Original german matchbox?

[juanjo67]

Good morning, I have seen this German propaganda matchbox and I would like to know if it is original, since I do not understand this topic. Regards, and thank you very much.
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[BlackCat1982]

I believe this item is a "sexed up" item. The eagle with missing swastika, but the addition of deaths head and Waffen SS runes to my mind implies someone trying hard to make this be bonefide original. Others will opine sooner and I'm happy to be proved wrong but personally I am not a fan.

[juanjo67]

Thanks for your answer. I'll let it go.

[Witt]

I would also say this is garbage. I do not see anything like this for sale from anyone semi-respectable; only listings coming out of countries that were in the Soviet Bloc. They are made out of veneer and many have purple paper as seen in the photo below. The funny thing is that veneer and purple paper made up the construction of match boxes in Russia decades after the war.





Some have Cyrillic and German font printed on them.






A website selling dozens of different designs including one similar to the original posting. All “orginals with the matches” sourced from Estonia.



Some other observations I made. The one you show is the only one I saw that has the bottom taped with taped adorning the adler (it must have been important for the government to brand the tape on match boxes). Some of these have the swastika blurred out which is an immediate red flag. Some have the year 1943 printed on them but no other year is seen in this place. I doubt those at the front cared what year it was or how old their matches were when they were trying to see the end of the war. Nor do I expect they valued overzealous propaganda and covered in sig runes and swastikas on anything they would be carrying.


There is almost no talk about these anywhere online so who knows. Just my penny’s worth.

Ben