SS Late War Totenkopf Tab

[Stossgruppe3]

A real salty tab or a aged fake ..... Your opinions please.
Regards
David

[D Davies]

Hi David
It looks like the pumpkin style tk,I have never seen them without the white stitching lines on the reverse.Lets see what others think.
Cheers
Dave.

[rayman]

Any evidence of the tab having been applied to a uniform? Don't think I can see any, but in hand may be a different story. Have seen some of these smashed up a bit (to different degrees). Ray.

[istra63]

original

[Kurt Meyer]

I like it.

[Grimjaur]

I'm the current owner of this tab, which was recently sold on the e-stand, and I have some doubts. Not regarding it's originality but I think it has been messed with.
Let me know if there's anyone of you who sees any red flags.

[ETN]

The buckram is different from what I used to seeing on this style of tab.

I think it's been messed with too.

[ETN]

check the spots where the red arrows point. Are these cuts? Does the cut continue around the outside of the skull?

[Grimjaur]

ETN, thanks for your reply! You've got sharp eyes!
That's exactly what bugged me. Didn't want to go all out with my observations in my first post - this is my first SS tab and I wanted to be sure that it's just not me that sees this.
I checked around the edge of the TK earlier today with a loupe. In the picture I've highlighted the areas where a cut/recess is most visible and in the non highlighted areas, there's difference/disturbance in the cloth and it goes all around the TK.

As far as I can tell, it's a very snug fit, as if the TK has been cut from the tab at some point and at some later point glued back into place. But why...? I have no idea. If it was a case of trying to upgrade a tab, that'd be another thing.

[ETN]

ETN, thanks for your reply! You've got sharp eyes!
That's exactly what bugged me. Didn't want to go all out with my observations in my first post - this is my first SS tab and I wanted to be sure that it's just not me that sees this.
I checked around the edge of the TK earlier today with a loupe. In the picture I've highlighted the areas where a cut/recess is most visible and in the non highlighted areas, there's difference/disturbance in the cloth and it goes all around the TK.

As far as I can tell, it's a very snug fit, as if the TK has been cut from the tab at some point and at some later point glued back into place. But why...? I have no idea. If it was a case of trying to upgrade a tab, that'd be another thing.

It may have been cut from a moth eaten tab and craftily set into the cloth of a newly made tab to make a better conditioned example.

[Kurt Meyer]

It's still a real tab

[ETN]

It's still a real tab

In as much as a fake tab made with a part from an original can be, I suppose.

[Kurt Meyer]

Can you fold the cuttings so you van see it should had been glued in the fake tan ?

[istra63]

Is it an attempt at a cut out?

[Grimjaur]

Can you fold the cuttings so you van see it should had been glued in the fake tan ?

I'm wouldn't like to fold anything, thus applying unnecessary force to the tab. The most evident cut is the one you see on the left of the crossed bones on the left and on top of the skull. The rest is either covered in glue or visible as a recess, for example under the jaw.