A very fine and interesting Pionier officer's Waffenrock made by Spohn & Klaiber!

[KSH]

Greetings fellow members!

I will here present my prewar manufactured Waffenrock that was owned by a Major that almost certainly commanded Pionier Bataillon 4 from 1933 to 1942. This Waffenrock is part of a grouping also including this officer's visor cap - the cap and more background on the grouping can be found in this thread: https://www.warrelics.eu/forum/cloth...mm-tze-144864/.


This officer really did care about the quality of his uniforms (a fact that is well proven by also looking at his cap) and the Waffenrock in question is no exception. It was tailored by one of the most expensive and high-class tailors in the Third Reich, namely Spohn & Klaiber of Ulm. Some collectors even find the uniforms of the firms Holters and Hugo Boss to be of a lower quality than Spohn & Klaiber made uniforms. Online it has only succeeded me to find three other examples of Spohn & Klaiber made tunics/coats: one was for a Leutnant, one was for a Generalmajor and the last one was made for a Generalleutnant - I think this tells us a lot in itself!

What is peculiar with this Waffenrock is that the original machine stitching of the "collar patches" have been removed on three of the four sides of the patches for some reason - this was definitely period done (based on burn-testing of the thread that somewhat replaces the original stitching and careful examination of this "work"). Since the grouping has never been in a collection before and was recently "discovered" in the Regensburg area of Bavaria, Germany - this was perhaps even done by the original owner for some unknown reason. The fact that some of the original machine stitching is intact on both collar patches tells us that they were never removed from the uniform, they are the original patches, without a doubt.

Now the Waffenrock - I have sometimes used the dealer's photos where I thought that they better represented the tunic (please excuse the orange hue that the flash causes on some photos):



The uniform grouping:



































This photo and the next shows what I was describing above regarding the collar patches. Note that no exposed "zig-zag" reinforcement stitching is visible under the collar, but it can be faintly seen to be present under the golden "lining" of the collar (impossible to see in the photo). Note also the small white hand-stitches that ensured that the collar fitted the wearer perfectly, these were probably done by a tailor while the tunic was worn by its owner:











The syphers below are definitely original to the boards - one can actually see how the syphers have "cut down" into the bullion thread, leaving indentations (not visible on the photo):





















































The Waffenrock is fully lined with fine rayon Kunstseide:











The EKII ribbon has been in the inner pocket for a long time and has been removed from a field tunic:











On this Waffenrock the internal belt is closed via buttons instead of a buckle - this ensures a more comfortable fit I would believe - this was also done sometimes on the uniforms of the firm Holters (which made uniforms for Hitler).







Thank you for watching!


Regards,

Kenneth

[SteveR]

Very nice. Great tunic.

[Little Mermaid]

That is a very nice tunic, Kenneth - superb condition!

[KSH]

Thank you for all your kind comments!

That is a very nice tunic, Kenneth - superb condition!

Thank you Christina, it is basically in mint condition - which many of these "parade tunics" are

Regards,

Kenneth

[spandau]

C'est bon !

KSH, congratulations on your purchases !

cheers

tony

[KSH]

C'est bon !

KSH, congratulations on your purchases !

cheers

tony

Thank you Tony, this is in fact my first tunic/uniform ever

Regards,

Kenneth

[sandgroper]

Lovely tunic, looks like it was made yesterday. Very nice.

[KSH]

Lovely tunic, looks like it was made yesterday. Very nice.

Thank you, it really does look like it was made yesterday, at least from a distance But when I touch it and smell it, now that's another story

Regards,

Kenneth

[KSH]

I just thought I'd mention that the officer this Waffenrock must be attributed to, Brückmann, did survive the war and he died in 1975. He was promoted to Oberst (Colonel) in the field, 1st of December 1941, when his unit Pio.Btl.4 was engaged in Unternehmen Barbarossa in the east.

Regards,

Kenneth

[KSH]

I have taken some more photos now to replace the poor dealer photos above (with white background), among them some better shots of the interior/lining, this might interest a few of you, at least those who are like me interested in the details of the highest level of tailoring available from the Third Reich - this Waffenrock simply "oozes" of quality and workmanship.





I have now buttoned it up and it sure looks a lot better now:



























This shot and the next captures some nice details of material and manufacture:






The internal belt "flap" with typical period STOCKO snaps:





I hope at least some do find some merit in these new photographs


Regards,

Kenneth