Nice photos.
Nice photos.
great photos.
Well done historical image. Make Shea an offer on the Ortlepp piece.
Not many things add to an infamous nature quite like the presence of a "loose Stasi connection".
I have said it many times... that I find the images from your collection so pleasurable and valuable to see. The cap you describe and army style tunic to an LAH SS doctor must have been quite a sight to behold.
I kept the grey cap once I passed along the tunic. It had rayon piping and was not really well made, with a grey interior, and Cupal insignia. I sold it to some rough hewn high roller collector from the south who was paranoid in 1974 about SS caps as having too many fakes. The man to whom I sold it had a large collection, and he croaked and the collection was spread to the winds. A typical tale. I think the whole thing cost around USD 500, which was quite costly then.
I have a very indistinct picture of the cap (enclosure). The white tunic went to my friend, the late Dr. Heinz von Hungen, who was the senior SS collector in this part of the USA, and the black lange Hose I still have. The white tunic had nice hand embroidered insignia.
The dealer was a colorful man, and always had good things. The hint of his Stasi thingy were the Saxon and otherwise Pickelhauben, which were taken by the Stasi from collectors in the GDR and used to raise hard currency. In my life in the former GDR in the years since, I have met many nice and wonderful militaria collectors who told me how the Stasi would seize their things for this creepy purpose.
He had things that others did not have and could likely come from Mitteldeutschland. In 1973 or so, such a thing was mysterious and remarkable.
Last edited by Friedrich-Berthold; 02-02-2013 at 04:54 AM.
what a real pleasure it was to read these two posts of yours of collectors and collecting in times (and even places) past.
quite often the focus on the object collected is enough that one can miss something of the collector and his circumstances which, in itself, is a great part of this hobby of ours.
thank you so much for taking the time to share this.
Last edited by Friedrich-Berthold; 02-02-2013 at 06:53 AM.
The white RFSS uniform in the photo montage above is the property of the great David Delich.
What a fascinating and colorful story F.B! The photograph of the car and the caps made my day, and as tempelhof said, it's great to focus on the circumstances of collecting and collectors. Thanks for sharing!
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