Cut insignia still attached to uniforms..

[John Hodgin]

Another small gem from last weekend's Raleigh show.

[Howard Kelley]

RLB Officer's tab

Just bought from my buddy John T. !

Always loved the RLB stuff!

Enjoy,
Howard

[WalterB]

Killer stuff, guys! I am also intrigued by cut-offs and confused by the fact that some collectors scoff at them. The way I see it, most, if not all, of the uniforms that were cut-off would not have survived anyway. At least parts of them still survive. I will take some pictures of my cut-offs and post.

[MikeP]

It is cool seeing these things without having any connection to them.

I saw quite a bit of them in the 60s when I was knocking on local vet doors.
Lots of guys or families had bits or pieces of things.
You never know what a GI is liable to pick up and stuff in his pocket.
I know a lot of it was lost or discarded over the years.
I saw a Japanese NLF helmet that was mint except for two bullet holes and a lot of blood and hair that ended up in the city dump.
My uncle had a bloody belly flag that my grandmother burnt.
A lot of this stuff got cut off corpses uniforms.
It is a "warrior thing" that one has to respect, like it or not.
I wanted a NVA belt with star buckle. I finally pulled one off a dead NVA and immediately did not want it-gave it away.

[PanzerJager1944]

Here are some of my recent pick-ups, three enlisted birds . . .

<a href="http://s163.photobucket.com/albums/t301/dblcanistr/WW2/cut%20off%20insignia/?action=view&current=100_1964.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t301/dblcanistr/WW2/cut%20off%20insignia/100_1964.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

<a href="http://s163.photobucket.com/albums/t301/dblcanistr/WW2/cut%20off%20insignia/?action=view&current=100_1963.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t301/dblcanistr/WW2/cut%20off%20insignia/100_1963.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

[PanzerJager1944]

And two officer eagles, the top one is on a piece of a summer/field tunic . . .

<a href="http://s163.photobucket.com/albums/t301/dblcanistr/WW2/cut%20off%20insignia/?action=view&current=100_1975.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t301/dblcanistr/WW2/cut%20off%20insignia/100_1975.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

<a href="http://s163.photobucket.com/albums/t301/dblcanistr/WW2/cut%20off%20insignia/?action=view&current=100_1977.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t301/dblcanistr/WW2/cut%20off%20insignia/100_1977.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

[Willi Z.]

Nice ones Seth and John!

I am behind on posting new finds, but here is one which appeared on this thread before and I recently obtained. For the life of me I can't imagine why someone would cut up a Luft M42 (appears to be a NS eagle) but I think it is pretty unique.

[hs132]

Hello Willi, now that is THE MOST UNIQUE war souviner Ive had the pleasure to view. Best, Bill Bourque

[pzrwest]

Wonder what he used to cut that piece out of the helmet???? sure wasn't a pair of tinsnips

[Tony]

Nice ones Seth and John!

I am behind on posting new finds, but here is one which appeared on this thread before and I recently obtained. For the life of me I can't imagine why someone would cut up a Luft M42 (appears to be a NS eagle) but I think it is pretty unique.

Willi - Sweet One of a kind item!

Tony

[John Hodgin]

Willi - Sweet One of a kind item!

Tony

Amen to that. Unique and very cool. But why????????
John

[PaulR]

I love the RLB tab!

It looks like someone cut the decal off the helmet for the sake of portablity?

[Tony]

Amen to that. Unique and very cool. But why????????
John

Hi John - Don't know why, it just is!

Tony

[Glenn McInnes]

Very unique Willi,


I would say purposely cut this way (possibly post war using a grinder) and perhaps the vent hole used to hang it like a picture.

The shape reminds me of a parachute.




Glenn

[Willi Z.]

I would say purposely cut this way (possibly post war using a grinder) and perhaps the vent hole used to hang it like a picture.

Glenn, I agree it was post war done. Maybe the vet was told by his wife to throw that rusty smelly helmet out and he wanted to save the eagle.

Obviously some cut insignia, especially those with very sharp and straight sissor cuts, were post war done. One reason why I like the rough dull bayonet cuts!

I will study the cut edge under magnification to see how it was done.