Several SS Erkennungsmarken i just bought....real?

[Newbie]

Ok guys, knowing this is already a mine field, lol ...... i picked up 3 halves and a whole I.D. disc from a fellow local collector who purchased these in the 80's .....maybe early 90's...... i bought them very cheap only in knowing they could be fake,......i will post pics tom, when i can use natural light to photo in, some of the stampings are very hard to read. Until i post pics, i will list what is stamped on them, i know fakes can have completely bogus stampings that do not make sense or units that never existed.......

1.- (full disc) 3/ESTN-SS(runes)-LEGION
77 on reverse of disc.

2.- SS(runes)-V.T. A
4.K. F(in a circle) SS(runes)/D 383


3.- NA.E. ABT
WAFFEN SS(runes) 8
9996

4.- Rgt. Nordland Nr 3640
WAFFEN SS(runes)


the discs are worn and corroded some. Like i said, i will post pics tom. All are zinc or zinc type metal. Any chance of decoding..... obviously the first is Estonian, plus a Nordland.....Thanks guys !!!!!

[Matt L]

Okay well you know the Estonian and Nordland, the second one is actually the Deutschland Regiment- the 'F' in a circle you see is actually an 'E' for 'Ersatz', and of course 'SS VT' is 'SS-Verfügungstruppe', the term used prior to 'Waffen-SS'. It's the 4. Kompanie of the Ersatz-Bataillon. The disc one is the SS-Nachrichten-Ersatz-Abteilung- it's one of the few units that classically omits the 'SS' before the unit designation and only has Waffen-SS instead. The '8' is probably a 'B'- the soldier's blood group- since 9996 would be his Stammrollennummer.

I don't see any obvious problems with the texts. Once we have pictures available we could be able to give you more definitve good or bad advice- I've seen real examples of at least three and perhaps al four (not sure about the Estonian one).

[Newbie]

Here are the pics Matt....

[Glenn66]

I have a Rgt Nordland for comparison, this was bought direct from the digger so I'm confident of authenticity. At first glance it seems to correllate well with your example.

[Newbie]

My Father-in-law owns the first 2, the Estonian and the Deutschland........ he wants to sell if they are real. I own the Nordland and the N.A. E. mine are not for sale.......trying to see if these are all legit....

[Matt L]

I have images of some definitely real Nordlands that are the same as Glenn's so that one's good for sure; I have no doubts about the Deutschland Regiment disc either- I have images of ones from the 1., 2., and 3. E K that are extremely similar but have slight differences from each other, the same as your father-in-law's does compared to any of them, so that's fine; I can't find an image of the SS-Nachrichten disc, but I don't have any issues with that one either. The Estonian one is the only piece I've not seen before- the ones I have images of are from its Ersatz formation.

[Newbie]

Thanks Matt! I am glad at least mine are definitely real, lol ........ I am very new to I.D. discs !!!!! Any ideas on value of these? Thanks..... i think we got pretty good deals on these considering that we went into the transaction knowing these could be repros.... i would like to hear we did good, lol !!!

[Matt L]

You bet- it's great to give good news like this

I'm not really up on values to be honest, however I know full SS discs are usually listed for a couple of hundred dollars each and more in many cases, so if you paid less than, say, $75 each for these halves you definitely did well. The Deutchland, and Nordland are worth the most, the Nachrichten probably the least and I don't know about the Estonian- that's a whole, if broken, disc but it's Estonian, so not what I'd consider terribly valuable (save perhaps to a dedicated SS collector or an Estonian collector).

[Wagriff]

I wonder what the Estonian used to wear his disk with? Whatever it was, it actually looks to have worn into the metal and enlarged the holes on the double hole side. Something apparently harder than your average neck cord! Interesting!

[Newbie]

Thanks Matt! Do you know anyone who might want the Estonian and the Deutchland?