Deschler and its secrets.

[BenVK]

Well who knows what clues were amongst and inside the packaging of this hoard?
Where these Verdienstkreuz ordered directly from Deschler by the Personalbüro Unterseeboote? I'm no expert on the Kriegsmarine or award medals but it is surprising to me that they were not sent to a uniform/equipment quartermasters store or similar instead.

https://www.warrelics.eu/forum/order...erkreuz-18068/

[Friedrich-Berthold]

The porverbial Dachbodenfund.

[Friedrich-Berthold]

Well who knows what clues were amongst and inside the packaging of this hoard?
Where these Verdienstkreuz ordered directly from Deschler by the Personalbüro Unterseeboote? I'm no expert on the Kriegsmarine or award medals but it is surprising to me that they were not sent to a uniform/equipment quartermasters store or similar instead.

https://www.warrelics.eu/forum/order...erkreuz-18068/

That's what it says, but I would take this with a grain of salt. It is not clear the images of the things in the attic are truly the packages of orders and decorations, but I am a royal skeptic when it comes to metal thingies.

Such discoveries in 1950 or even 1970 would hold more water than in the recent past.

But my point here is the Dachbodenfund in the Bundesarchiv of the files used by at least one of our members in their US National Archives guise, which now is reorganized with archives found in the ex GDR.

[BenVK]

I always keep my eyes open for interesting paperwork in relation to manufacturers of TR products. I've found many rechnung papers for quite a few muetzenfabrik firms but have failed flat on my face to find anything relating to Deschler & Sohn. It's quite amazing considering how prolific Deschler was and that they continued right up until the 1970's. Apart from hundreds of images of their goods on the web, there is very little info about their history.

[Friedrich-Berthold]

I always keep my eyes open for interesting paperwork in relation to manufacturers of TR products. I've found many rechnung papers for quite a few muetzenfabrik firms but have failed flat on my face to find anything relating to Deschler & Sohn. It's quite amazing considering how prolific Deschler was and that they continued right up until the 1970's. Apart from hundreds of images of their goods on the web, there is very little info about their history.

Dear Ben, you and I will go to Munich and I will find it for you, but the secrets lie in other places than you and I see on line or many collectors look. However, I am confident we could find something, but when I retire.
I appreciate your looking, though, and you have gifts with your discoveries.

[Friedrich-Berthold]

This is the man who knew the secrets, and he carried them to the grave....or not. I am sure all of these people left more traces than we know, we just don't look in the right place.

[Friedrich-Berthold]

I also imagine, that as you surmised a long time ago, there existed personal and political deals among these figures such that this regalia came about.

[BenVK]

But my point here is the Dachbodenfund in the Bundesarchiv of the files used by at least one of our members in their US National Archives guise, which now is reorganized with archives found in the ex GDR.

And my point is that despite collectors paying good money for Deschler & Sohn medals, badges, plaques, flag pole tops, etc etc for the last 30 of 40 years at least, no one really knows a damn thing about the firm and apart from our little band of brothers, non seem too interested in finding out either.

Myself, FB, Chris and others have spent countless hours in the study of muetzenfabrik firms and muetzenmachers already and have posted pages of information.

To be brutaly honest, let someone else put in the hours studying Deschler this time.

[BenVK]

I also imagine, that as you surmised a long time ago, there existed personal and political deals among these figures such that this regalia came about.

I'm convinced of it dear friend. Why otherwise would such a maker as Deschler have the lions share of supplying the trinkets for most of SS black service caps we've ever encountered from the days when you first started collecting these things to today. There can be no doubt that if you see a black hat without a Deschler Totenkopf, the chances are that the TK is not the original one to the hat.

It only takes one to look at all the images of black hats that you have posted over the years to acertain that this is fact and not just an opinion.

[d'alquen]

"there existed personal and political deals among these figures such that this regalia came about".

Many of the documents relating to SS insignia reveal the deals and negotiations that were, and still are, a normal part of business.
I'm sure that somewhere I have Deschler material but in the interim here, to illustrate the point, is a typical document that I found when checking into the SS shooting badges for a colleague. The last two paragraphs are the relevant ones as the company offers up that their owner was an SS and party member in good standing and that being in a disaster area they would hope that the SS procurement officer (Klausius) would view them favourably.
I must say that I don't altogether understand the complaints about response that I see more and more frequently on the forum. The web forum structure makes a concise and logical flow of information difficult in my opinion and it is often hard, if not impossible sometimes, to ascertain what is actually being asked for. Perhaps it is a result of the sadly increasing internet measurement of success by numerical results alone.
In the research area the internet has many shortcomings. Good old fashioned spade work is still infinitely more likely to find germane and pertinent information despite the web offering a quick and readily available overview.
d'Alquen