Hermann Goring EM cuffband (unissued) for review

[PaulW]

Hi all, I would welcome any opinions on this unissued cuff-title that I'm looking at.

The length is 46cm.

Regards, Paul

[PaulW]

More pictures:-

[Bob Lyons]

I would be very uncomfortable owning this one .....


Bob

[Adrian Stevenson]

Compare to mine shown on the forum.

[PaulW]

Hi Bob (and Adrian - you were posting at the same time I was!), thanks for that, I suppose it was a little too good to be true....

I've posted it elsewhere and the overwhelming opinion is that it's not a good one. One collector said he'd just seen three mint ones exactly like this at Stoneleigh militaria fair in the UK ("on tables covered in fakes"), I've also seen another three identical to this one on a German dealers site (that some say is best avoided...). Looks like someone might be churning them out somewhere?

I've let the dealer that has it know I don't want it, don't want to name any names because in the end this is all subjective. Some will say a batch of unissued bands of an alternate design was discovered in the year whatever, and there is no doubt that from studying original Hermann Goring pictures there were a wide variety of designs even of the basic 1942+ Latin style (I'm sure the HG's QM's didn't give a damn about the umlaut spacing or style of the "M" of which I've seen at least 3 minor variations alone in original pictures !!). Nevertheless the bands are copied and if there is no comfort in owning a particular type there is not much pleasure in in it either. As one experienced collector pointed out, HG bands used to be considered rare, now they're quite easy to get! Back to the drawing board.

Thanks again, Paul


Just for interest I've added this picture (with a 'captured' HG cuff title) from this forum thread:- AFRIKA KORPS FORUM / Souvenir hunter pictures

This is how some of this stuff ended up in our collections, thank the souvenir hunters of previous generations!