SS rank pips

[bwanek1]

Apropos of this discussion, I've been told that this pip is wrong as it is too big and does not conform to the norm.

I can't imagine any experienced collector making such a statement. There is ample evidence in period photos of rank pips of all sorts and various sizes being worn on collar tabs. I am sure some variations were due to limitations on the sorts of pips which were available at any given time and others merely a matter of personal taste. In any case, I have little difficulty in accepting virtually any original TR silver-colored pip as having been period-applied to a tab.

[Friedrich-Berthold]

I am sure there was an RZMd' SS'd Sternchen of a given size, and I am confident that I own several. What is more true is I would never destroy my uniforms in the attempt to determine such a thing. I have my nifty metric ruler and then I shall measure some and report to the plenum.

In me you have no greater enemy of the phrase "textbook." While there existed regulations and regulations in Germany, there also existed human nature and a desire to break same.

Mr. Wanek is correct, of course I am no expert on grey uniforms, and they along with the "sculls" have the distinction of making people insane.

Now that I have transcended the time space continuum with the purchase of my way boss Uniformenmarkt CD, I can report at least one signal discovery: that the Zeugmeister of Berlin in the Kampfzeit (i.e. 1927-1933), who ran the brauner Laden in east Berlin (I have posted an image of in the past...and will try to find it again...) was from the Assmann family, a senior ranked SA man, and a leading figure in the RZM once it took on its post 1933 organiztion. He gave an interview in 1937 to the Uniformenmarkt in which he described the evolution of the decentralized proto RZM system until 1930. That is, there were various Zeugmeisterei locales throughout Germany as befits its tradition. The interview is very interesting, as is so much of the material in said periodical that few or no authors of secondary works have bothered to interpret. No wonder then that the Assmann firm figured so large in the III. Reich and in our later day struggles. I imagine this phenomenon was generalized, as in Ferdinand Porsche and many, many others.

There is also a great deal of material, I think that would certainly make the "scull" debates more learned and bound to reality, but I have not had the time to read same. That is, there is much discussion of the methods and character of the production of metal insignia of all kinds, as well as a very rich depiction of the effect of rationalization because of cost cutting as well as the more dominant rationalization worked by the war economy measures imposed in 1936 with the 4 Year Plan.

I do not know how to seize images and what not from my nifty CD. I urge you all to buy your own and the debate here would become a lot more substantial. The thing cost all of 220 bucks, which is not very much when compared to the ludicrous sums we pay for this old stuff.



Happy picayune details of the 20th century.

[dukhunter]

bwanek1,

So stated by a dealer. Didn't loose any sleep over it though.

Thank you,
George

[prosty zolnierz]

[QUOTE=dukhunter;101813]Apropos of this discussion, I've been told that this pip is wrong as it is too big and does not conform to the norm.

I've become very disenchanted with the collector commuinity as a whole due to this "textbook" mentality to the point that I rarely show my collection. With the exception of this forum, where I feel I will be treated with civility, I never post anything for discussion.

Congratulations and thank you for maintaining such a respectful and civil forum.

Merry Christmas to all!

Thank you,
George[/QUOTE

" They " have told me that this eagle is wrong as it is too big and does not conform to the norm. What do " They " know ! Nothing ! Tsk, tsk

Seasons greetings to all , especially Lohengrin, best wishes, Alberich

[Friedrich-Berthold]

Lieber Alberich, thank you for the extraordinary Luftwaffe hat and the keen insight about our flawed interests. A very merry Christmas to you as well as happy new year filled with regalia, relics and textbooks. your humble Lohengrin

[Friedrich-Berthold]

This is the so called brauner Laden in the east of Berlin, I believe, and its proprietor from 1927 onward was Eberhard Assmann, of the Luedenscheid firm Uniformeffekten Firma known to us all. Assmann was a pioneer in this field of Nazi retailing qua Zeugmeisterei/RZM. This locale was also a frequent target of anti-Nazi violence, i.e. Rotfrontkaempferbund and urban fighting of various kinds.

Assmann was also a figure in the reform of the NS uniforms in 1932 during the Uniformverbot of the Groener period whereupon the new SA and SS uniform appeared in the summer of that year.

What happened to Eberhard Assmann after 1945? Did he create personal papers? Did they survive? Is there some trace of him somehow?

The one thing from reading all the Uniformenmaerkte journals is this: the names of all the personages in the uniform making and regalia trade and industry are there in black and white, and from same one could easily begin to develop a research plan to secure what remains of these peoples' lives. A lot more productive than fussing about the crimps on prongs on "sculls...'....!!