estonian made ss skull ...

[Sturmmann]

this thread is just to introduce you the not-so-famous estonian ss skull. i know that most of the usa collectors won't believe in it and when i opened a similar thread about 2 years ago then i was the biggest moron in the world. anyway - i have some better photos of the same skull in use (in period pictures) and i hope that i could make you believe that this skull really did exist.

these skulls were produced in tartu in 1944 and were given to estonian ss soldiers - it is made from very thin metal and it is littlebit bigger than german manufactured skulls.

[Sturmmann]

and here are some wartime photos of estonian ss soldiers who are wearing the same skulls ...

[Sturmmann]

and here is another skull which i think is known as the latvian produced but it was definately being used also by estonian ss soldiers from 1944 until the end of the war.

it is made from very thin aluminium and without any markings - on the photos you can see that the pins are broken off (pins were stamped in one piece with the rest of the skull).

here are 2 photos of the skull and 1 photo of estonian soldier wearing it in front of his sidecap.

[galizien41]

Great info! I have seen a couple of these about 8 years ago when I was in Tallinn last. These are really cool. Thanks for posting the photo evidence as well! After 60 years still finding new variants, and we are always still learning.

[bwanek1]

this thread is just to introduce you the not-so-famous estonian ss skull. i know that most of the usa collectors won't believe in it and when i opened a similar thread about 2 years ago then i was the biggest moron in the world. anyway - i have some better photos of the same skull in use (in period pictures) and i hope that i could make you believe that this skull really did exist.

these skulls were produced in tartu in 1944 and were given to estonian ss soldiers - it is made from very thin metal and it is littlebit bigger than german manufactured skulls.

These locally-made variants have received some attention at various times since your first thread on this topic.

This one in 2005 also included some nice photos of some of those home-made metal collar tab runes which were the topic of another recent thread:

http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...ad.php?t=98422

This one in 2006 included a link to a repository of photos of similar insignia in wear:

http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...=157057&page=6

That link (which also appears to be the source of your photos above) is:

http://www.wehrmacht.pri.ee/fotod/fotod.php

We USA collectors aren't as close-minded as you believe us to be.

[Matthias Fritz]

Balkan SS skull

I must say that there have bean no balkan made SS skulls ! I am from Slovenija and i have sean all SS sculls that were worn by SS in ex Yugoslavia, specialy by 7 SS Prinz Evgen and SS Handzar and also some reproductions that are for seal in some parts of ey Yugoslavia or Balkan as you have sead Bwanek and ther is no simmilar SS scull to Estonian SS scull !!!

The Estonians SS skulls looks greath and i have sean simmilar in some estonian militaria site !

And yes, some U.S colectors are very, very close minded !!!

[TonyS]

I don't have a problem with them being original - to me they just don't seem very appealing compared to the German made types.

[Bob Hritz]

I have always believed these were made in Riga, Latvia, where the Estonian troops were outiftted and trained. I have never been so fortunate to find any for my collection.

Thank you for posting these wonderful insignia.

Bob Hritz

[bnz. 42]

Here is another rare variant

[Anders S]

Here is another rare variant

This pic is identical with the one in the 2nd post besides the insignia ....

[Fred S]

Can do a lot of things with computers.

[BenVK]

Thank god for photoshop eh?

[Anders S]

Thank god for photoshop eh?

Sometimes it's fun
(Sorry, couldn't resist)

[Anders S]

...

[bwanek1]

Sometimes it's fun
(Sorry, couldn't resist)