Korvetenkapitan Meyhoeffer's Tunic

[Simon O.]

It's a humped up tunic plain and simple, his bio in the volume Paul mentions, reveals he held training commands and desk jobs throughout the war and other than a few month in France in 1940, stayed in Germany. Certainly no active combat unit, no Krim, no german cross.

Perhaps a spanish cross though and as for other decorations perhaps a KVKI though as it's already been messed with you can't trust the loops.

He was also a Sperrofficer whose duty it was to strategically position Flak Batteries in order to barrage incoming aircraft.

that's not correct, the 'sperr' career dealt with blocking weapons and devices, for example sea mines.

[Leroy]

I have no doubt that uniforms were ordered from tailors, but never picked up and then sold to someone else (who may have been of an entirely different rank) at a reduced price, and then re-badged, but the only way that this uniform could ever be accepted as a real Admiral's uniform is to find a photo of an Admiral in this exact branch wearing this exact uniform. Here is a pretty comprehensive list of the Generaladmirals and Admirals of the Kriegsmarine to start the search with:

Generaladmirals:

Conrad Albrecht.
Hermann Boehm.
Rolf Carls.
Hans-Georg von Friedeburg.
Oskar Kummetz.
Wilhelm Marschall.
Alfred Saalwachter.
Otto Schniewind.
Otto Schultze.
Walter Warzechna.
Karl Witzell.

Admirals:

Johannes Bachmann.
Otto Beckenkohler.
Max Bastian.
Hanns Benda.
Theodor Burchardi.

Wilhelm Canaris.
Otto Ciliax.

Hermann Densch.

Paul Fanger.
Hans Fechter.
Otto Fiege.
Alfred Fikentscher.
Hermann von Fischel.
Friedrich Fleischer.
Erich Forste.
Richard Foerster.
Kurt Fricke.
Werner Fuchs.

Ernst Freiherr von Gagern.
Walter Gladisch.
Otto Groos.
Gunther Guse.

Gottfried Hansen.
Emil Heusinger von Waldegg.
Otto Harmel.

Theodor Krancke.

Eugen Lindau.
Gunther Lutjens.

Wilhelm Meisel.
Paul Mewis.
Sigmund Moosauer.
Hermann Mootz.

Willy von Nordeck.

Conrad Patzig.
Wilhelm Prentzel.

Hubert Schmundt.
Otto von Schrader.
Karlgeorg Schuster.

Werner Tillessen.

Paul Wennecker.
Hans-Heinrich Wurmbach.

Erich Ziege.

Just find the ones in the right branch in the Rangliste (can't be more than 3 or 4) and look for good photos of them (there are good photos and biographies of most of these guys). You have nothing to lose and you might get lucky. Otherwise , you have a nice uniform for display purposes, but probably very difficult to restore to its "correct" configuration, given the fact that the rank stripes have been on there for so long, without being very noticeable.

[Simon O.]

I have no doubt that uniforms were ordered from tailors, but never picked up and then sold to someone else (who may have been of an entirely different rank) at a reduced price

right, but we're talking about an admiral here, not a lowly leutnant. Also, we're talking about an officer who was in Germany at the time, in fact with the OKM until nov.41 and given that posting dates often don't reflect actual dates when positions were taken up, it fits in well with his change of jobs. As he was in country i don't see why he wouldn't have picked up his jacket and if it was sold on, why on earth would the tailors not remove the label or the new own change the name?

I think, but am far from 100% sure, that most admirals were seeofficers, i'm not sure any had the flak\artillery career insignia.

[Leroy]

Simon - I am not suggesting that this is what actually happened, only that, instead, for this to be a real Admiral tunic, that would be the only thing that could possibly explain this. I think it's a humped-up tunic, just as you said, done by a professional tailor, but what's the harm in the owner spending a couple of hours pursuing this to the end so he'll know for sure, since he already has the tunic? As to Admirals wearing this branch insignia, it certainly is possible, but the number would be very, very small, and would make any search that much easier. Probably the highest to wear insignia like this would have been a "two-striper" (Vizeadmiral), and that by itself is a tip-off. The faker would have been much better off to have replaced the current branch insignia with a line star*. Regards - Leroy

* and to have removed the tag!

[germanpolice]

Has anybody noticed that the stripes on the bottom are not the same as the ones on top?? and infact the bottom stripes look like they are from the dress trousers. Sorry to say not one I would have in this config

[Leroy]

The bottom Admiral tresse appears from these photos to be correct and has the standard 6 heavier lines. A measurement would tell for sure.

By the way, you can buy this tresse every day on German eBay, made exactly like wartime tresse and from the same materials. I have seen some and it is perfect.