Who here owns an original TK Ring?

[juoneen]

I watched the lord of the rings, and found the basic story had many similarities to ww2. The one guys head even looked like a panzer or ss skull. @.4cents on the dollar 10,000. USD's buying power is ...well you do the math. I feel as the remainder of all of them are found and absorbed by the time all the ww2 vets are passed on, the prices will quadruple, and maybe be even higher regardless of condition. TK rings are made of Silver , and worn every day wears out in about 6 years. Mine was worn every day, and he killed many russians and allies till he died,as his record is documented, and he also won the RK, and DKIG + more... and his ring looks the part. I dont need any document to pay don to tell ME what I already know, as mine came right from the vet. Its what it represents as others have said that makes the ring special as a collectors item. Ones enuf for anybody unless providence brings us lucky stiffs another by chance, as hope always springs eternal to get another , and I hope those who are chompin on the bit to get one, that presently dont have one, find one someday....but you know we all dream of finding the hoard himmler dynamited in the mountain supposedly. I still wonder how large the pile would be for 15000 TK rings in a pile. I heard some ss men sent their rings back after disagreeing with hitler, has anyone else heard that, or am i thinking of cuff titles.

[Ric Ferrari]

I know Don Boyle very well, and I know for a fact that he also knows what he is talking about....
........I gave him two rings that I knew were 100% because of their source, mixed with other rings I felt were real, and some I thought were not originals. It was a test on myself too.

You might ask how I new two of the rings were 100% genuine, simple, I knew both the men that owned the rings when they were alive, and saw the rings first hand, no pun intended.
One of those men presented the ring to me in appreciation for something that I didn't think reached the level of that kind of thank you. The other mans ring I aquired from a German dealer that got all the mans carreer items from the mans daughter, as I said I knew the ring from seeing it in detail, a few years prior.
Both men were well documented highly decorated veterans of heavy combat.
Boyle knew in a flash they were real, and the other rings I also thought were correct, except for one I was wrong about. On that one ring I was wrong about, I was not aware it was a re-issue to replace what the man had lost at some point in time. Don took a little more time about a minute or so to double check that one. Naturally Don spotted the couple of good fakes sprinkled in, also just as fast as he knew the real ones.

....just another example why I personally call him a true expert !

Ric

[phild]

" Ones enuf for anybody unless providence brings us lucky stiffs another by chance, as hope always springs eternal to get another , and I hope those who are chompin on the bit to get one, that presently dont have one, find one someday....but you know we all dream of finding the hoard himmler dynamited in the mountain supposedly. I still wonder how large the pile would be for 15000 TK rings in a pile. I heard some ss men sent their rings back after disagreeing with hitler, has anyone else heard that, or am i thinking of cuff titles.

I personally do not believe that 15,000 were returned or anything even close to that number. This is based on my reading and translation of the 1945 HR status document from the RF-SS that has been published.

I read the document as stating that this number (I don't recall the exact number cited) as being "accounted for"....huge difference than saying they have been returned.

Given the situation in Germany and neighboring countries to the east (where most W-SS troops were at the beginnnig of 1945) I see a recall of HRs to have been logistically very un-likely.


As to the famous "blast sealed" myth or story...that seems to vary between the "horde" ending up basically under the castle all the way to them being sealed into some mountain in the general area of the castle.....well if that happened at all and they are ever found, I see little chance that they will ever leave Germany....more pointed the German government! Those who boast otherwise have little understanding of the political situation there and/or believe that you can set up a mining operation un-noticed!!

Given the broken mind-set of most collectors today, if more than 3 of anything is found at the same time and place, then they must all be fake!!

Everyone who has watched a 3 series show on the History channel these days is an instant expert on everything 3rd Reich related....from the tactics used at Stalingrad to authenicating hallmarks on Hitler's silver......

