Collecting Basics - Replica Field Marshal Baton

I received an e-mail today from a Paki fake peddler offering me a replica field marshal stick (baton) at a very low price. I get this type e-mail every day, seems they all think that because I run this web site I "must" be in the business of ripping off collectors with fakes. What a bunch of scumbags they all are!

There is nothing new about fake field marshal's batons, they've been around for years. The thing is all the fakes I know of up till now have been rather expensive, selling for several thousand dollars. However, this one is cheap... only $100. The good thing is, the maker only wants to sell them 10 at a time. I like that because it should slow his sales considerably.

Now I know that none of you experienced collectors would be fooled by this thing, but it could spell trouble for the newbie. The reason I'm posting this is because I can see the following happening. Some unscrupulous dealer buys 10 of these zonkers, goes to the trouble of "ageing" them, then puts one on his table at some small gun show at, what looks like a bargain price, and waits for the sucker to come buy. What's especially dangerous about this item is it's low price, which means more of them will probably pop up at a price new collecors will go for.

I haven't seen one of these in person, so I don't know how well they're made, but from the pics they look good enough to fool some people. So, if you see a field marshal's baton offered at a "bargain" price, watch out!

If you know about a "dangerous" fake and would like to share the info with our readers, please email me and we'll see if we can put the info on this Blog. You can remain anonymous if you wish. info@germanmilitariacollectibles.com

Bob Treend, Collector Basics, Militaria Blog, 2010

Deutschland Erwacht Penknife

Two versions of the Deutschland Erwacht ("Germany awake") penknife, a reproduction which has been reputedly struck from the original dies of the Henckels firm, Solingen. The original emotive behind these knives was that they were sold during the years preceding and including 1933 as fund raising ventures providing income both for the manufacturer and the NSDAP who permitted usage of their emblems.

The private manufacture and sale of items bearing the swastika was forbidden by law,
following the establishment of the NSDAP government - the emblem being the official National Crest. The usage of it on badges, insignia, edged weapons, etc., etc., was only upon condition of government approval.

It is possible that the sale of such penknives as these illustrated was curtailed after 1933, and that they were not manufactured again until the dies were re-set during the mid-1960s. Photos: David Delich

Frederick J. Stephens, "Deutschland Erwacht Knife", Reproduction? Recognition!, 1976

Collecting Basics - Fake Nazi Cloth Items

The Nazi Regime in Germany, found that more manpower was needed, to prosecute their war of aggression.

The amount of forces they opposed as well as controlling the vast area of conquered territories, was simply too much for their own German teutonic supermen to handle unassisted.

Policies were enacted, which brought foreign legions into existence, composed of volunteers from other nations. These Legions often received insignias to identify them and give a sense of community as well.

In this article, we will look at some examples of the sleeve shields of various freiwilligen (Volunteer) Foreign Legions, of the German Army and the Waffen SS.

First up is a collection of various authentic, original shields. Every item pictured in this one photo is the genuine article. Some are fairly easy to locate and affordable. Other shields are extremely rare. Their availability compared to the demand for them, has caused their true value to reveal itself.

Many are approximately $250, but scarcer patterns can sell from $750 to $1250.

All Third Reich insignias, have been reproduced in counterfeits by forgers for decades, and sleeve shields are no exception. For instance here are 2 originals, under different lighting conditions and having seen different use and wear. Still it is obvious that the two insignias are the same pattern.

And here is a printed Fake. Many of the printed sleeve shields have been reproduced..

Original printed variations did exist of many shields, but Screen printed repros have been widely distributed throughout the hobby. They are inexpensive and if you do not know what real ones look like you may get stuck with fakes.

An original Bevo Don Kossack, and a fake "Local made side by side.
The one on the right was made to fool a collector, and it did.
Someone bought a humped up tunic with this shield upon its sleeve.

Local Variants abound, and that reality is used to sell fakes, which are made up to seem local made.

Cloth Freiwillige Abzeichen came in several accepted forms. 1st is the machine woven or gewebt production type commonly know as Bevo.

