W-SS Cut-Off Insignia/Buyer Beware

[Zeller]

I certainly don't want to ease the tension here but I have one question: how come a serious dealer as Collector's Guild did not not refund the fake cap? In my eyes, all this story affects also that seller's credibility in the end.
The rest of the story is quite evident: the person who bought the cap and got burnt wanted to recover his loss at other people's expenses, adding a "plus" to Mauro's genuine insignia. Pity that the alleged "plus" is just fake cloth. I don't see a good reason why somebody would sell genuine insignia stitched on fake cloth. No way.

[Arran]

The insignia should have been lightly and carefully hand-sewn to the cap. Then when it was discovered fake, the insignia could have been easily removed and it could have been returned to the Guild for a refund. Then none of this mess would have happened...

[Zeller]

So the buyer altered the cap conditions, that is why it couldn't be returned for a refund?

[Mike Bollow]

The cap could NOT be returned because of the restoration work I did to it once I got it. I didn't even try to send it back because I think all dealers have a rule that items can only be returned in the exact condition they were bought in.

The major thing I did to the cap was NOT the re-application of original insignia. The major thing was removing an extra layer of material that was added around the sweat area POST WAR for some reason like padding or sweat absorbtion. My guess was this cap was used post war by a laborer, as were SO MANY M43 caps. This is why they are so rare... they got used up in the clothing shortages after the war!

Anyroad... I wanted to bring the cap back to wartime specs so the extra padding layer was removed and the insignia re-applied. People on the forum said the cap was bad, and as we all know once that happens your item has a black cloud over it as big as Texas. Sometimes the verdict of "fake" is incorrect but the cloud will remain. The forum is very powerful in this hobby.

I still held the belief the cap was real: the post-war added material and all that made me very confident of this. I still couldn't sell it because of the verdict on the forum, regardless of my asking price and I got ANGRY about it, had a bunch of beers and cut it up. I know guys that have been made so mad at this hobby that they have THROWN OUT entire collections, so I guess I showed some restraint.

I am being threatened with suspension from the forum over this, though I did nothing wrong and even if I did - none of it happened ON THE FORUM. I hope cooler heads prevail. Karl and I are fine, and he is sending me back the insignia. I will remove it from the wool so when I die nothing about it will be amiss, and my children won't be attacked with torches and pitch forks.

Mike

[Willi Z.]

The insignia should have been lightly and carefully hand-sewn to the cap. Then when it was discovered fake, the insignia could have been easily removed and it could have been returned to the Guild for a refund. Then none of this mess would have happened...

Exactly! But, I suspect (not sure yet) the fake cap with original insignia sewn to it would have been offered as a completely original cap to some unsuspecting collector.

Why do I think that? Because when this same individual posted a Luftwaffe tropical M41 cap, which those of us who are familiar with this cap knew to be a very unconvincing fake and said so on the thread, it was then sold at a show for far less than an original would cost (the collecting world is rather small).


So, correct me if I am wrong. What we have here is:

• Original insignia
• Fake cap
• Original insignia machine-sewn to a fake cap
• Fake cap now cut up so that original insignia is sewn to fake pieces of cap and offered as cut insignia
• Lots of drama and tap dancing

[Gary Wood]

So, correct me if I am wrong. What we have here is:

• Original insignia
• Fake cap
• Original insignia machine-sewn to a fake cap
• Fake cap now cut up so that original insignia is sewn to fake pieces of cap and offered as cut insignia
• Lots of drama and tap dancing

And even if the original insignia is removed from the fake cloth it will be more than likely ruined by that stitching