What is this? SS Silver engraved plaque.

[Jon. H]

Hello,

Just received this one from estand.

But i don't really know what it is? Does anyone have a clue?

I was thinking it might have been attached to a statue/bust or anything like that, but there is a chain in one of the ends so i don't know.

Also, is it possible to identify anything from the engraved text? I have figured out that the Brigadeführer is SS-Brigadeführer Berthold Maack who was trained in Dachau if i'm not mistaken?

The inscription: Führer und Männer der Danziger Schutzstaffel ihrem Gruppenführer zum 10. Okt. 1937 Maack SS- Brigadeführer

Would this have been given by Maack to a Gruppenführer or?

It's in silver and around 20 cm long.


Thank you!
SS1.jpg

ss22.jpg

[PMan]

Engraving

Interesting item. My best guess is that it is a sample showing engraving styles and sizes. Another guess is that it was produced and never used for it's intended purpose. The outline around the engraving would have been the cut line for the finished plaque. Nice original engraving IMO.
Peter

[Bond]

Hello,

Also, is it possible to identify anything from the engraved text? I have figured out that the Brigadeführer is SS-Brigadeführer Berthold Maack who was trained in Dachau if i'm not mistaken?

The inscription: Führer und Männer der Danziger Schutzstaffel ihrem Gruppenführer zum 10. Okt. 1937 Maack SS- Brigadeführer

I think it reads 'officers and men of the Danziger SS honour Gruppenfuhrer on the 10th oct 1937.....'

Maybe the chain does not belong and it was attached to something they gave him, or it was attached by the chain, now broken short.

Jerry

[Robert H]

give a metal plate to one Rifle engraver in Germany and he can do it in the same way, impossible to say pre or post 1945.

[Jon. H]

Interesting item. My best guess is that it is a sample showing engraving styles and sizes. Another guess is that it was produced and never used for it's intended purpose. The outline around the engraving would have been the cut line for the finished plaque. Nice original engraving IMO.
Peter

Thank you Peter! I was also thinking about that it might had been used to show engravings, sizes etc. But i thought, why did they use the "Maack name if it was only to show sizes etc.

I think it reads 'officers and men of the Danziger SS honour Gruppenfuhrer on the 10th oct 1937.....'

Maybe the chain does not belong and it was attached to something they gave him, or it was attached by the chain, now broken short.

Jerry

Thank you Jerry!

Yes that's true, perhaps the chain never belonged there, someone attached it later.

give a metal plate to one Rifle engraver in Germany and he can do it in the same way, impossible to say pre or post 1945.

Thank you Robert!

Yes that's very true! But if it's done later then it's IMO a clever guy who did it. Normally when i see engravings that are added later then it's always to Heydrich, Himmler, Peiper, or some other rather interesting personality.

[tempelhof]

I think it reads 'officers and men of the Danziger SS honour Gruppenfuhrer on the 10th oct 1937.....'

Maybe the chain does not belong and it was attached to something they gave him, or it was attached by the chain, now broken short.

Jerry

It reads:

"From the officers and men of the Danziger SS to their Gruppenfuehrer for the 10th of October 1937 (signed) Maack, SS-Brigadefuehrer."

What ever this is, or whatever it was attached to, it was presented in commemoration of some event on 10 October 1937. It was given by the men under the Gruppenfuehrer and presented (and "signed") by Maack who was Brigadefuehrer under the Gruppenfuehrer.

This is how it reads pretty much.

[Erich B.]

There was a Gauparteitag held on 10. October 1937 in Danzig; this must be the event commemorated on the plaque.
Erich

[torstenbel]

It is an engraved plaque that would have been attached to some kind of present for Maack. The present could have been anything. There is now no way of telling of course. Certainly looks original and period made to me. Cheers, Torsten.

[Jon. H]

Thank you guys for clearing that up!


Just to ask, Brigadeführer Maack was never the commandant of Dachau?

[Mark C. Yerger]

Berthold Maack (SS# 15 690) was promoted to Brigadeführer on September 13, 1936. From November 1935 to mid-April 1938 he was the commander of SS-Abschnitt XXVI. Later served in Waffen-SS and commanded 20.Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS (estn.Nr. 1), last Waffen-SS rank Oberführer d.R.