Estonia Division Tabs Opinions

[FJ5 chally]

I was sent some pics of a couple different variants of the Estonia Division Tabs, I told my friend that I did not like material these were made on, but I could be wrong, and wanted to post them here for review.. The tabs appear to have the silver silk floss type thread for the design.. I know these are a rare tab design, and I hope they are the real deal for my friend.. Please tell me what you think.. And thank you in advance..

[Paul D]

The top design never exisetd in a cloth format , only in metal and this was a locally made design from Tartu.

The second one is the first German design which was unpopular with the Estonian troops but i don't beleive it to be correct i'm afraid !!

cheers

paul

[Woolgar]

There is a picture on ebay showing the said cloth tab in wear

Nick

[Paul D]

Yes i've been watching it Nick , this is the metal Tartu version !!

[Adrian Stevenson]

Angolia's book on cloth SS insignia shows a couple of cloth versions of the type with the arm. One is credited to Bob Hritz. However, both are different in detail to the one shown here. One is said to be locally made and the other German made? I cannot vouch for the accuracy of this info and I include it here simply for interest and debate.

Cheers, Ade.

[Paul D]

Ade i'm glad you have mentioned the Angolia book as this is an interesting debate and worth some discussion here !! The tab which is claimed to be German made cannot be correct as no such tab existed made by the Germans. The locally made tab is a bone of contention , as far as i know no genuine cloth tabs with provenance of the same style as early Tartu medal tab exist although some collectors beleive that it is more than possible that these were made on a small , local scale during the war , as i say i've not heard of one with provenance and other Estonian collectors of my aquintance have no knowledge of the existance of a genuine one.

I have been lucky enought to view the large collection of one of the biggest collectors in Estonia , who has numerous original Estonian collar tabs , armshields , documents etc many obtained direct from Estonian SS Veterans or their families over many years none of which are a cloth tab of the Tartu pattern metal arm and E.

I wonder if Bob can provide any info on where his tab came from ?

cheers

Paul

[Winkelman]

I'm confused - surely this is the cloth version of the first design .. ?
Picture shown by Kass , Estonia .

[Winkelman]

And this one .. ? Or are we talking about the SIZE of the " E " & the small sword .. ?

[Winkelman]

Meaning this one is metal .. ?

[FJ5 chally]

Looks like we have some peroid pics of a cloth version..
I awlays thought there were only a metal version as well..
I may be wrong here..