[TomH]

I watched the lord of the rings, and found the basic story had many similarities to ww2. The one guys head even looked like a panzer or ss skull. @.4cents on the dollar 10,000. USD's buying power is ...well you do the math. I feel as the remainder of all of them are found and absorbed by the time all the ww2 vets are passed on, the prices will quadruple, and maybe be even higher regardless of condition. TK rings are made of Silver , and worn every day wears out in about 6 years. Mine was worn every day, and he killed many russians and allies till he died,as his record is documented, and he also won the RK, and DKIG + more... and his ring looks the part. I dont need any document to pay don to tell ME what I already know, as mine came right from the vet. Its what it represents as others have said that makes the ring special as a collectors item. Ones enuf for anybody unless providence brings us lucky stiffs another by chance, as hope always springs eternal to get another , and I hope those who are chompin on the bit to get one, that presently dont have one, find one someday....but you know we all dream of finding the hoard himmler dynamited in the mountain supposedly. I still wonder how large the pile would be for 15000 TK rings in a pile. I heard some ss men sent their rings back after disagreeing with hitler, has anyone else heard that, or am i thinking of cuff titles.

Slightly off topic but I think you are thinking of the the event when Hitler ordered that the LAH, Das Reich, Totenkopf and Hohenstaufen be stripped of their cuff titles. This happened at the end of March 1945 after the withdrawal in Hungary. Legend has it that some officers sent their decorations back in a chamber pot which contained a human arm with the LAH cufftitle attached.

An escalation of the situation resulted in Hitler ordering the officers stripped of their decorations at which even the supine Himmler protested. There is a good account of this and the various legends around the episode in "Hitler's Gladiator" the biography of Sepp Dietrich.

Anyway, back to the topic....here is my TK Ring, bestowed 20/4/41 to Heinrich Frintrop. It is a nice piece but personally pales (for me) compared to some of my battle worn cufftitles.

By the way - numbers of rings awarded by year were:

1936 1,137
1937 1,873
1938 1,837
1939 1,257
1940 1,471
1941 1,184
1942 2,240
1943 1,798
1944 1,935

best

Tom

[sgstandard]

Ring

Wow!! - Can you post more pics? I REALLY like the way the skull is worn! To me - MUCH more preferable to an unworn, mint ring.

[slayer]

Thanks for the numbers Tom so the total issued was 14,732, are they 100% correct weren't there earlier issues as well ?

So how many originals have we got here on the forum so far ?

[TomH]

Numbers

Rings were issued in 1934 and 1935 but (strangely) no records were kept, so estimates for total numers iawarded range 16 - 20,000.

1,562 were recovered by the SS before the end of the war and their whereabouts are the subject of much speculation.

Sgstandard - here are a few more shots of the ring above.

cheers

Tom

[TomH]

Hagal Rune

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[TomH]

Triag & Sigrune

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[sgstandard]

Ring

GREAT PICS !!!! THANKS for posting. Don't you just love it when rings look like this???

[11C]

It just doesn't get much nicer than that!!!!!! Thanks for posting.

[juoneen]

I appreciate the clarification. Sorry to have gotten off track.
Recently i saw someone on the forum say they had a ring dated in 33. Is that possible? if so there has to be less of the early years in existance than the later versions. If so I would figure they look like a 36 style skull. Can anybody that has a 33 verify it looks like a 36 type for the skull ?
Its amazing there are only 14,000 or thereabouts in these rings, as ive read conflicting opinions on numbers made. Of those i wonder how many were replaced , or lost in battle to never be recovered to send back to the castle. One article said himmler had recovered 15000. Also that there were near 20,000 made, wich is very confusing to me. Also claim there are around 3500 in existance (or thereabouts) .
Other than having a ring from a famous owner, the only rarer ring would be to have one from an ss man whos ring was taken back for perminant disciplinary reasons, although id be willing to bet , a nixed owners ring would never see the light of day to reach a collectors collection..
That frintrop ring looks the best of any pig nose versions i have seen yet. A friend of mine had one once from an ss doctor named wache.(pronunciation sounds like walk-a in english) Unfortunately he sold it years ago, and who knows where it may be now.

[Ric Ferrari]

......Recently i saw someone on the forum say they had a ring dated in 33. Is that possible? if so there has to be less of the early years in existance than the later versions. If so I would figure they look like a 36 style skull. Can anybody that has a 33 verify it looks like a 36 type for the skull ?.....

Hello,

here you go :

http://www.worldwarmilitaria.com/for...ead.php?t=3828

Best

Ric

[sgstandard]

Ring

Can someone post the pics here? You have to join to see the pics.

[ErichS]

It's so nice to see a ring that's a one looker. Great ring and congrats!