New member, Swiss mountain boots?

merkur5thgj · 08-12-2010, 03:35 AM

Hi there all, New to the group as of today. My thing is WWII German Gebirgsjager related stuff. As a New Zealander we have a direct connection with these units via the battle of Crete, Italy etc. Not having enough spare kidneys to sell I recently purchased what I am sure are indeed a pair of Swiss mountain boots as a collection filler in place of a real pair of kidney swappers.

Question I have is, does anyone know if these are military boots or civillian and from what time period. Haven't received yet but just curious, can't provide marking pics yet. Payed $80US for em, nice boots. Cheers guys & gals.

**Espenlaub Militaria** · 08-12-2010 03:35 AM

We also buy and trade your items and full collections!

**JPhilip** · 08-12-2010, 05:48 PM

Hello,
Welcome to the forum, always glad to see new "recuits" within this subforum...

Sorry i can't help you regarding this pair of mountain boots. I did own two pairs of swiss military mountain boots, but none of them did look like the pair shown here.
Even if sometimes it's hard to hear, my advice to you is not to buy too many fillers hoping to have some real stuff sometimes. IMO It's better to wait and save some money instead and buy the real thing when it's possible.
$80 is cheap, but it will be very hard to sell them if you want to do so one day....The price for a pair of WWII german mountain boots is still reasonable these days, in comparison to M37 or M44 boots, mountain boots are "cheap"....so why not save some money and buy a real pair for 180 to 250 euro ? (of course you can find higher prices...).
It's better for the collection to buy one real item only each year than several of even good repros...
Thanks

otto262 · 08-30-2010, 05:09 AM

HI Merkur,
These are neither WW2 Gebirgs boots or Swiss army. They are very similar however but have incorrect stitching on both sides of the boots. They also lack the padding around the top of the boot which are found on many GJ boots. Swiss army boots had large tricouni nails on the outside of the soles. The leather on the boots look to new and do not look as though they we re made over 60 years ago.
Hope this helps!!

**Franz1944** · 08-30-2010, 05:35 AM

They are not American boots. I bet they are European.

merkur5thgj · 08-30-2010, 07:17 AM

Thanks guys for your help, I have a feeling these might be civilian climbing boots. They don't have ski binding equipment yet do have period hobnails and european sizing. I will gladly add them to my humble Gebirgsjager display for the time being as they are if nothing else beautiful boots. I welcome any furthur knowledge on offer.