Good morning gents,
A few days ago I started a Thread to show a few items I acquired from the friend of a deceased U.S. 90th Inf Div soldier who was said to have been at both KZ Flossenburg and the Merkers Salt Mines where the SS had large stocks of looted booty.
http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...d.php?t=947582
The highlight of the group was a KZ Kommandant's Staff NCO's tab (with linen RZM tag on it) that was said to have come from the KZ Flossenburg. The group and tab received a few favorable comments, and one that cast some question on its construction which, given the person who left it, could easily cast it into the abyss of crap.
Now we all know in this hobby stories aren't worth jack s..., but I spoke with the seller on the phone and he seemed like a nice enough 74-year old guy and was adamant about the source of this material being a trunk from his old friend.
Well after I received that first group I called him to thank him and he mentioned he had three more of the temp guard tabs, and a "t-shirt". I told him I'd like to buy them as well and we worked out a price. About the time we were going to hang-up he asked me if I wanted him to send some pics of the camo jacket he had also? I said of course and he shot them to me about 30 minutes later (about enough time for him to squeeze into it and have his wife take pics of him).
So as you can imagine all sorts of things were going through my mind. Oddly my first thought was a splinter pattern parka, then tan & water, then oak leaf parka, then field division jacket, then Para smock. For some reason at no time did I even think it may be a smock, primarily because in all of my collecting years I don't remember any of my collecting friends ever talking about hearing of a vet sourced SS smock in the U.S. (this isn't to imply it hasn't happened - just not something I, nor my friends have encountered).
So, the pics arrived and I about poohed my pants. The weird thing I noticed right away was that there was a hood on it. After the pics kept coming in I saw that it was made from what looks like a hacked-up Oak Leaf "B" cotton-duck smock and tack stitched on to the neck. Needless to say, we worked on an adjusted price and everything was sent Thursday and arrived yesterday. I couldn't focus at work and had to leave the Pentagon at Noon so I could be here to receive it. My wife came home while I was opening the box and asked "why are you shaking?". I've gotten some neat stuff out of the woodwork over the years, but the one thing, especially in my younger years, was to think how neat it would be to get a smock as a bring-back?
I want to thank Scott Hess for answering some questions for me regarding the details of these that put my mind at ease while I was waiting for it.
I hope you enjoy the pics (these are actually pretty hard to photograph nicely) and also hope for those who haven't experienced the excitement of getting something like this that it happens to you soon
Regards!
Bob
Here's the group that started all of this.
A few days ago I started a Thread to show a few items I acquired from the friend of a deceased U.S. 90th Inf Div soldier who was said to have been at both KZ Flossenburg and the Merkers Salt Mines where the SS had large stocks of looted booty.
http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...d.php?t=947582
The highlight of the group was a KZ Kommandant's Staff NCO's tab (with linen RZM tag on it) that was said to have come from the KZ Flossenburg. The group and tab received a few favorable comments, and one that cast some question on its construction which, given the person who left it, could easily cast it into the abyss of crap.
Now we all know in this hobby stories aren't worth jack s..., but I spoke with the seller on the phone and he seemed like a nice enough 74-year old guy and was adamant about the source of this material being a trunk from his old friend.
Well after I received that first group I called him to thank him and he mentioned he had three more of the temp guard tabs, and a "t-shirt". I told him I'd like to buy them as well and we worked out a price. About the time we were going to hang-up he asked me if I wanted him to send some pics of the camo jacket he had also? I said of course and he shot them to me about 30 minutes later (about enough time for him to squeeze into it and have his wife take pics of him).
So as you can imagine all sorts of things were going through my mind. Oddly my first thought was a splinter pattern parka, then tan & water, then oak leaf parka, then field division jacket, then Para smock. For some reason at no time did I even think it may be a smock, primarily because in all of my collecting years I don't remember any of my collecting friends ever talking about hearing of a vet sourced SS smock in the U.S. (this isn't to imply it hasn't happened - just not something I, nor my friends have encountered).
So, the pics arrived and I about poohed my pants. The weird thing I noticed right away was that there was a hood on it. After the pics kept coming in I saw that it was made from what looks like a hacked-up Oak Leaf "B" cotton-duck smock and tack stitched on to the neck. Needless to say, we worked on an adjusted price and everything was sent Thursday and arrived yesterday. I couldn't focus at work and had to leave the Pentagon at Noon so I could be here to receive it. My wife came home while I was opening the box and asked "why are you shaking?". I've gotten some neat stuff out of the woodwork over the years, but the one thing, especially in my younger years, was to think how neat it would be to get a smock as a bring-back?
I want to thank Scott Hess for answering some questions for me regarding the details of these that put my mind at ease while I was waiting for it.
I hope you enjoy the pics (these are actually pretty hard to photograph nicely) and also hope for those who haven't experienced the excitement of getting something like this that it happens to you soon
Regards!
Bob
Here's the group that started all of this.
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