Show Us Your Branch-Piped W-SS Visor

[Bob Hritz]

Now I know why I can't find an original NCO leather chin strap to restore a cap. They are all used on these fakes!!!

I guess I will have to look for a cheap fake NCO hat!

Bob Hritz

[besslein]

Now I know why I can't find an original NCO leather chin strap to restore a cap. They are all used on these fakes!!!

I guess I will have to look for a cheap fake NCO hat!

Bob Hritz

[BenVK]

Now I know why I can't find an original NCO leather chin strap to restore a cap. They are all used on these fakes!!!

I guess I will have to look for a cheap fake NCO hat!

Bob Hritz

Hi Bob,

If you check out german ebay, now and again, cheap mothed daf or veterans etc visors come along that have SS chinstraps. I managed to pick up a few that way.

[Antiquefrog]

As to the chinstrap, be careful; a period strap has usually conformed to its original cap, and may not adapt to another version without cracking and/or repositioning of the buckles or slides, which looks really bad.

[Antiquefrog]

The popularity of junk sites like www.warrelics.com only underscores the need for an independent authentication/grading service for this hobby as found for coins, stamps, baseball cards, dreaded comic books, et al. Would you not pay a fair fee for an opinion from respected members of the hobby like Bill Shea, Gerard Stezelberger, and Pete Whamond? Respond, please.

[derek]

Antiquefrog,
You bring up an interesting point. The problem is that an authentication from a dealer will always be viewed as less than independent. Don't misunderstand me, I am not casting aspersions on the names you mentioned but I have seen numerous examples of dealers' authentications trashed on a regular basis on the web because the economic side of the equation will always cast a doubt.
I have always looked to serious, specialised collectors when looking for opinions.
Derek

[Paul70]

I have always wondered if scientific verification can be done to determine originality instead of relying of the opinion of experts which are usually right but can be flawed, biased, or simply misinformed.

My friend had a Panzer badge that he first saw in the 50's, given to him recently by a WWII veteran nieghbor. Since then several people have told him to get that fake out of his collection because it has a very wierd pin on it that no expert has ever seen before.

Also it is very hard to admit that that "find of a lifetime" turns out to be junk.

[NTZ]

The popularity of junk sites like www.warrelics.com only underscores the need for an independent authentication/grading service for this hobby as found for coins, stamps, baseball cards, dreaded comic books, et al. Would you not pay a fair fee for an opinion from respected members of the hobby like Bill Shea, Gerard Stezelberger, and Pete Whamond? Respond, please.

I would feel more comfortable with those three names attached to a COA. Those are about the only three out of the dealer world I would feel comfortable with. It would only be a starting point though. I would have to feel just as comfortable with the piece myself. It is a very, very subjective hobby and even the best could be wrong sometimes. Sometimes a very small detail that is exclusive to only a certain maker can make or break a visor. If the said dealer is not familiar with that maker it could be overlooked. This is the very reason Stonemint and myself are always posting thread in the headgear area about traits of certain makers. If one is serious about buying a color pipe I can not stress enough the importance of knowing your cap makers inside and out.

[Antiquefrog]

I was just in fantasy land for a moment. Doubt these respected dealers would want to get involved in such a convoluted project, anyway. And of course, as dealers , their opinion would always be viewed as biased (anybody recall the movie Minority Report?). I just bring this up because rare caps and uniforms are so controversial, especially above 8-10K or so, and I would personally feel quite comfortable paying, say, two or three hundred dollars for the opinion of these three, even if they disagreed. Else, I am not sure where the high-end items in this hobby are headed. Sure, suckers buy them al the time, but for those of us who love the stuff but are not quite prepared to really authenticate an item, even if in hand, what do you do? Where do you go?

[Bobwirtz]

I have always wondered if scientific verification can be done to determine originality instead of relying of the opinion of experts which are usually right but can be flawed, biased, or simply misinformed.

Won't be long before the tri-corder (Star Trek) is available and then all of these people will really be scrambling because then we'll know exactly how old something is and when it was put together!!!

Bob

[aardvark]

The popularity of junk sites like www.warrelics.com only underscores the need for an independent authentication/grading service for this hobby as found for coins, stamps, baseball cards, dreaded comic books, et al. Would you not pay a fair fee for an opinion from respected members of the hobby like Bill Shea, Gerard Stezelberger, and Pete Whamond? Respond, please.

correct me if I'm wrong but do you mean www.warelics.com? Not www.warrelics.com ...I don't know how many times the owner of warrelics has had to come on this forum and ask people not confuse his site with warelics.

[Antiquefrog]

aardvark - Thanks for this clarification and I apoligize for my error. I personally feel that www.warelics.com is basically a junk site, but have absolutely no opinion on www.warrelics.com. Apologies to the owner of the latter site; I am sorry for my error - Frog.

[Antiquefrog]

For a fantastic correct example (PZ NCO), owned by BenVK, see current thread on Cloth Headgear Forum. Well worth a close look.

[TonyS]

An old thread to bring back up.

The last time I purchased something for my collection from the eStand was from member Marc C who is an ex Navy SEAL. I don't believe he posts here anymore.

He then owned (and maybe still does) the complete Riefkogl group including his Knights Cross, the collar tabs and the color piped crusher.

This is the pic he sent me at the time. Hopefully he doesn't mind me posting it.

[ATHOR]

….Nearly the same look