period photos of such buckles in wear so they do exist but are quite rare.
Regards,
Kevin

[David North]

Chad

I agree in toto with Kevin on this one.

The very "early years" displayed some distinctly odd uniform pieces as hand made and to include belt buckles.

The box on this one does appear to be an Imperial type and I think that the hand formed swastika, by the way that it has been cut and applied, is what we would expect. There also appears the anticipated type of wear and smoothing to the swastika arms and rivet heads, although this can be easily simulated with a little care.

A curiosity buckle and if original, then very rare and desirable.

I for one like it and without wishing to degrade the integrity of the post, would probably regard the buckle as a curio rather than an original rare piece, in the absence of a firm provenance.

Regards,

David

[Marc verstraete]

These buckles do exist, they where the first buckles used by some SA pmembers and there is plenty of photo evidence; some are in collections around the world, and I know several of the in Europe. They are of different manufacture and it is hard to tell if they are original or not. As lots of them are hand made / altered. Mostly only the provenance will give certitude.

I don’t like this one in particular…. but why not…

Chad, if it is yours, bring it to the SOS, I will have a look at it.

Marc