Nickeled Luftwaffe buckle?

**Erno** · 04-19-2014, 03:22 AM

by jagdhorn

It doesn't seem to be shiny on the reverse. It appears fairly dull. The top doesn't rust (I dropped some saline on the front to see if it was very shiny steel, no rust over night. And, I know, this is a heresy, but I was still at the point of thinking it was a ruined buckle. ) Since yours is also shiny, I am wondering- was there a fad and airmen would plate their buckles? Was this possible in a large repair facility? I have no understanding of metal plating, or of the air force style, and what they had access to. I do know in the US Navy, when I was in, if one knew the right people, one could get just about anything made, engraved, etc. The number of custom made belt buckles was simply astonishing, as on my sub, there were some very skilled craftsman, and they made greet buckles. I wish I had one of them, but at the time I thought they looked dumb. But I don't know if this happened in the Luftwaffe.
Patrick

Thanks, Patrick! I don't know much about metallurgy and plating either. I know that nickeled Luftwaffe and Heer buckles existed, presumably for parade use, but it seems intuitive that those would have been on early buckles and not the late war ones like these. It definitely seems like bare metal would have rusted, though, if not from your saline then just over time. Certainly, it was against regulation, but that doesn't seem to mean much. A real puzzle.