Reichsfuhrung SS Cuff Title - School me!

[Salvatorparadise]

Hey guys, I recently bought a modest-sized group of purportedly German WWII items at auction. I deal in antiques as a profession but I have never delved into German WWII items. On occasion I will buy a group of items with the hope that they are authentic but also with an expectation that they may be fake, and that I may make a study of the pieces to learn from them. I am utterly amazed at the level of faking and reproduction of this German WWII stuff. It exceeds any other category I have dealt with in terms of sheer prevalence. But of course, like most things, experience and looking at the real thing over and over seems to keep most advanced collectors out of hot water. Anyway, I love this forum and have been reading for a few hours. I have several pieces to post in a few different sub forums. I'll start with this one. I am going to guess fake based on my gut after looking at a lot of discussions here. Also, it lacks a maker's tag of any sort. Also, no salt and pepper but rather all-black on the back. It'll be a long time before i'm a pro at this but for the smallish sum I spent on this little collection I'd like to come away with some experience and knowledge! What do you guys think, and can you explain what you're seeing? Thanks!

[davejb]

Well I could be wrong but initially i think the 10 strand silver border is an indication of a fake piece, however I think there are CTs without the salt and pepper reverse , i would wait for some other opinions

[Glenn66]

Isn't the silver border supposed to be 9 strands?

[davejb]

No 7 strands but there are some with 6 I believe

[Friedrich-Berthold]

Compare your piece to this.

[HPL2008]

I am far from an expert on SS cuff titles, but to be perfectly honest, with this item you don't even need to count strands, think about RZM labels or analyze the appearance of the reverse side*.

A quick look at the shoddy quality of the embroidery with its oddly misshapen, uneven letters is all one needs to see. Like Friedrich-Berthold wrote, compare it to the original items posted by him.


* (Still, having said that: A hand-embroidered piece would not have a salt-and-pepper reverse side anyway.)

[tempelhof]

the gentlemen are correct, of course.

the embroidery is wrong. it is sloppy and the letters are of incorrect shape. the "f" is especially wrong.

the threads in the dots above the "i" and umlauts are horizontal and should be canted.

the border is wrong.

the thread count in the black of the band itself is wrong. the threads are woven with a texture that produces that "bumpy" appearance which, in your example is of the wrong scale. if you count "bumps" top to bottom in an original you'll get 12 or so across and with this cuff title there are 20 or more. so there is an issue with scale within the weave of the band itself to my eyes.

[Salvatorparadise]

Thank you all for your quick responses. The differences you all point out are clear as day to me now, thanks!

[Friedrich-Berthold]

Thanks for your thanks.