Collar tab question.

[Lupara]

Hello everyone.

I have a question about the construction of SS collar tabs. Did they uses a template or anything to stitch the design over or was it all done by hand? Also was the backing material woven? Or was this only on the officers tabs?

A collar tab I saw confused the hell out of me.

It passed the burn test had the right sort of backing but under the UV light the thread didn't light up but something underneath the thread did light up like a christmas tree no idea what it was though.

Purchased cloth insignia of the SS by Angolia (sp?) for $90 on ebay last wednesday does he go into detail about how these were constructed?

[Ian Hulley]

There were 3 types of collar tab ...

Machine Woven on a loom which used a template card to set up the loom itself these ran of hundreds or thousands on a roll of backing silk-like material ... aka 'BeVo' after the company who made many items of insignia.

Machine Embroidered again set up on the machine and simply 'run off' by the hundred or thousand ... examples are the 'Dachau' volunteer tabs and shields.

and finally Hand Embroidered, these were done individually on top of a card template or 'unterlagen' and made from bullion wire ... styles include the officer/NCO bullion runes, bullion sleeve eagles and the bullion Totenkopf tabs.

NONE of these should light up with blacklight unless they've been washed using modern detergents.

Ian.

[bwanek1]

Hello everyone.

I have a question about the construction of SS collar tabs. Did they uses a template or anything to stitch the design over or was it all done by hand? Also was the backing material woven? Or was this only on the officers tabs?

A collar tab I saw confused the hell out of me.

It passed the burn test had the right sort of backing but under the UV light the thread didn't light up but something underneath the thread did light up like a christmas tree no idea what it was though.

Purchased cloth insignia of the SS by Angolia (sp?) for $90 on ebay last wednesday does he go into detail about how these were constructed?

I think Ian gave a very thorough response regarding the original methods of manufacture.

As for something beneath the thread glowing under UV, that is a very bad sign. However, you will need to post a photo or two to get a conclusive answer regarding authenticity.

Angolia's book is still the "bible" of SS cloth collecting, but it is better suited for identification than authentication. He spent very little time discussing original construction/production methods and none at all on identifying fakes (which was far less of a concern at the time it was written). It also includes some errors and photos of a couple fake items among the originals, so it, like any reference, should not be relied upon 100%.

[Dr. Strangelove]

And

And grab Ulric of England's Two Volumes on Cufftitles.