SS document stamp, original?

[Styx]

Hello there,
I've found this stamp for sale; at first, when I saw the handle, I thought it didn't look all that bad (in my limited knowledge of stamps) but when I saw the impression of it, and saw the SS runes... I started having serious doubts, as these are faked so much. Does anyone know if this is an existing stamp design? Apparently the handle is marked '42'.


Thanks!
Robbie

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi Robbie, my advice is to stay clear of these. Fakes are legion. This one is bad. They are made in Poland.

The basic design did exist. See the SS forum. I only posted a pic the other day which shows this design but with the earlier Gothic style SS. See the SS-FM thread. It is printed and not stamped, but it shows the design.

Cheers, Ade.

[CARL]

Hi Robbie,

Ade is correct. There is a thread I started recently, that shows these common Polish made fake ink stamps. Many variations with one thing in common...all are BAD!!!

Cheers,

Carl

[Styx]

Hi guys,
Thanks for the confirmation! I've been burnt by one of these before so I'm wary of these in general. Out of interest, though, how can one tell that they're bad? Just for future reference!

Robbie

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi Robbie, I will find an image of an original for you.

Cheers, Ade.

[napalm]

Were these faked early doors? Like in the 50's 60's and so on? It would be nice to have a database of the known fakes...

[Styx]

I know, they're pretty tricky items. I've never seen compared pictures of real and fake ones so I've never known the difference. Good idea, there should be some sort of thread on it! Ade, I'd be very interested to see a picture if you have one, thank you; I appreciate the help.

Robbie

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi Napalm, thinking back 35 years to when I started I cannot recall seeing many of these fakes around? Certainly not common place like today.

Hi Robbie, the Eastern European/Polish made fakes don't all come from one source so I can only talk in general terms. But let us talk about originals first.

These can be found with the actual stamp itself made from either rubber or brass/bronze. I know forum sponsor Torsten had/has an original rubber version. Like most old rubber items these will exhibit real age. Metal ones should have the lettering and eagle cleanly defined from the base, with good clean sharp edges and no excess metal from the casting. There should be no production faults to the text or eagle, such as little dots etc. One feature which does appear on most originals is either a brass or zink pin in the handle. This can be found with a makers disc applied around it. This is so the user is aware of which way around to orientate the stamp in the hand when stamping the document. This seems to be lacking on most fakes. Wood will be good quality and should be nice and smooth from use.

Fakes: can be metal or rubber. Even the oddest and most obscure units have been copied. Don't be lulled into thinking it is only SS stuff which is faked. Treat all with suspicion. Daft as it seems, some even have spelling mistakes on them! The handles tend to be of cheap soft turned wood in a variety of handle shapes. They are wood stained or coloured with boot polish. Sometimes this will come off on the hand. Often they exhibit artificial ageing with the usual knocks and scratches to the wood.

As you know, I do RKKA living history and we have had Soviet rubber document stamps made ourselves. They were cheap to do and look totally convincing when applied to a document.

Still looking for a good pic of a confirmed original.

Anyway, hope this helps?

Cheers, Ade.

[Styx]

Excellent description Ade, that really helps. I've been looking for one of these for a while now (I did purchase a bad one a few months back, looking at it now it's embarrassing how poor the construction is) so it's great to have a reference on these items. Thanks!

Robbie

[Adrian Stevenson]

Here we go with a known Vet bring back original. Note the clean typeface. It is not SS obviously, but the quality of construction will be the same. It is for a school.

Posted as a mirror image for clarity.