3x Different Koppelschlosser - Opinions Needed Please

[Ben Evans]

Alec, the buckle is a standard Heer buckle, alot of dealers will put a olive/light painted buckle with a web belt and call it tropical, at the same time they will also inflate the price of it. There is no official classification of what is tropical (to my knowledge, if anyone knows of documents referencing this please let us all know) I have classed tropical buckles as web tab with the web belt. On another note it has been said that the green web belts along with matching web tabbed buckles were issued to the army. The lighter web tan belts were supposedly issued to the Luftewaffe and again we have the tan webbed tab buckles that appeared around the Italian campaign. Again I would love to see official period documentation to collaborate any of this, it would put alot of theory and speculation to bed. Hope you understand what I have written here

[AlecH]

Hello Ben,
Thanks for your explanation, learnt something new. It would seem to be a poorly understood / proven area, the actual significance of the various colour codes used on the belts. However by and large, your in agreement with collectors sentiments web tab and web belt together = tropical piece.
I revisited Dick's military site, your right about the prices being inflated, these two green "tropical buckles" with leather tabs, only buckles, no belts are on offer at 220 euro - condition 1 (I would say 2) and 120 euro condition 2-3 (I rate 3-). Once again thanks for your post.
Regards
Alec