Delich Treasures, Rautet Eure Rauten! Rauten....

[TrondK]

Fantastic. Makes me very happy to see more of these rare pieces are safe in collections.

Would like to see a jacket with AO. I wonder if that maybe would be a SD jacket.

[DrPMC]

Thank you to FB and to David Delich for sharing images of these extraordinarily rare badges. I could not find several of them in my books, including the Mollo 'bible'. In particular, I would be interested to learn more about the diamond with what looks like a moose antler?

Attachment 922804

Also, what is the badge with the wreath in the second picture?

Attachment 922803

With thanks.

[Wilhelm Saris]

Always great to see my friend David's items. This is all unbelievable
and it is mouthwatering to see it "life".
Here a small piece of text with some explanations. I do not know if
I do have more of them. Will have a look one of these days!

[Friedrich-Berthold]

David Delich answers thus:

"....To answer a few questions:
1. The raute with the moose horn is for the 107th Foot Regt.
2. The raute in the 2nd pic with wreath is for a Cross country
driver.
3. The raute with the crossed lances I do not know the
identity of myself. If anyone learns the ID, please let
me know. Like one speculation, I assume it IS Cav related...."

[Friedrich-Berthold]

All hail our stalwarts for their collegiality and generosity!

I hardly need add that David Delich's treasures make up the core of the Beaver Bando book on SS insignia.

[Friedrich-Berthold]

Fantastic. Makes me very happy to see more of these rare pieces are safe in collections.

Would like to see a jacket with AO. I wonder if that maybe would be a SD jacket.

AO is, I believe, Auslandsorganisation der NSDAP. I do not think that is an SD link, at least directly.

I do not know, and maybe Wim does, or Andreas does.

[HPL2008]

AO is, I believe, Auslandsorganisation der NSDAP. I do not think that is an SD link, at least directly.

I do not know, and maybe Wim does, or Andreas does.

You're right; nothing to add, really.

3. The raute with the crossed lances I do not know the
identity of myself. If anyone learns the ID, please let
me know. Like one speculation, I assume it IS Cav related...."

So it's a mystery... Perhaps some prototype? Anyway, thanks for asking on my behalf!

EDIT: Going through my files, I have an idea about its possible nature, although it is admittedly pure speculation:

In an earlier exchange, d'alquen had mentioned to me finding period references about a proposed sleeve diamond for members of the Turnier- und Renngemeinschaft [Tournament- and Racing Community] of the SS.

I wonder... Could this be it?

1. The raute with the moose horn is for the 107th Foot Regt.

It's probably just a typo, but that would be the 105th Standarte (Memel) whose personnel wore the elk antlers on the right hand collar patch. Mollo writes that officers of that regiment "with the rank of Standartenführer and above wore them on the arm badge, although only the commander SS-Oberführer Neumann did so."

(Of course, these high ranks wore their rank insignia on both collar patches, so for them, the elk antlers sleeve diamond would have "replaced" the collar patch device, in the same way the Edelweiß sleeve diamond "replaced" the collar patch symbol for officers ranked Standartenführer or higher of the 87th Standarte.)

However, I wonder whether that is correct... A 1939 order by Himmler individually authorized SS-Oberführer Dr. Ernst Neumann, leader of the Memel Germans, to wear the "elk antlers" sleeve diamond (interestingly, on the right sleeve), making no reference to other authorized officers and not even to that Standarte:

"SS-Oberführer Neumann erhält in Anerkennung seines vorbildlichen Kampfes als Führer der Memeldeutschen die Berechtigung, auf dem rechten Ärmel auf einer Raute die Elchschaufel, das Heimatabzeichen der Memeldeutschen zu tragen."

Also, as I understand it, Dr. Neumann was never the commander of that Standarte. As far as I know, its first commander was SS-Standartenführer Hermann Dethof.

So, was only Neumann authorized to wear this badge or was he, perhaps, individually authorized in addition to others? Perhaps d'alquen has some documentation on that.

I must say I find these minutiae endlessly interesting.

On the risk of digressing even further...:

The "elk antlers" device is the symbol of the Memel Germans and a carryover from the cap badges worn by the Memeldeutscher Ordnungsdienst, which was absorbed into the SS as the 105th Standarte after the annexation of the Memelland in 1939.
For all practical purposes, this organization was the Allgemeine SS in the Memelland in everything but name and even prior to its full integration into the SS proper, wore a uniform that was remarkably close to the black SS service dress (with some HJ influences), but lacked any SS/NSDAP insignia; They wore blank collar patches, blank cuff titles and even black-edged Kampfbinden without the white disc with the Swastika. Interesting photographs can be found on:

Bilder, die Geschichte erzählen

(Just search for "Memeldeutscher".)

[Friedrich-Berthold]

Bravo, Andreas. We share in your interests and we celebrate David Delich for enabling us all to do so such good effect.

[harryamb2]

Amazing collection.

[youthcollector1]

Let me correct you since such a thing is in order here . His collection is the premiere collection in the US, and likely the world.

And, the privilege to see such things is a very special and rare one.

I really don't see how a correction was in order here...I was simply giving my thanks to Mr. Delich. Never did I classify the quality or ranking of his collection--something that's subjective anyways--by region, and nor did I say it wasn't the absolute best. Furthermore, saying it's "likely the world's [best]" isn't really that different from the dialogue previously used by myself. But if you must insist for whatever reason, correction noted.