Dear reader,
Recently I went through some photographs I took while I was a student in Moscow in 1991. I then visited a militaria collector and was allowed to photograph his collection. Well, while going through my photos I found an image I had just about forgotten about, showing a metal shield from the SS-Oberabschnitt Nordost with an old-style Totenkopf. I have since never seen such a shield in any book, nor on the web.
As I do not want my photo of the shield reproduced elsewhere I will not post it on the web. But I can describe it as much as I can (if you need to know more - ask me here on the forum).
The complete text on it reads "SS-Oberabschnitt Nordost. Wintertag des `Schwarzen Korps´ 4 Februar 1934".
I stress that the Totenkopf is of the old style and at the bottom is the skyline of Königsberg - several old buildings.
I did not measure it (I was not that interested at the time), but I reckon it was the size of the later campaign shields (Narvik shield etc).
Judging from my memory of the size and three holes (one at each point) I presume it was intended for uniform wear. The Moscow collector´s shield was mounted on a dark scrap of cloth. I am not sure it was black cloth as my photo is black-and-white. But I presume it may have been faded black. Furthermore I presume the shield was worn on an arm.
I understand that the SS-Oberabschnitt Nordost means the Allgemeine-SS in the Königsberg area, which is today the Kaliningrad region in Russia. This fits with my memory of the Russian collector saying that many items in his collection came from that area, where he often went in search of new items. I stress that this was in 1991, before fakes were common in Russia, and that I was not trying to buy the shield. I therefore conclude that the shield that I photographed was and is genuine.
I have absolutely no memory of even having been offered the shield and I believe I also didn´t ask about the price (with hindsight I should have asked) as I don´t collect SS militaria myself - but I do like to learn about it. Know I´d like to learn some more: anything more about it, but especially:
1. If it indeed was worn on the uniform (arm)?
2. If it could be considered as the first German arm shield ever?
3. Which other, if any, metal SS arm shields were there? (I of course know that a bunch were made of cloth during the war, with various flags)
Best of all would be if someone could post a photo of one being worn, or recommend a book with such a photo and/or more info on the shield itself.
Sincerely,
LG
Recently I went through some photographs I took while I was a student in Moscow in 1991. I then visited a militaria collector and was allowed to photograph his collection. Well, while going through my photos I found an image I had just about forgotten about, showing a metal shield from the SS-Oberabschnitt Nordost with an old-style Totenkopf. I have since never seen such a shield in any book, nor on the web.
As I do not want my photo of the shield reproduced elsewhere I will not post it on the web. But I can describe it as much as I can (if you need to know more - ask me here on the forum).
The complete text on it reads "SS-Oberabschnitt Nordost. Wintertag des `Schwarzen Korps´ 4 Februar 1934".
I stress that the Totenkopf is of the old style and at the bottom is the skyline of Königsberg - several old buildings.
I did not measure it (I was not that interested at the time), but I reckon it was the size of the later campaign shields (Narvik shield etc).
Judging from my memory of the size and three holes (one at each point) I presume it was intended for uniform wear. The Moscow collector´s shield was mounted on a dark scrap of cloth. I am not sure it was black cloth as my photo is black-and-white. But I presume it may have been faded black. Furthermore I presume the shield was worn on an arm.
I understand that the SS-Oberabschnitt Nordost means the Allgemeine-SS in the Königsberg area, which is today the Kaliningrad region in Russia. This fits with my memory of the Russian collector saying that many items in his collection came from that area, where he often went in search of new items. I stress that this was in 1991, before fakes were common in Russia, and that I was not trying to buy the shield. I therefore conclude that the shield that I photographed was and is genuine.
I have absolutely no memory of even having been offered the shield and I believe I also didn´t ask about the price (with hindsight I should have asked) as I don´t collect SS militaria myself - but I do like to learn about it. Know I´d like to learn some more: anything more about it, but especially:
1. If it indeed was worn on the uniform (arm)?
2. If it could be considered as the first German arm shield ever?
3. Which other, if any, metal SS arm shields were there? (I of course know that a bunch were made of cloth during the war, with various flags)
Best of all would be if someone could post a photo of one being worn, or recommend a book with such a photo and/or more info on the shield itself.
Sincerely,
LG
Comment