SS Honor Ring

[Southwb]

Hi,
I am kind of new to the forum, but I have important questions on a very interesting ring I have.
Ok I found my uncle's war box years ago when we were cleaning out the estate and naturally I rummaged through it and found old bullets, some Nazi era money, a youth hitler knife and more. But I did find a skull ring in the box as well. My uncle was an allied soldier stationed in Nazi Germany during the war and he collected several odds and ends during his time there during the war and for a couple years after. Anyway the ring in the box has a skull on it with decorated sides. The ring weighs about 13 grams and is a ring size 12. I had the ring taken to a specialist about 7 or 8 years ago who looked at it(the guy was a war artifacts dealer) and he really did not give me any solid answers as to what it was he said that no doubt it was German, because the marked silver content of the ring was .835 which is German sterling silver. He tossed around the words ss totenkopf(please pardon my spelling) and honor ring, but also officers service ring and some other titles. He did offer me $800 dollars for the ring right on the spot,but I was hesitant just because I did not even say I wanted to sell it to him and just because I did not know enough about it. I am going to post some pictures of it for you below this post, if someone could tell me what it is I would be most appreciative.
Thank You
William Lewis(Bill)

[Southwb]

Flickr: WVESTATES' Photostream

[Adrian]

Hi William and welcome to the forum. The ring is not 'the' SS officers Honour ring but might be a private purchase type.

[Thanatos]

Hi mate and welcome,
I,m no expert at all but I am near certain it,s not a Totenkopfring der SS (honor ring).This is what they look like.

Notice the SS runes.
These rings were so sort after by SS personel that some SS who were not entitled to wear it had similar copies made by local jewellers,the fakes started well before 1945.
Not many originals made it post 1945.
In all it is believed around 14500 were awarded between 1934 and 1945.
of these 64% were returned on the deaths of their owners (these were apparently blast sealed into a mountainside near Wewelburg in 1945)and 10% were lost in battle.That leaves 3500 surviving original rings.(Osprey "The Allgemeine-SS").
Totenkopf style rings of all forms were very popular in Germany during the 3rd Reich.
Cheers
Dave

[Little Mermaid]

Hiya William
Looks like an honest genuine canteen purchase. Looks the era and seems to have the decent weight and silver content. Nice piece.

[Southwb]

Now I was also told by a different collector that it could be something post wwi. I have no idea were it came from prior to my uncles possession, but there was a youth hitler knife, and a swastika insiginia knive also in the box(the swastika knife blade was covered in dried blood when we opened the box). I did clean some dirt(not tarnish) off of it and the strange thing is the ball of metal stuck in its right eye socket, it appears to be apart of the ring itself and not an add on to the piece.