Who Has The Oldest SS Fake ?

[brooksbz]

tip

I was tipped off in the 70's that celluloid sweat shields were real and anything else was fake. Missing shields were a red flag.

[PanzerJager1944]

I knew one SS vet who told me while in the POW camp in the UK he and the other prisoners would trim of the bottom off the black out curtains and make SS collar tabs which they traded with the guards.

[RD Rygaard]

How about my Totenkopf tab?! Made while the war was still going on
Check Life Magazine, August 6, 1945

What do you speak of? can you post the article? ive also seen "handschar" & "Prinz Eugen" tabs made by same manufacturer. Absolutely worst ever BUT Im sure story is interesting! regards, Richard

[johnpahl]

http://books.google.ca/books?id=0EkE...201945&f=false

Page 40?

Handschar, Totenkopf and Prinz Eugen.

[John T]

I have seen the handschar and prinz eugen tabs, they are printed on felt, the same company also ran off a woven afrikakorps cuff title and I believe an adolf hitler cuff title, I do believe that these items were made by firms that made authentic US insignia and they appealed to collectors as part of the enemy display, I wish I had saved some to post pictures,

[Dmv]

indeed, lower right plate, top right
Made special for the first generation collectors

[Dmv]

I have seen the handschar and prinz eugen tabs, they are printed on felt, the same company also ran off a woven afrikakorps cuff title and I believe an adolf hitler cuff title, I do believe that these items were made by firms that made authentic US insignia and they appealed to collectors as part of the enemy display, I wish I had saved some to post pictures,

indeed and collectable i.m.o. although most collectors dislike them. Some are even harder to find then the original insignia they resemble.
I think they are part of our collectors history and them being made in 1945 already makes them interesting for me. Ofcourse they only have value as a curiosity...

[Totenschmiss]

Wow, the responses so far are both disturbing and fascinating.

[johnpahl]

Ofcourse they only have value as a curiosity...

For now. The picture above is provenance of a vet bring back.

[oldflagswanted]

WW2 made & used during WW2 ...

Hollywood made fake German uniforms during the war for movies.....

Ditto that, and IMO often rarer than the "real" stuff.
My favorite is a WW2 movie prop uniform eagle used in
such films as when Tarzan and Lassie fight the Nazis,
and reused in many other movies, and as late as in the
1960's "Combat" TV show. From the "Golden Age" of
Hollywood when studio art departments made everything,
even small things like these eagles obtained from the first
major release of Hollywood stuff which occured in the now
ledgenary 1970 MGM Studio sale and auction.
OFW
(below) Used as both Army or SS, depending if placed
on the uniform right chest or on the upper arm sleeve.

(below) Also see ---> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/If_Day
...a simulated Nazi invasion of the Canadian city of Winnipeg
on 19 February 1942, during the Second World War. Hollywood
uniforms were used, which also included those big MGM eagles.
Photo: "Fake Nazis harassing a newspaper carrier during If Day"

[FrenchVolunteer]

Hi,

PanzerJager1944, amazing story !


See You

Vince

[ETN]

Ditto that, and IMO often rarer than the "real" stuff.
My favorite is a WW2 movie prop uniform eagle used in
such films as when Tarzan and Lassie fight the Nazis,
and reused in many other movies, and as late as in the
1960's "Combat" TV show. From the "Golden Age" of
Hollywood when studio art departments made everything,
even small things like these eagles obtained from the first
major release of Hollywood stuff which occured in the now
ledgenary 1970 MGM Studio sale and auction.
OFW
(below) Used as both Army or SS, depending if placed
on the uniform right chest or on the upper arm sleeve.

(below) Also see ---> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/If_Day
...a simulated Nazi invasion of the Canadian city of Winnipeg
on 19 February 1942, during the Second World War. Hollywood
uniforms were used, which also included those big MGM eagles.
Photo: "Fake Nazis harassing a newspaper carrier during If Day"

Thanks for sharing this, I really like your eagle and the history of Hollywood's interpretation of t German uniforms behind it.

[Michael Fay]

indeed, lower right plate, top right
Made special for the first generation collectors

That is one one nice photo. Look at the kids haunted face: he was already a true collector in search of the next item.

[Basil]

That is one one nice photo. Look at the kids haunted face: he was already a true collector in search of the next item.

And, like many fanatical collectors, he's already loaded down with fakes!

[Leroy]

I vaguely remember seeing that old issue of LIFE. Didn't this kid have something to do with the guy who was known as "The Patch King" (somewhere in the NY/NJ area), who made just about every type of patch (including Japanese)? Just memory talking and it's been a long time.....