Assistance with DRKB visor

[Bencejones]

Gentlemen, I would appreciate your review and thoughts on the authenticity of this DRKB visor please. You may be aware I put another DRKB visor up recently, however, this visor is in better condition. As always, many thanks in advance.


New pictures of the sweat band as requested by Erwesa. Cheers

[ErWeSa]

Judging from these pictures an authentic cap - any shots of the sweatband (they often tend to disintegrate when made of the ersatz-material)?

[MAP]

Keith,

Are you still cycling through your existing collection looking for authenticity from the dealers who ripped you off?

Or are these newer items that you are looking to purchase? If new, are they from the same dealers or new sources? It's just that there just has been a large number of posts.

Also, I would would be interested to know who these dealers were who sold you these fakes so the members here, many of whom have helped out, can approach cautiously knowing that extra due diligence on items for sale will be needed.

Finally, if most of these newer posts are for items you don't yet own, it would be helpful for you to provide us with your views on authenticity instead of members just providing answers. We are strong believers on the forum in teaching so that collectors can gain the skills and part of that process is for members to do their own homework before hand and provide their thoughts and opinions.

Thanks!

[Bencejones]

Dear Map, thanks for your assistance and questions. If you don’t mind I will PM you regarding some of the answers. Before I do PM you, let me answer the question about all my posts please. Now, every post I have posted has been either: 1. fake items from the dealers. 2. items I have already bought and and would like their authenticity checked. 3. Items I have been checking prior to purchase regarding authenticity. I am sorry their has been so many, but as you can appreciate, I am very gun shy when purchasing nowadays given my bad luck and my confidence level spotting fakes is a bit low. I am learning from the members, and I take screen shots of the useful information members have provided for my personal reference material. (Which I am very grateful)

Regarding your suggestion, I would love to offer my opinion and findings on the items I am posting, as long as my opinion does not offend any members! I am sure they are all thick skinned. LOL I know I am very new to the hobby, and I do love researching both professionally and in my hobbies. I think members can see I am keen and genuine regarding this hobby.

Lastly, for your information, the items I posted for checking prior to purchasing were not waisted, I have bought all of them, except the SS medical officers uniform, as it got sold before I could purchase it. The other non- purchase was the HJ Marine Mutze.


I will pm you now. Cheers Keith.

[Bencejones]

Dear Erwesa, please find the new pictures of the sweat band. I must say the whole Visor is in very good condition and in my humble opinion does not appear to ever be worn. Cheers Keith

[ErWeSa]

Dear Erwesa, please find the new pictures of the sweat band. I must say the whole Visor is in very good condition and in my humble opinion does not appear to ever be worn. Cheers Keith

Very nice indeed! The lining which is loose at the front could be fixed by using some suitable thread and the original stitchholes. Did you notice the little buttons at the inside? Are these the counterparts of the buttons for the chinstrap?

[Larry C]

I would love to offer my opinion and findings on the items I am posting, as long as my opinion does not offend any members! I am sure they are all thick skinned. LOL I know I am very new to the hobby, and I do love researching both professionally and in my hobbies. I think members can see I am keen and genuine regarding this hobby.

Hello Kieth ...yes we are very thick skinned here as well as very Keen in this hobby and the New People we meet.
Since the members here with their combined centuries of knowledge has helped you save countless thousands of dollars ...the point you made in your post to Michael ..is that you" love doing research " ......we could always use more teachers in this hobby and history. It would also be encouraging that you would peruse this website and help also new collectors as well as yourself.
.It would be giving back to the community here what they have given you.

You also know this website is a myriad of information which can be overwhelming and it is endless ...and sometimes we need to ask questions we cant answer..but since you have been here and we appreciate the items you have posted here for this website as tools for learning..again..we can always use more teachers...and with teachers as you stated...that " You love doing research "

We would appreciate that you can also begin your journey here as a teacher as well as collector and researcher.
The Administration and the community here are hopeful that you would find this accomodating ..passing on to those who and are in the same situation of collecting circumstances. It would be a great contribution .

Best Regards Larry

[Bencejones]

Dear Larry C, I have been exchanging emails with MAP over this very subject. I am sure he will no doubt pass on some of the topics we discussed. I would be honoured and keen to assist in the academic side of this hobby. Also to give back after all the help I have got from the group. During my discussions, I have asked where does one research these war relics to authenticate them. As google is nightmarish where fact and fiction are melded together and you are unable to believe any of the crap you find there. For example, in my field of medicine we have certain tertiary sources were we go to obtain evidence based material for researching medical topics. Everything in medicine is generally evidence based and I could spend all day discussing the various levels evidence.

However, I won’t, lol but one of the suggestions I discussed would not only help me in the research field but it would help all members. I suggested is it possible that our senior members would occasionally run “master classes”. I know the words often used in social media, but in our subject it could be one of the greatest active learning tools for the group. Perhaps once a month a senior subject matter expert run a “Master Class” on subjects like. How to approach authenticating WW2 Deutsche Visors, for example. I understand we have some of the worlds best Visor experts in this very group. Now I am aware they already give their valuable time for free and we greatly appreciate it. Especially me personally, over the past months helping me sort my disaster out.

Just imagine if they would run a brief master class we all could use to logically approach how to authenticate a specific Visor and the specific tricks or pitfalls that the faker (Criminals) use. It could be filled with factual information but sprinkled with the many anecdotes they have collected over the years in our hobby. The master class would be an active learning tool that would greatly help members. I hope I don’t offend our subject matter experts, but there is a lot of information they hold and whatever contribution they give will be held in this group forever, with grateful appreciation.

I am also aware a lot of them have already contributed greatly by composing lists of specific memorabilia and the nuances of those items. Another excellent contribution members have made. The other interesting suggestion was perhaps our senior members occasionally run a quiz, where they post the strange, unusual or rare memorabilia and open to members for comments and the best researched answer wins. What do they win? Who knows but this was just another way of actively involving members, rather than the constant flow of items being placed for authentication.

Anyway, I am certainly not attempting to change anything, just provide some suggestions after giving the two post above some serious thought. I hope you don’t mind the feedback. Any thoughts on approaching my new academic role? Thanks again, for everyone’s help. Keith

[Larry C]

So that is a Yes ..Thankyou

[MAP]

While a laudable idea, the amount of work that would be involved in producing "master classes" of any depth and worth is huge. There are just too many variation to cover.

Take German combat awards. These were generally produced from the late 30's until 1945. For each award, there are different grades, and multiple manufacturers. Within each manufacturer, there are different dies used and different materials as well. Each of these variations would require a training session.

The good news is that pretty much all the information and research has already been produced and is available either here on the forum (i.e. Stonemint has created a huge database of original visor to compare, we have a decal section for helmets, Ralph has created a database of original IAB's and PAB's, etc. etc.) , other internet sources, reference books (please check out our reference library section of the forum), or "in the heads /archives" of existing members/collectors. It just requires time and effort to research.