Pz Grenadier Crusher For Review

[afrikasandman]

l

[erikjo]

Is is real?

[Waffenreich]

I don't think the newspaper is original either.

[enorepap]

Matt you have to excuse me, but I do not understand (it will be my old age or because the hour here in Italy is more than 1 a.m.). You (and not only you) have given a negative opinion about this crusher on March of last year and then you've bought it?

[afrikasandman]

I did give it the kiss of death and then ended up buying it. The original pics were really bad and honestly I see a pile of visors and crushers and it's hard to keep them all straight. So this one ended up being one that I didn't like the initial pics of and then a year plus later I bought the visor from a different source. That said, I can't possibly remember all the caps viewed in a year, the new photos gave it a much better appearance and it didn't ring a bell in my head.

Newspaper wise, I don't read 1940 newspapers... Is it original or not I'm not sure. Matt

[afrikasandman]

I did have BenVK look over the photos as well before I bought it as well. This is a great example where photos can make all the difference. That said, it's just my opinion. I still believe it to be an original PzGrn crusher after the better pics and having it in hand. Matt

[Daniel.S]

I did have BenVK look over the photos as well before I bought it as well. This is a great example where photos can make all the difference. That said, it's just my opinion. I still believe it to be an original PzGrn crusher after the better pics and having it in hand. Matt

Matt, did Ben have any issues with the cap?

[BenVK]

I told Matt that the lining stitching was a bit suspect but the rest looked ok to me and that I liked it.

Let's have another look.
It's got a flexible pasteboard and the sweatband stitching looks correct, it's continuous and not monkeyed with around the leather visor. I don't see any holes for chincord buttons and the insignia is neatly hand sewn like I would expect to see. Matt is the best judge of the piping as he's got it in his hands plus he owns numerous Pz Gren piped caps and uniforms to compare the colour with.
So that just leaves the lining. The colour is a bit unusual but not impossible, plenty of original caps have funky coloured linings. I can't explain why the side lining and sewing holding it up is so slap dash however. But I would suggest that if you're a faker with the considerable skills to make a cap like this from the ground up, why would you mess up the lining so badly? It doesn't make any sense. Surely you would pleat it and sew it nice and neatly as not to raise suspicion.

[MM1985]

Hi Ben,

Here is a crusher that you had posted in the bakc with this lining and also with the written mark in it (VIII) but i have to say that i do not like this SS crusher and i do not like the one in this thread. That is just my gut Feeling after viewing the Pictures of both caps - no offense against the owners, former sellers etc.

http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...279381&page=12

[solo]

In the pic 26 youcan see the visor is reattached ,you see the old holes on the left

Carlo

[afrikasandman]

Team,

The honest answer after going through the SS thread is that I have to say that I think it's simply a very well executed ground up fake. I have received several pms from people and it makes it a bit more concerning.

The SS crusher and this cap seem to be made by the same hand in my opinion. The pleats are done the same way and the lining is obviously the same, odd color but not out of the realm of possibility as Ben points out.

I have to admit I loved the cap when I first got it and still do enjoy it but the honest hard look is that after seeing the other thread that it is simply a very well executed ground up fake when you compare it to the SS one. I obviously got way to excited about it and without having that SS thread linked to it, it would be hard for anyone to put one plus two together to see that they are made in the same way. So if one is bad then the other has to be as well.

There are a couple of additional holes that are pointed out and I will be honest and say I missed it. We all make mistakes and this could be a spendy mistake on my end. I have reached out to Kent at Relics of the Reich and sent him the link to this thread. We will see what his stance on this will be and perhaps he could let us know where he got it from and we can do some detective work and trace it back to a source.

I feel a bit sheepish for overlooking the extra holes, but the lining thing I would have never seen as I don't touch SS stuff. I'm hoping Kent will be great and allow me to send it back but I am about 4 months outside of his week return policy. I have always stood behind my items for longer but will be interests to see how it all plays out.

I would like to thank all you cats on the WAF here for the good points and discussion on the cap. It may suck for me at the end, but we got down to some interesting points and outed what is clearly a well executed ground up fake in my opinion. Worst case scenario in stuck with a very well done cap or I get to send it back to where I got it from.

Matt

[Daniel.S]

Matt.

4 months is not much.

Ive seen dealers take back items which were sold 5+ years ago.

Its all about the dealer.

//Daniel.

[PZKG]

Well, the ss crusher was discussed again at a later point and was deemed a bit more accepted here: http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...d.php?t=800373

Also has daylight pictures....

[SgtB]

Very interesting cap! I'm not convinced it is bad from these pics.
Extra stitch holes are not a death-knell in and of themselves. I've seen that many times on common caps that no one would ever fake. The mutzenmachers made these very quickly at times and often had to go back and repair their mistakes.

The stitching around the lining sure is crappy, but that could just be some collector's sloppy job to "fix" some missing threads. No biggie if everything else checks out.