Whats the story with all the glue and paper attached to the backs of them tho? Is there a safe way to clean these? Is it going to hurt them if i leave it on there? Does this extract from collector value?
Hi Mike, welcome to the forum!
Thanks for telling us your Grandad's story.
Don't worry about the glue and paper remnants on the back of the insignias, it makes very little difference to the value. Don't be tempted to clean them as this will badly effect the value.
Cheers, Ade.
Had good advice? Saved money? Why not become a Gold Club Member, just hit the green "Join WRF Club" tab at the top of the page and help support the forum!
Thats also good to know. It just seems that most ALL cufftitles and insignia i see for sale online that are going for the big bucks are in a heck of alot better cond. than mine.
Also my "wiking" cufftitle does not appear to be as long as other similiar cufftitles ive been able to find pictures of. Is this going to be a value factor?
And i notice on the backs of most other wiking and similiar cufftitles that there is white thread thrown in with the black thread on the backs of the cufftitle. Is this a sign for anything?
Hi Mike, your "Wiking" cuff title is cut down and not full length this will affect value.
Yours is "RZM pattern" (ie machine embroidered lettering on a woven band) I think you might be comparing it to a "Bevo" machine woven title as these are differently made. Nothing at all to worry about with yours. Simply very different methods of construction.
Cheers, Ade.
Had good advice? Saved money? Why not become a Gold Club Member, just hit the green "Join WRF Club" tab at the top of the page and help support the forum!
Feel free to sell it on the forum!
I am considering selling a few of these as money is tight...problem is i still dont have much of an idea how much I can get for these items yet. Still in research mode. I duno if any of you that are in the know are able to throw out figures on the current market value of these items, but if so im all ears. Thanks, Mike
Some new developments on "possibly" how my grandpa might have accuired these insignia(for any interested).
My grandpa was wounded on Nov. 11th 1944 in the battle for Metz and overseas for around 9 months "I think"., so he more than likely was not around at the time of the 5. SS surrendering.
I have heard that he might have used these during his time overseas while he was in the hospital as currency or for trading, as there was no money in these hospitals or they didnt have money so they traded items. The insignia was placed a page away from some 1944 paper currency, so this also makes me believe it was used for trading whle he was over there. Has anyone else heard of this happening? Any Thoughts/Input?
A speculation as to why my cufftitle is half the length it should be...Either he or my grandmother might have cut it in order for it to fit inside the page of the scrapbook.
Hi Mike, all your theories are correct. Soldiers frequently traded items, very few would know exactly what they had, so a common item could easily be traded for something rare and which in time would become valuable. One thing we have to bear in mind is that Waffen SS men could wear the cuff title of their former combat unit if their current unit did not wear a cuff title. So it would not nessasarily removed when "Wiking" troops surendered.
The cuff title could have been hacked off the tunic like that or like you say simply cut down to fit the page. We will never know that one.
Cheers, Ade.
Had good advice? Saved money? Why not become a Gold Club Member, just hit the green "Join WRF Club" tab at the top of the page and help support the forum!
Similar Threads
Bookmarks