A couple of private purchase eagles in period photos

[OSS]

Really a treasure!

[Blue Division]

Another similar private eagle.
regards

Antonio

[nippo]

Congratulations to all for this fantastic thread!

[Mark_K]

Many thanks to everyone who has posted their eagles, and those beautiful tunics! It is clear that there were a lot of private purchase eagle variants, and I hope we can gather as many as possible in this thread.

I recently picked up a good studio portrait of an army schutze with an M43 'walking out' tunic. The tunic features mouse-grey collar tabs on dark green badge cloth backing, and a well-known type of private purchase eagle. The details are not great when you zoom in on the eagle, but I will post the pics here anyway to keep the thread rolling.

Thanks again to all contributors. Much appreciated!

[Mark_K]

I try to pick up original examples of private purchase eagles whenever I can. I have four that I would like to share.

The first is an early, narrow-breasted eagle with feldgrau highlighting.

[Mark_K]

The second eagle is an army eagle constructed in a style we usually see in navy eagles. This one is white thread on dark green backing, although it looks like it might be a navy admin eagle on navy-blue backing. Trust me, this one has dark green badge cloth backing!

[Mark_K]

The third bird is an interesting early one that consists of thin thread over cardboard unterlagen on feldgrau backing.

[Mark_K]

This is a coastal artillerie eagle, in a well-known style, showing several of the characteristics that collectors look for.

[Mark_K]

And finally, here's a narrow-breasted early army eagle on feldgrau. This one matches the type that we see more often in thin bullion wire.

[Fred Green]

Mark,

You know you were supposed to mail those to me last week??? What's the hold up? Nice selection of eagles. I would put all of them in a Ryker case without pause. Great pics!!!

Fred

[PaulW]

Very interesting thread.

The 'fat body' eagles in posts #18 and #49 look quite similar (the same?) to an eagle on an M42 (Reitz) tunic on the VG site here:-

http://www.virtualgrenadier.com/sale_item.php?iid=4275

Regards, Paul

[Mark_K]

D'oh!!! Many apologies, I made a mistake in the description of the eagle in post 52. The backing is dark green badge cloth, NOT feldgrau.

Fred, I will send the eagles when the other posters send me those amazing tunics!

[Mark_K]

Very interesting thread.

The 'fat body' eagles in posts #18 and #49 look quite similar (the same?) to an eagle on an M42 (Reitz) tunic on the VG site here:-

http://www.virtualgrenadier.com/sale_item.php?iid=4275

Regards, Paul

Hi Paul,

Yes, it's a pattern that appears quite a lot. Unfortunately, very few eagles have maker marks, so we will probably never know who made them. However, the number of them that you see in original photos, and their appearance on tunics made before and during the war, suggest that they were produced in considerable numbers.

[afrikasandman]

I love that eagle in post 51, that is a really cool eagle. Matt

[Mark_K]

Hi Matt,

I was very pleased to find that eagle on a British dealer's website. I thought that maybe it would be a well-known variant, but when I posted it in the forum, people said they had not seen one before. The thread is a kind of white-silver in colour, not pure white, but not actual metallic thread either. It's an interesting one, isn't it? If it isn't a post-war fantasy piece (construction looks good, but you never know), I would guess that it was created by a tailor with some imagination. It is totally UV negative, and the fact that no-one seems to have seen another one makes me think that it is probably original, as most fakes are made in batches.

All the best,

Mark