For easier reference, I'll try to assemble the above information as well as data found in other documents scattered across various threads into a timeline.
Many thanks to those who had provided the respective documents, especially Friedrich-Berthold, Wim Saris, d'alquen and Hugo Rietzel.
As this is already a rather complicated subject, I have focused on the cuffbands for the "regular" Standarten, Sturmbanne and Stürme of the Allgemeine SS, omitting the specialist formations (signals, motor, engineer and equestrian formations), the higher organizational levels (Abschnitte, Oberabschnitte, Ämter/Hauptämter, Reichsführung) and various special groups (honorary officers, "z.V." officers etc.).
For the sake of simplicity, I have used the term "silver" throughout; where appropriate, it can also mean "aluminum".
Here we go. Corrections of any errors and the addition of supplementary data is, of course, welcome:
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I. 1931 (Source: SS-Befehl no. 22, dated 4 Feb. 1931):
1. Commander of a Brigade [Brigadeführer] and his senior staff personnel [Oberstab eines Brigadeführers, i.e. adjutant, brigade medical officer, brigade paymaster]:
Cuffband with the Arabic number of the Brigade and silver borders.
2. Other, lower-level staff personnel of a Brigadeführer [Unterstab eines Brigadeführers]:
Cuffband with the Arabic number of the Brigade and black/silver borders.
3. Commander of a Standarte and his staff [Standartenführer und sein Stab]:
Blank cuffband with colored borders identifying the Standarte (see # 5).
4. Personnel of a Sturm:
Cuffband with the Arabic number of the Sturm and colored borders identifying the Standarte (see # 5).
5. Standarte colors for the cuffband borders:
I. Standarte = Green
II. Standarte = Dark blue
III. Standarte = Red
IV. Standarte = Light blue
V. Standarte = White
Note: At this period, the Stürme were numbered consecutively within each of the Standarten. The nomenclature for the SS' organizational levels/units would later change.
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II. 1933 (Source: Order of the RFSS dated 17 March 1933):
1. Officers on the staff of a Standarte [Unmittelbar zum Stab einer SS-Standarte gehörende SS-Führer]:
Cuffband with the Arabic number of the Standarte and silver borders.
2. Men on the staff of a Standarte:
Cuffband with the Arabic number of the Standarte and white borders.
3. All personnel on the staff of a Sturmbann [SS-Männer und SS-Dienstgrade, die unmittelbar zum Sturmbann-Stab gehören]:
Blank cuffband with colored borders identifying the Sturmbann (see # 5).
4. Personnel of a Sturm:
Cuffband with the Arabic number of the Sturm (or if appropriate, the name of the Sturm in block letters) and colored borders identifying the Sturmbann (see # 5).
5. Sturmbann colors for the cuffband borders:
Sturmbann I = Green
Sturmbann II = Dark blue
Sturmbann III = Red
Sturmbann IV = Light blue
Sturmbann V = Yellow
Sturmbann VI = White
Note: At this period, the Stürme were numbered consecutively within each of the Sturmbanne.
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III. 1934 (Source: RZM letter dated 27 March 1934):
1. Officers on the staff of a Standarte [Unmittelbar zum Stab einer SS-Standarte gehörende SS-Führer]:
Cuffband with the Arabic number of the Standarte and silver borders.
2. Men on the staff of a Standarte:
Cuffband with the Arabic number of the Standarte and white borders.
[All white-bordered cuff titles were eventually changed to aluminum borders (RZM circular of 17 Nov. 1934).]
3. All personnel on the staff of a Sturmbann [SS-Männer und SS-Dienstgrade, die unmittelbar zum Sturmbann-Stab gehören]:
Blank cuffband with colored borders identifying the Sturmbann (see # 5).
4. Personnel of a Sturm:
Cuffband with the Arabic number of the Sturm (or if appropriate, the name of the Sturm in block letters) and colored borders identifying the Sturmbann (see # 5).
5. Sturmbann colors for the cuffband borders:
Sturmbann I = Green
Sturmbann II = Dark blue
Sturmbann III = Red
Sturmbann IV = Light blue
Note: Now, the Stürme were numbered consecutively from no. 1 to no. 12 across the first 3 Sturmbanne within a Standarte. The Fourth Sturmbann became the Reserve-Sturmbann with the Reserve-Stürme numbered consecutively from no. 1 to 4:
Sturmbann I = Stürme 1 through 4
Sturmbann II = Stürme 5 through 8
Sturmbann III = Stürme 9 through 12
Sturmbann IV = Reserve-Stürme 1 through 4
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IV. 1934 (continued) (Source: SS Price list dated 15 December 1934):
Later in 1934, the above was modified:
3. (addendum) For personnel on the staff of the Reserve-Sturmbann: cuffband with the word "Reserve" and light blue borders identifying the Reserve-Sturmbann (see no. 5).
4. (addendum): For personnel of the Reserve-Stürme: cuffband with the word "Reserve" followed by the Arabic number of the Reserve-Sturm and light blue borders identifying the Reserve-Sturmbann (see # 5).
5. Sturmbann colors for the cuffband borders:
Sturmbann I = Green
Sturmbann II = Dark blue
Sturmbann III = Red
Sturmbann IV = Dark red
Reserve-Sturmbann = Light blue
Note: Now, the Stürme were numbered consecutively from no. 1 to no. 16 across the 4 active Sturmbanne within a Standarte. The Reserve-Sturmbann was taken out of this numbering sequence and consisted of the Reserve-Stürme numbered consecutively from no. 1 to 4:
Sturmbann I = Stürme 1 through 4
Sturmbann II = Stürme 5 through 8
Sturmbann III = Stürme 9 through 12
Sturmbann IV = Stürme 13 through 16
Reserve-Sturmbann = Reserve-Stürme 1 through 4
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V. 1937 (Source: RFSS order of June 1937):
1. Officers of a Standarte ranked Standartenführer or higher [Führer mit Dienstgrad vom Standartenführer aufwärts in der Standarte]:
Cuffband with the Arabic number of the Standarte and silver borders.
2. Men and officers on the staff of a Standarte [Männer und Führer der Standarten-Stäbe]:
Blank cuffband with silver borders.
3. Men and officers on the staff of a Sturmbann [Männer und Führer der Sturmbann-Stäbe]:
Cuffband with the Roman number of the Sturmbann and silver borders. For men and officers on the staff of a Reserve-Sturmbann: Blank cuffband with silver borders.
4. Personnel of a Sturm:
Cuffband with the Arabic number of the Sturm (or if appropriate, the arabic number followed by the name of the Sturm in block letters) and silver borders.
Notes: Colored borders identifying the Sturmbanne were now discontinued, but were used up over a prolonged period of time. The abolishment of the colored borders now necessitated the display of the Roman Sturmbann number on the cuffbands of Sturmbann staff personnel. These cuffbands (with numbers I through IV) were the same ones as those worn by personnel on the staff of the Abschnitte I through IV.
Wear of the Standarte number was now restricted to personnel ranked Standartenführer or higher, i.e. those who wore their rank insignia on both collar patches. This made sense, as prior to that, the number had been displayed redundantly on both the collar patches and cuffbands of personnel on the staff of a Standarte. (Although, of course, the same held true for personnel on the staff of an Abschnitt.)
Members of Standarten which had been bestowed with a name/honor title wore an additional cuffband [Zusatz-Ärmelstreifen] bearing that name above their other cuffband.
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