cloth insignia marking "WÄSTI"

[Norm F]

Lately I've seen several KM cloth insignia with a marking on the back in ink that reads: WÄSTI
I've seen this on shoulderstraps, chevrons and collar tabs, and so far only on KM items.
Questions:
1) Does anyone know the significance of this marking -- I figure it's a German acronym for something?
2) Has anyone seen this marking on other items or from other branches of service?

Best regards,
---Norm

[naxos]

The writing "wåsti" appears to me Norwegian or Danish.

[Norm F]

The writing "wåsti" appears to me Norwegian or Danish.

But although I can't find it right now, I've seen an example in which it was clearly an umlaut with the two dots spaced quite far apart on each side of the point of 'A'...
Regards,
---Norm

[Norm F]

I think I have the answer. There was an old thread on Militaria Fundforum that stated that WÄSTI stands for Wäschestickerei = Linen embroidery.
So it's not the maker but a descriptive acronym.
My impression is this marking is seen on pre-war KM items mainly.

I just missed this one at the Collector's Guild. Dated right when my father would have worn a similar one in 1938. Darn, story of my life in this hobby - endless stream of "just missed's" !!
Cheers.
---Norm

[Norm F]

Here's a bit clearer image showing the umlaut on the 'A'.
I don't know what the capital 'L' under WÄSTI signifies but I've seen several of these marked white Ärmelwinkel on various sites for sale. Any ideas?

By the way, if anyone here bought that blue chevron from Collector's Guild and wants to make a little profit, please PM me!

Regards,
---Norm

[km-spain]

Norm, good research and work , something new for our knowledge. Thanks.

I have several white Ärmelwinkel, dated and with the maker stamp, but I don't know if any of them is WÄSTI marked or 1938 dated, I will check latter.

The capital "L" is probably the maker logo.

[km-spain]

Hello again, I have checked and all my pieces are dated in 1939. I have one that is almost identical to your last post Norm, only change a little the date and is marked with WÄSTI and the capital L.

[Norm F]

Thanks very much for the replies Eduardo.
Yes, all the blue on white marked chevrons I've seen so far have been 1939. That's why the yellow-on-blue marked 1938 really caught my eye. My Dad was a Gefreiter from late 1937 until mid-1938 when promoted to Funkmaat, so I'm looking for a very narrow range!

Best regards,
---Norm

[vizenz]

Hello Norm,

this is a very interesting study. I've found a identical chevron on blue in my collection. The stamps are a little bit washed, but 100% identical to the collectors guide one. I'll looking forward to finding more of this stamps.

Kind regards,
Andreas

[Norm F]

Hello Norm,

this is a very interesting study. I've found a identical chevron on blue in my collection. The stamps are a little bit washed, but 100% identical to the collectors guide one. I'll looking forward to finding more of this stamps.

Kind regards,
Andreas

Hello Andreas,

What I like about your chevron is, although the stamps are less visible than the one from Collector's Guild, on yours you can see the Fraktur "L" which you can't on the other, suggesting the same manufacturer as the blue on white chevrons floating around.

In the first post you can see the faint marking on the back of a shoulderstrap "WÄSTI M". It's possible the "L" and the "M" represent different manufacturers of "Wäschestickerei", as suggested earlier by km-spain. Or maybe the "M" stands for "Marine"... Navy?

Cheers.
---Norm

[vizenz]

I think you could be right with "Wäschestickerei". Do you know what shoulderboard the stamp was? (Branch? Stitched Insignia?)

Kind regards,
Andreas

[km-spain]

I think you could be right with "Wäschestickerei". Do you know what shoulderboard the stamp was? (Branch? Stitched Insignia?)

Kind regards,
Andreas

Hi Andreas, the shoulder strap is from the Küstenartillerie.

[Norm F]

Hi Andreas, the shoulder strap is from the Küstenartillerie.

Hi Eduardo,

Can you tell roughly what year that shoulder strap was from by the style - i.e. on light or dark badge cloth, or on regular tunic cloth?

And for completeness, I should add that the 3rd "WÄSTI" in the collage photo of the first posting was from a pair of Navy enlisted man coastal artillery collar tabs on dark green, so probably 1936-40.

Regards,
---Norm

[km-spain]

Is a shoulder strap from a NCO instruction batallion, so it has to be latter march 1939, and as it has not batallion number has to be after 1940.

[vizenz]

Thank you, that was the right answer. I've got 500-600 shoulderboards, so it's a little bit hard work to find a stamped one. But my Küstenartillerie collection is very small. Nevertheless, I have found one "WÄSTI M" stamped example.

It's an enlisted from a Unteroffizierlehrabteilung. It's a fieldgrey mid- to late war board with machineembroidered anchor.

The stamp is very outwashed. At the last pic I played a little bit with windows paint and tried to help you better reading.

Kind regards,
Andreas
(I'm so sorry for my bad English)