Article about: Hi guys, I thought it might be interesting to run a little test here and hopefully show a very simple way to recognize fake SS discs. Have a look at the image below- it's a fake... but why?
I thought it might be interesting to run a little test here and hopefully show a very simple way to recognize fake SS discs. Have a look at the image below- it's a fake... but why? As I say, the reason is very simple and indisputable.
That is a useful way of recognizing fakes, but no, that's not it in this case. Of course since this one is definitely a fake, we can use these letters to recognize other fakes- any disc with identical letters is likely bad too. Unfortunately, none is super-distinctive so it's not as easy as other forms are.
Nope, sorry goose- each of those abbreviations is perfectly normal.
There are a multitude of different abbreviations that are 'correct' for Erkennungsmarken; there are 'standard' ones that are used commonly, but there are uncommon variants that are quite correct. Of course not everything works, so it can be a way to cast doubt on a disc and suggest further evaluation. Just not here.
i bought this ID tag from a guy in Wilmington, NC i'm not sure on the authenticity of it. What do you think, is it real hohenstaufen? It reads
5157
ss-pz-gren-rgt-20
i think i got it by looking at mine, the script should be mirrored on the other half of the disk. one half reading right side up from the upside down other half???? I'm just guessing
Another good try, but no- while sometimes the disc was rotated before stamping the second half, it's not as common in fact than both being the same way up.
Details like the positions of text aren't set nor universal- the exception being that a Stammrollennummer (roster number) should really not be broken up to go on either side of the single hole at the bottom- that is to say if you read something like '55 O 66' (the O being the hole) you should immediately be suspicious since this is done on a lot of fakes, but I have yet to see one original where it's that way (but it's not impossible that somewhere someone did it). So it's not 100% but it's certainly cause for concern.
I'd get my money back for that disc though- I don't believe for a second that it's real. The vast majority of German soldiers who entered the military after 1. September, 1939 began in Ersatz units, so their disc would be marked to the Ersatz unit- only in rare cases would a man have a disc from his actual field unit; if his first disc were lost (such as in the hospital if he was wounded) he would get a replacement, but this wasn't a common occurrence. Being thus, there's simply no way at all over 5000 men from SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 20 needed replacement discs. That's gotta be a fake I'm afraid.
There are other questions about it even if the Stammrollennummer didn't give it away- the use of dashes instead of dots ending the abbreviations (it's not unheard of, but it's weird), the little line across the 'Z' is also not normal- I've never seen it on a real disc and I'm not even sure the Germans used that. Plus it's an SS disc and 99.9% of those you'll find anywhere are fakes- my rule of thumb is always to assume an SS disc is fake unless you can prove it to be real; it's just too dangerous to buy them any other way.
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