SS marked cyanide capsule holder

[Jean-Loup]

I saw this at an exposition of secret service materials in a museum this week end. My first thought is that it looks like a typical fantassy piece, complete with SS runes on the cover (sorry for the poor quality of the photo...).
Was my instinct correct?

JL

[Obersalzberg]

Yes. Morigi has the exact same one on his site dor 15.95 I think.
Originals were perhaps similar

[BrianK]

Looks like a repro. If I paid a lot for this I'd consider taking the cyanide.

[Hank C.]

Looks like a repro. If I paid a lot for this I'd consider taking the cyanide.

Ha, it'd be fake too!

Hank

[JoeW]

These first came out a couple decades ago after the Ben Swearingen published his book on the the death of Goring. The one he pictured was copied. They used to have the name of a Hamburg chemical company.

[Gary Symonds]

There is a grain of truth in this repro/fantasy piece. In my readings, it was said that the originals were based on a rifle cartridge casing as the container for the poison.

Looking at the picture, it does resemble a cartridge casing.

Supossedly, these were made in the concentration camps by qualified inmates. They called them "self destruction capsules" or something like that.

Why the museum would date these as early as 1940, shows how little history the curator knows or understands.

Germany was winning the war in 1940. No one was going to committ sucide over the victories in Western Europe.

[docf]

DIes not appear fantasy

Your picture quality is poor, but this appears to be the real thing. The canister which I have had since 1958 is 1.746" long . With the brass top in place, the diameter at mid section is .469" in diameter. Both the top and bottom are filagred and both the top and the bottom are marked. The bottom with a design, the top marked with TECH u. next line are ss runes, manufactor place eg Hamburg , 77 /42 and finally inscription STABENOW. Don't have the 2 holes your model has drilled margins. Unable to photo tonight as not able to work wife's new camera and have not posted any pictures on this site yet.
aS i MENTIONED DUE TO THE QUALITY OF YOUR PICTURES i AM UNABLE TO SEE YOUR INSCRIPTIONS. I am unable to discribe the design opposite base.

Docf

[BrianK]

How can you tell all that from that picture?

[docf]

Canister

How can you tell all that from that picture?

Brian the filigrey on both upper and lower borders appears in order. The lower with the spacing simulating a cartridge is in PPT to the bottom filigrew. As I noted on my post yesterday I could not make a definitive as the top was blurred. One thing I could not see was the postioning of the last word. The orginal last word is blended into the curve of the bottom . This from the picture appeared to be haphazard. Truthfully in my collecting career I have only seen 3 orginals mine included. I am confused that anyone is reprod. these as most collectives I know find this article distasteful. I do not as it is history. I would have loved to see the bottom which I stated has a unique design and also the top lettering. These were made from 1940 on and the craftmanship as per most German manufacture beautiful. Have no idea regarding value. Mine I found in a basket along with WWII metals, patches,8 mm rounds, at a place in Youngstown Ohio called Katie's Corners , in 1958 which was an old thrift store where for the most part at that times Vets were cleaning out their garages etc.and basically getting rid of their war finds. At the time I was 13yr and had begun collecting German Lugers 2 yrs prior( yes you could buy a pistol through mag ad etc as a teen). I paid 50 cents at the time and being
on a mission thought I was buying a shell casing only to find out differently when I went next door to the library. This was in hast as I was at school and was not supposed to be off of school grounds. Mine will be difficult to photo as it has progressively darken with time, but I will photo it along with a few othe SS articles I have including Camo (white) double decal M40 helmet, chinstraps 42, SS officer Visor (Waffen), 38 police SS sword, daggers, orginal totenkopf ring doc. Boyle(1944) etc. etc. numerous Lugers. Do you have any idea who owns this current canister and if additional photo's available? The other negative is the canister appears polished or new as it certainly should be darkening assymetrically with time. Mine with time has in areas turned a dark brown color. Should not polish artifacts. Sorry I hope I was not too wordy.

Docf

[Jerry Burney]

I wouldn't bite that thing! You would get glass in your mouth..

[Ron P]

Here is one I got in the late 80's. 100% fantasy piece and at the time sold as one. I have seen examples of recently produced samples with slight cosmetic differences. Regards, Ron.

[Ron P]

.

[Killerbee]

I wouldn't bite that thing! You would get glass in your mouth..

[Killerbee]

For what its worth, here is a not so clear picture of the cyanide container that Himmler used...



Jim

[octavian]

interesting. Anybody else have pics of the real deal?