Heer Der Spiess Feldbluse?

**Adrian Stevenson** · 03-11-2012, 12:14 PM

Hi Eddie, JP makes some excellent points. To be honest I had not noticed to the lack of tresse stitch marks to the collar.

Having heard the price, and now knowing about the thread used to the chevron and collar, I would get a refund.

Cheers, Ade.

**Espenlaub Militaria** · 03-11-2012 12:14 PM

We also buy and trade your items and full collections!

**Eddie** · 03-11-2012, 05:58 PM

[QUOTE=JPhilip;505114]Hello Eddie,
please call me JPhilip, not Sir, i'm still young and never met the queen Elisabeth...

Thanks JPhilip! I have to say that I have a terrible fascination with pieces like this, and I know that not all wear to tunics like these was during the war(sometimes from working on farms or such afterwards), but, I've always wanted a nice well-worn one. I'm really fascinated with the wear and loss of nap on these Tunics, where precisely it's worn down and why, I love finding the little details of wear! I fear that I am too much of a snob to own a M-43, unfortunately, if it doesn't have the box pleats I just can't do it!

I have a very nice tailored piece, (https://www.warrelics.eu/forum/heer-...shield-147379/) and I just wanted an issued Tunic as well. My intention in buying a wool tunic is to own a Tunic that is early enough to have been involved in the invasion of Russia or France, and shows a bit of rough use. I do really, really like "Feldbluse" and flip through it at least once a week, it is a great book and thank you again. I took some more photos of the collar, and I'm not yet adept at finding where the thread for the Litzen should be. The wear on the shoulders indicates a wide shoulder board of an NCO, and I think you may be right about the shoulder board straps being reapplied.
Here are some more photos:

Thanks again for sharing your knowledge,
Eddie

P.S. I also included some photos of the inner part of the sleeve, where Der Spiess had his "piston rings". Are Der Spiess tunics difficult to find? Otherwise, I like this tunic, but the collar issue is my major hangup. The buttons are all the same, and except for the bottom two, they are all in the right place with original thread holding them in place. The bottom two buttons look to have been moved by the original owner though.

**Eddie** · 03-12-2012, 05:27 AM

by Adrian Stevenson

Hi Eddie, JP makes some excellent points. To be honest I had not noticed to the lack of tresse stitch marks to the collar.

Having heard the price, and now knowing about the thread used to the chevron and collar, I would get a refund.

Cheers, Ade.

Thanks Ade, I'm not 100% that the thread is the same, it just looks similar. It was suggested on another forum that perhaps Der Spiess was promoted to Leutnant, removed the tresse rings, and there seems to be wear on the collar consistent with those larger tabs. However, there's still the weird shoulder straps, and the odd Chevron. I feel like there is something slightly off about this, but to be honest I don't want to let it go just yet because it's the first issued tunic that I've had in hand. I think also it's unlikely that I'd get around to restoring it to a Der Spiess tunic. I'd like to thank you and JPhillip for running through this with me. Handling a messed with Tunic that's been stripped is much less satisfying than my Russian Cloth Tunic, so maybe I should release this one back into the wild.

**Adrian Stevenson** · 03-12-2012, 08:31 AM

It is a rare rank to find.

Cheers, Ade.

**Eddie** · 03-12-2012, 09:43 AM

by Adrian Stevenson

It is a rare rank to find.

Cheers, Ade.

Thanks Ade. I have to say that I'm kind of partial to the Der Spiess tunic because it is so close in rank to my Russian Cloth Tunic, but I don't want a dud in my collection either. I'm looking through threads on WAF as well, and there are a few guys who have posted issued Feldbluses that were upgraded to Officer, and I'll see what their opinions are on the collar on this Tunic. I do like the theory of an upgrade, and while the thread on the Chevron is similar, I can't say 100% that it's the same. I know that some collectors do weird things to Tunics, but I can't see why a person would add a well worn Officer collar and then a Gefreiter's Chevron, it seems like more work than a Gefreiter tunic for a display would be worth, right? Never underestimate making a buck and lack of knowledge though.

**Adrian Stevenson** · 03-12-2012, 06:19 PM

Always tricky trying to second guess what might have been done. The Gefreiter's Chevron does not make sense to me.

Cheers, Ade.

**Eddie** · 11-03-2012, 08:17 AM

I spent some time restoring this tunic and wanted to add some pictures as an update. I felt that the chevron and the shoulder straps were post war and decided to restore this an Officer's issue feldbluse. The shoulders were opened up at the seam to accomodate sew-in shoulder boards, and given the rank of Der Spiess it didn't seem too unbelievable that this man would have keep his feldbluse but upgraded it. I tried hard to find insignia that matched the wear of this Feldbluse, and I've tacked it on lightly in case the next collector who owns this feels differently. I hope you guys like it!