SS Schiffchen opinion

[Dolm_be]

Hallo community,

I've been a 'reader' on this forum for a while, but now it is time for my first post.

I'd like to hear some opinions on this SS Schiffchen I recently purchased.

Thanks a lot,
Dolm_be

[Mike Davis]

Welcome to the forum. Unfortunately the insignias are primitive reproductions.

[1corps]

Welcome to the forum!! I agree with Mike, bad insignia and looks like sloppily applied. Sorry Mike.

[Fritz]

Welcome to the forum. Unfortunately the insignias are primitive reproductions.

The eagle is a good belgish made one IMO, rest is bad.

Cheers

Fritz

[willysproject]

As I've said before: orginal eagle, the rest is crap

Kind regards,
Gerd V

[Mike Davis]

The eagle is a good belgish made one IMO, rest is bad.

Cheers

Fritz

Good catch. My bad!

[Dolm_be]

Okay, thanks all!

[NickG]

that eagle is worth money!

Not exactly a match (compare with mine) but perhaps a good eagle still!
These Belgium made SS eagles are sometimes referred to as "Reitz" (Antwerp) eagles but they're from a different town actually. I believe Leopoldsburg... also in Belgium.
Here's mine! I've shown it before but for comparison sake (and for newer WAF members) here it is (again)!

[NickG]

compare

compare

[NickG]

and Mine again

and mine again... Note typical thick neck on these belgium made eagles!

[Felix]

In my opinion the initial eagle and the eagle on yours cuf off Nick are matching. The top eagle is an original Reitz IMO. Minor stretching and angles might be the cause of some imaginative differences.

[willysproject]

NO!!!
They are not 'Reitz eagles' and were never made there. they are 'Belgian' or 'Flemish made' eagles and they were made near a town called Aalst; not Leopoldsburg.

These Belgium made SS eagles are sometimes referred to as "Reitz" (Antwerp) eagles but they're from a different town actually. I believe Leopoldsburg

[NickG]

NO!!!
They are not 'Reitz eagles' and were never made there. they are 'Belgian' or 'Flemish made' eagles and they were made near a town called Aalst; not Leopoldsburg.

OK made in Aalst it is , but sold through the "kantine" (PX store ) of the Leopoldsburg barracks...(neighboring military camp "Beverloo")
At least that's what I read....so often referred to as "Leopoldsburg" eagles... The 12th SS "Hitler-Jugend" Division trained there (Beverloo training grounds) prior to deployment to Normandy, that's why Belgian made 12th SS cuff titles also exist. Obviously another "PX" item, which was offered locally to soldiers passing though.
Here's a pre-war image of the place with Belgium troops...

[werner p.]

here it is again, the full story !

These Belgian made insignia were made by textile factories.
During the war years the textile capital of Belgium was Aalst, many of the police insignia, firemen insigina, carnaval (!) insignia, name tags etc were made by several factories in Aalst.
The German army ordered large amounts of insignia, as did the collaboration organisations.
Since Leopoldsburg was occupied by German troops, they also used the "mil shop" there. Just as the Belgian army did before the war and the allied troops did after the war.
Many of the "leftovers" were kept in the Milshop warehouse till long after the war. German shoe polish, tooth paste, razors, etc were still available in the 1950ies !

Some early militaria dealer managed to get his hands on the stockpiles and sold them in his shop near the Brussels Hallepoort.
When asked where he got these insignia from, he answered : "Leopoldsburg"

As there were many insignia available and since the production differed somewhat from the more documented BeVo types, many collectors assumed these insignia were fake.
Therefor many of them were sold at ridiculously low prices.
And therefor there was no need to copy them !!

In the 1990ies when I first started my research on the uniforms and insignia produced out of the borders of the Reich, the Reitz Uniformwerke became known by the collectors' community.

many ( mainly US) collectors, made the link between these "odd insignia" and the Reitz factory and started calling them Reitz eagles.

but Reitz was a uniform factory, they didn't have the weaving machines to weave their own insignia. They bought them from local manufacturers or from the well known lager German companies. The only insignia they made themselves, were the ones you can make from leftovers from the uniform cloth : shoulder boards.

So now once and for all
E. Reitz Uniformwerke : MADE NO INSIGNIA
Leopoldsburg : town where the Mil Shop was where stockpiles of BELGIAN MADE insignia were found by early militaria dealers
Porte de Hal / Hallepoort : location where this dealer was that first started off selling these insignia
Aalst : the town where these insignia were produced
N***: the factory that most likely made them, but the investigation into this matter is ongoing.

And finally
you should compare the eagle on the cap in question very carefully with the known original examples. For some reason I see differences that I don't like. It could be the angle of the pictures...

On my website you have some laid out original examples.

Werner

[NickG]

Agreed Werner!
I remember the Hallepoort dealer...an old man, his shop was near the old watch tower in Brussels (late 70's, early 80's when I lived in Brussels).
I bought a LW pilot/observer badge from him for something like 1000 Franks! The good old days! Nick