M43 Tunic

[Glenn Barbaritz]

Paul. yesterday, I asked you where you were getting your boards from and you replied Kai once again. I know of the boards you speak of. I was going to purchase them about 3 weeks ago Myself. I sent PM's to a few of the members on the forum who are very knowledgable in this area and unfortunatly they all agreed they were not good. I still have the pics Kai sent me. did you want me to post them for viewing/comments? I wont do it if you dont want them posted. I have changed My thoughts on Kai in the last month. although I did purchase a very nice maker marked '43 dated equipment belt from Him awhile back. but ofcourse I am weary on some of His stuff. just My opinion. ofcourse He does have other nice pieces. but I feel you might want to post your new boards to get an overall opinion on them. especially the piping. hope this helps, Glenn

[derspiess63]

Very nice tunic !
Manny

[derspiess63]

Hi Paul,
as incredible as it may seem I posted the comment above after you had posted the first two pictures but for some VERY OBSCURE reasons(I PMed Seba!)my PC (and logging out!) got"freezed" in time for two days,probably due to a virus which changed the PC date into 2065(!)and I wasn't aware that you posted the ones of the markings!I'm with Jan on this one, since the tunic looks very nice, but as Ade rightly pointed out, when there's a little doubt the whole thing is to be put under close scrutiny!
I can't see many no-nos in your tunic judging by the pictures you've attached alone,even if the placing of the paper tag looks like a "lure",but I must admit that the markings look quite strange to me!I've visited Helmut Weitze's stand in Milan and he had several pair of stone-mint M43 trousers and two even more mint M43 tunics for sale....they were all top-notch repros which could have easily deceived from a distance, but which wouldn't have passed a close examination on behalf of an experienced collector...it could even be that Kai's tunic is a "chip off the old log"!
I'm puzzled a bit in that judging by the pictures alone the tunic looks nice(the eagle is a tad too newish though....but I may be biased!) but the markings are "funky" to say the least, as Glenn rightly pointed out!
Try and post more details(button-holes,hooks,cuffs aso!)...it could well be that the markings(which sometimes on genuine pieces are even funkier...let's not forget that!)are genuine(10% odds) or recently stamped(90%) on a un-finished tunic, which thing would lead us to doubt its eagle and litzen at this point!
I'm sorry to tell you that Kai's got a few VERY QUESTIONABLE items amongst his listings and this one is becoming one of them I'm afraid!
It looks fine.....but it's hard to tell by pictures alone!If I were you I'd bite the bullet and tell Kai you're not comfortable with the tunic the least.....ask him to refund your money and start looking for another one;too many ifs and buts and you definitely want to sleep nice and tight!
FWIW
Manny

[Glenn McInnes]

I agree with Manny, I would send it back and try and find something which does not raise so many questions regarding authenticity.

As mentioned before based on the markings I would also say the jacket is bad.(better pics are needed but I have my doubts) Some of the best fake tunics on the market these day's originate out of Germany and France. I have seen some of them and they are very,very well done and would fool many collectors I think.


Glenn

[Paul B]

Gents

Many thanks to all who have participated in this thread, shared their concerns and educated me a little. Following two very prompt, friendly and courteous e-mails from Kai, this tunic is now on it's way back to Germany.

Once again, thanks to everyone who has pitched in.

All the best

Paul.

[nutmeg]

BTW. I noticed some are looking for boards. Bruce Herman at Grenadier Militaria got some really nice nice unissued pairs of late war infantry boards , out of an old collection. I got 2 pair, you might try him, the prices are also much more reasonable too.