Cutoff collar tab / Possible one-in-a-million match

[drempfer]

Well guys, please take my thread title in a light hearted way. I fully realize that what I am putting up for discussion is a long shot, but you never know! I bought this cutoff several years back. It's got a ton of character and I really like it. I've also read and paged through Insignia And Artifacts of the Waffen-SS by Beaver/Bando dozens of times. I never made a connection before, but suddenly I though "Wow, that cutoff looks a lot like mine". I'm referring to the Runic Tab on page 190. I've compared them side by side, and it's a really cool match. Although the runes are BeVo, and my tab is felt, it's still in the realm of the "possible" in my eye. Additionally, the tresse on both tabs was added after the tabs were in place; a clear sign of promotion. Please have a look.

[drempfer]

Another view

[drempfer]

Reverse view

[drempfer]

Internal construction

[cavguy]

Interesting how the tress on both tabs actually goes over the collar tabs. The soldier must have been eager to get his uniform up to specs.

Is all the sewing on your portion of the collar by machine?

[NickG]

Sure looks like a decent match. Wow! Those should be reunited and framed together.
So the book names Mark Bando as the owner of the cut off SS tab...Perhaps negotiable!
Btw I just ordered my copy from Amazon yesterday. Can't wait for it to hit my mail box!

[DaveJ]

Cool, looks like a match

[drempfer]

Sure looks like a decent match. Wow! Those should be reunited and framed together.
So the book names Mark Bando as the owner of the cut off SS tab...Perhaps negotiable!
Btw I just ordered my copy from Amazon yesterday. Can't wait for it to hit my mail box!

Nick, thanks for the note. It would make a great framed match, so we'll see! Enjoy the book!

[drempfer]

Interesting how the tress on both tabs actually goes over the collar tabs. The soldier must have been eager to get his uniform up to specs.

Is all the sewing on your portion of the collar by machine?

Cavguy, thanks for the note. The tresse is machine applied, like the one in the book. I'm on the road for the next few days and will be back on Sunday, so I'll check the tab then. Take care!

[codytrcollector]

Some clear, close-up images of the pasteboard, tresse and reverse stitching of both examples would be beneficial, but I do agree; at first appearances they appear to share many of the same characteristics of one another, including overall wear.
Coincidently, I've myself have stumbled upon a commonplace uniform in a unknown period photograph that still exist in a collection today. It took sometime to realize what I was looking at but eventually I made the connection. So rarer things certainly do accrue....not often but when they do it's a real delectation.
Just my opinion but if these did turn out to be each other's counterpart it's almost our duty as preservationist to "reunite" them if at all possible. Of course, if both parties wish not to part with their example they can not be censured. They're both fine examples and most would have a difficult time letting go, regardless of the situation.
I'll continue to follow this thread with great interest. Thank you for sharing.

[drempfer]

Some clear, close-up images of the pasteboard, tresse and reverse stitching of both examples would be beneficial, but I do agree; at first appearances they appear to share many of the same characteristics of one another, including overall wear.
Coincidently, I've myself have stumbled upon a commonplace uniform in a unknown period photograph that still exist in a collection today. It took sometime to realize what I was looking at but eventually I made the connection. So rarer things certainly do accrue....not often but when they do it's a real delectation.
Just my opinion but if these did turn out to be each other's counterpart it's almost our duty as preservationist to "reunite" them if at all possible. Of course, if both parties wish not to part with their example they can not be censured. They're both fine examples and most would have a difficult time letting go, regardless of the situation.
I'll continue to follow this thread with great interest. Thank you for sharing.

Thanks Cody. I'm on the road to Camp Dawson, WV for training and will take better closeup pics this Monday after I return home. I've initiated the commo that you gentlemen have mentioned via PM, so we'll see where this goes! I'll keep the members informed.

[codytrcollector]

Thanks Cody. I'm on the road to Camp Dawson, WV for training and will take better closeup pics this Monday after I return home. I've initiated the commo that you gentlemen have mentioned via PM, so we'll see where this goes! I'll keep the members informed.

I wish you nothing but success in your venture. It's certainly quite the exciting development and worth the effort to try and obtain the other half.
Hopefully my intervention isn't of poor taste but how prodigious would it be for someone to locate the matching example to this one I own? A rhetorical question of course as I wouldn't want to supersede the original subject being discussed. Still, it sure would be nice to know, at minimum, what the rank of this SD, Abschnitt, etc. personnel was.
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I often think about these cut-off examples and wonder which parts were discarded and which ones were kept. Usually these were the product of veteran souvenirs, though it's not entirely unheard of for collectors/dealers to destroy a tunic by cutting it up for profit, so I'd imagine many are the only surviving portion of the complete item itself.