PLease, an advice related to a Sturmbaon WW1 cigarette case

**ArkanBuc** · 03-09-2015, 12:43 AM

So, my cousin recently bought this cigarette case for 36$. At first glance i said nice, what a bargain, but after that i wanted to think a bit more about it. So, my concerns:

1- The RZ stamp is well faded; on the other side the eagle and svastika seems crisp, also traces of a waffenamt stamp

2- I've read that the items related to Sturbaons were treated with black paint/solution, also the badges, in order not to shine,
so this one seems that has traces of that

3- It comes from Poland..

4- The model of the case, on the facade, seems genuinely worn on the borders

5- i don't know what to think about the skull and the overall aging of the piece.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

**TrondK** · 03-09-2015, 12:52 AM

I personally would not stopped and looked at this if i saw it for sale.

Every instinct i have screams post45 to me. Maybe i am wrong, this is purely my own impression when i see this.

**ArkanBuc** · 03-09-2015, 12:58 AM

any opinion/advice would be great. I was also thinking that, in the best situation, should be more post 45, or a mix of period pieces...just want to understand better if there is something ok in it, also because that seller has almost a 100% positive feedbacl, flooding ebay with many cigarette cases, mostly stated as WW2 items. So, i would truly love to report it for selling fakes, if necessary. Many thanks

**MAP** · 03-09-2015, 01:17 AM

To be clear, I have no experience with these types of items but why would a WW1 item have a swastika, waffenamt and RZM markings?

That alone would make me walk.

Michael

**ArkanBuc** · 03-09-2015, 01:32 AM

Michael, thank you to have me noticed that...WW1, my mind was in a totally different zone of interest when i wrote the first post, now edited. Thank you.

**MAP** · 03-09-2015, 02:15 AM

No problem. Not much more I can provide. Let's wait for others.

**Wagriff** · 03-09-2015, 02:37 AM

Very typical of the modern made pre-aged fantasy items we've been seeing coming out of Eastern Europe(Poland is one of the early mass producing fake manufacturers-others have begun to be included such as Latvia,Russia and of late Bulgaria)) the last several years. Someone has taken an older cigarette case in not so great condition and soldered on a fantasy badge to the top cover of it to sex it up and deceive the unwary collectors out of decent money. The reasons for rejecting this are many. The RZM stamp would denote an official regulated item, which this is certainly not-even if it Had been old, which it is again, not. As for the skull badge, there are, indeed, originals from the WWI era and they are rare in the extreme. The originals are Much better made and when held side by side with one of these numerous new creations, the differences are immediately obvious. They had nothing to do with Germany, WWII or the SS, the RZM, etc., so to have a German name inscribed inside with a German address does not jibe. The unit was for the Austro-Hungarian Assault Battalion 106. A quick search on the internet will turn up many such of these modern fake badges. Very poor quality.

**harryamb2** · 03-09-2015, 08:43 PM

typical Polish fake.

**ArkanBuc** · 03-09-2015, 08:52 PM

Thank you all for your support. I was able to resolve with the seller, and my cousin get fully refunded for the item. Now i'm only thinking about the 100% positive feedback of the seller, and about how many fake totenkopf cigarette cases he sold, many at 70-80 pounds each...