Tropical shoulder straps

[tropenmilitaria]

Does anyone think these are real? Pretty obvious reproductions IMO.
http://www.therupturedduck.com/WebPages/Cloth/c010.htm

[tropenmilitaria]

2

[tropenmilitaria]

3

[Greg B]

Perhaps Bill thinks these are a field made set...then again he doesn;t mention that. Or perhaps he thought they are so badly made they must be good?

They look to be longer as if they were made to fit a Great coat. But one could definately entertain doubts with those puppies!

Greg

[90th Light]

Perhaps Bill thinks these are a field made set...then again he doesn;t mention that. Or perhaps he thought they are so badly made they must be good?

They look to be longer as if they were made to fit a Great coat. But one could definately entertain doubts with those puppies!

Greg

No doubts at all Greg

They are the US $750 mess that go with this US $1650 mess. See matching sets of field made quality at give away prices

http://www.therupturedduck.com/WebPa...rhdgr/hg15.htm

Chris

p.s. even the thread used to make them both matches

[Tim O'Keefe]

Perhaps Bill thinks these are a field made set...then again he doesn;t mention that. Or perhaps he thought they are so badly made they must be good?

They look to be longer as if they were made to fit a Great coat. But one could definately entertain doubts with those puppies!

Greg

Agree, "field made" is a great explanation or excuse for passing off fakes as original.

[galizien41]

Yikes to both

I think I could sew better than that...

[afrikasandman]

Those boards are bad and thought of the cap when I saw these. At first I was almost on the side that the cap was so damn ugly it could stand a possible chance of being real. Now that the boards show up with the exact same thread... kill shot my friends. Matt

[90th Light]

Bit of a followup. In Afrika the reason that caps and shoulder-straps became so scarce in mid/late '42, was that they were not a priority in supplies being shipped to Afrika. During the summer & fall '42, only men, food, water, gas, & ammo was being shipped to Afrika, not clothing.

There is every chance that these items could be legit field made tropical items from before May 1945 ??? .

Although I do struggle to see any self-respecting German officer wearing that cap .

The point is that if Bill Shea was not selling them, they would basically have very little value beyond that of curiosity. Also regardless of who sells them, they are going to be extremely hard to resell again at any price.

I wonder what we would be saying here on WAF if Helmut Weitze had listed them on his site. May be we might not be so gentle.

The sad thing, if they are real then they are basically in the rubbish bin given the level of perfect stamp or porcelain collecting that has crept into the collecting of Militaria today.

" If it ain't text-book perfect and shiny then its not for your collection lad ",

Chris

[Arthur Kullmer]

Either way they are horrible & I would not buy them good bad or ugly

[HAF]

realy ugly boards,the cap job is even worse

[tropenmilitaria]

Also regardless of who sells them, they are going to be extremely hard to resell again at any price.
Chris

Exactly. And when the collector who bought these for $750 tries to sell them and is told they aren't even worth .75 cents? Well then the hobby loses another collector. The quality control on that site has really gone down in the past decade.
This is sad since I used to look with anticipation for the weekly sales updates and think highly of the management.

[Bill Shea]

I have reviewed the written descriptions for both the shoulder boards and the officer's tropical overseas cap in question. I am quite confident that both of these are pre-May 1945 produced based on where I acquired them and my overall physical examination. However, I agree that the shoulder boards are field made and possibly for an overcoat and have sent instructions to my webmaster to include this important characteristic in a revised description.
I also agree that the overseas cap( acquired from a totally different, but reliable, source) is a stranger and not for the faint of heart. I have also revised that description to reflect my sentiment but, as always, offer my written lifetime guarantee regarding originality.
I do not bend anybody's arm to buy what I have to offer and make a sincere effort to accurately describe my items. I also know that I am not perfect and therefore am always open to critical input that doesn't take pot shots at my integrity. Trying to manage and maintain a website with over 5,000 items is another task that is not for the faint of heart. Happy Holidays
Bill Shea