What's the big deal with SS items?

[Seppl]

I have been collecting for many years and like just about everyone when they started collecting they want SS items!I got stung badly and collect Wehrmacht (Gebirgsjaeger) uniforms,Headgear and Insignia as well its Awards.
Just out of interest what do other collectors think?I personally think the Wehrmacht were just as brave as the SS on the field and worthy of equal status.Over 90% of SS items are FAKE.it's the worse thing you can collect because even the most "expert" collector has been caught out with fakes!

[Jean Pierre Redeuilh]

Hello,
I do not believe there is more fake SS items than fake German Third Reich Militaria in its whole. For one fake SS Belt buckle the same faker's company will produce a fake WH buckle, and a LW, KM,HJ,NPEA,DRK... and so on fake buckle. It is obvious with the latest fakes from "CZ Rep". Even regular German WWI belt buckles are reproduced by now in East European countries.
For myself, after over 15 years of collecting/dealing I am collecting only SS items, especially SS Belt Buckles, but I am looking with great suspicion ANY 3rd Reich item from another branch of service, not only the SS items. Are you feeling safe when you have to buy a pair of Gebirgsjaeger shoes or any M43 cap with Edelweiss on it's side?? For me, I don't.
I am convinced than knowledge on the subject you are collecting/dealing with is your only secure room (and still...)
Handling original items, sharing information with older collectors (yes there is still some persons who build their collection at more easier times) will prevent collector of any 3rd Reich item to be fooled. In the SS Buckle Forum, I will be surprised if any member gets burnt with any of the latest SS buckle fake in aluminum from East Europe. Why ? Because they know by now differences between originals and fakes.
I do not want to talk about men's value on the battlefield as you are certainly right and a lot of person will agree also. I think choice of subject of collection depends of man personnal preference. I know an old man who collects only KM items because he was a career officer in the US Navy. Human kind is just surprising when its skin is in jeopardy and anyone is ready to become a hero at his time.
To illustrate this, I will tell a real story only locally known. In 1944, after the Dragoon invasion (South of France), Allied troops were in Marseilles. At the top of the city, on a cliff, there is a cathedral named "Notre Dame de la Guarde". The 2 only access to this church was (and still is) either from climbing the sharp cliff or by the only road in front. Since the church overhang the road, it was very easy to shoot anything coming this way, especially when inside the church were SS troops withdrawn there and surrounded. It is what happened and there is still today a Sherman tank as National Monument to the exact point where it was shoot in 1944. This landmark is at the exact highest point Allied were able to reach this day. So, how to get those SS troops ? Well, it has been done by "Goumis", which were French colonial troops, mostly with Arabs from Algeria and Morocco. They climb the cliff (nobody else wanted to do it) and torn the SS troops in pieces. Not a single SS soldier has been taken prisoner or has been buried with his balls or ears on. Well, those guys were only "Goumis", not elite units.

Best Regards

Jean Pierre
SS Buckle Forum
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SSBuckles/

[Dez H]

To most people SS regalia and the SS itself hold some sort of illusive power. It is like the SS held special powers and almighty providence on their side. Whipped up by Himmler’s fascination with mysticism and love of the occult. The infallibility of his Nordic fighters. The various pagan ceremonies and rituals that were introduced from the dark ages. Is this what makes SS items so irresistible?

[Greg Domian]

I collect SS insignia and memorabilia because of the variety it offers. I don't think that is true of the other branchs of the Whermacht. There is no way I will ever come close to getting it all so my hunting and searching will never come to an end. They also had the best looking insignia and uniforms to boot...

As for fakes...I find SS material easier to determine fakes than other aspects of collecting 3rd Reich. As an example..just about any badge has 10s of variations and makers I don't know how you guys deal with it. SS stuff..it's real or it's not..you just have to know what your looking at and that comes with experience..as it should be with what ever you collect.

Greg

[DonC]

The SS definitely has the mystique. I don't know that it is necessarily true that they were all that "elite" - they often got preference (especially the Liebstandarte) for the best equipment, so that may have added to their mystique (using Tiger II's when the rest of the Wehrmacht was making do with PZ IV's, for instance) - they were better equipped and kept up to snuff much better than your run of the mill Wehrmacht 700-numbered infantry division. Reichs Heine allowing the units to take almost anyone by the end of '44 ensured that many units were not that much better than other German units at the time. So should one only collect from the elite of the elite - Das Reich, Totenkoph, LSSAH, etc? Is a Maria Teresa or Frundsberg tunic as valuable?

I gave up collecting SS because of getting burned badly once (anyone want a nice repro Obersturmbannfuhrer tunic cheap?), but I generally collect what I like - what looks sharp to me. Also, there's a lot of politically correct BS associated with the SS that is hard to overcome with a lot of people - I don't mind showing my Jewish friends my collection, but I'd probably be a ittle uncomfortable with an SS tunic, even if it was WSS, sitting there too.

Just my two cents!

Don

[Seppl]

Thanks Guys,
I aggree with most of the imput,I believe one has has to specialize in one area at least,experience and good references are indespensible in collecting 3.Reich Militaria in general.I too have some SS pieces which came from SS Vets and I know their providence but also I studied up on SS Insignia and have seen a lot of original pieces.
But I know more collectors who got out of the hobby because of bad SS stuff than other 3 Reich items!The propaganda surrounding the SS gives it a certain mystique,but also the amount of variety in SS Militaria also adds to its popularity.