Here is an original BEVO pattern Turkistan ( a unit that was involved in Normandy). Next to it is one of the new high quality woven fakes made specifically to fool a collector.. So Bevo is not foolproof and safe.

As far as I can determine the bevo models are safe to buy, if they compare favorably with a known original. The replica bevo patterns make several types of errors. Be sure and compare not only the design and stitching, but the rear details and also the base colors.

Charles Warriner, "Collecting Basics - Fake Nazi Cloth Items", Militaria Blog, 2009

Collecting Basics - Fake Nazi Cloth Items

I know many of you look at these items and think... "Why does he bother showing these? Anyone would know they're fakes."

Just today I received an email from someone asking me if I could please tell him what kind of "soldiers" were in the photo and tell him anything about them. They were two RAD men having lunch... The point is, there are a lot of newbies in our hobby who really don't know whats what and can use all the help they can get. If you or I saw these items on some dealer's table we wouldn't give them a second glance. But to the new collector they look like just what he's been searching for...and besides they're a much better deal than what that other dealer has. Newbies in our hobby are ripe for the picking and there is no shortage of people willing to rip them off with this type of fake. Unfortunately the market is being flooded with this junk. If by showing these we can educate them to the fakes that are out there, then we are not only helping them but helping the hobby as a whole.

Every day there are reports that this place or that has been bombed in Pakistan. And every day its never one of these embroidery factories!

germanmilitariacollectibles.com

Think You're Ready To Start Collecting?

If you're new to collecting Third Reich Militaria here is a little quiz that may help you decide if you're really ready to start spending money. Below are pictures of 12 items. All of them are popular collectibles and are frequently encountered on dealer web sites, gun shows, etc... From just these pictures you should be able to tell if the item is an original or a fake. Make a list with your answers and you can check it against the correct answers at the bottom of this article. Good luck (...and it really shouldn't be luck!)

Here is the answer to the quiz. The following are Original: 1,2,3,4,5,12. And the Fakes are: 6,7,8,9,10,11. If you got all 12 correct then go ahead and start collecting. If you got 11 right, collect but be careful. If you got 10 right you need more study and if you got 9 or less right you're a prime candidate to get ripped off! This little quiz was all in fun, but the results should be take seriously. Afterall, mistakes here are free but in the marketplace they can cost you money.

germanmilitariacollectibles.com

Collector Basics - Identification Errors

Collectors of Nazi war relics are confronted with some improper identification and wrong interpretation of some abbreviations used in identification. Most of these mistakes are to be found on collector's sale lists, however, they may also be found in books and magazine articles, some used as identification reference. Some of these mistakes are widely used and accepted as correct, here is a review of some of the more common ones.

All that's black is not SS. With. So many novice collcetors are seeking SS items, a lot of Nazi items, that are black, are being listed or called SS. Other Nazi organizations such as the Luftwaffe, Army, S.A., R.A.D., and even railway workers had black uniforms or insignia. The Luftwaffe construction troops, R.A.D. and S.A. had black collar tabs, the S.A. tabs being very similar if not exactly like SS tabs. Railway workers had a pair of black coveralls that some collectors believe to be SS panzer, sometimes markings will help identify these. The TENO (Technische Nothilfe), and the Grossdeutschland sleevebands have been called SS. The TENO is an organization of specialists used to perform technical maintenance, not exactly SS. Hitler's Second Army" by Alfred Vagts, is a good source of reference on the TENO. Grossdeutschland was an elite German Army division. Some of the U.S. Government publications give information on this unit. Do not confuse the Army Grossdeutschland sleeveband with the SS Deutschland sleeveband.

Tan is another color that is often misrepresented. Many tan items including tunics, caps and insignia are listed as Afrika Korps items, perhaps they are but tan items were used by the Wehrmacht in Italy, Sicily, Greece and other countries and islands in the Mediterranean Sea area. TM-E 30—451, "Handbook on German Military Forces", lists these tan items as tropical, possibly they are from the Afrika Korps but most likly from elsewhere. Particularly noticeable on sale lists is the use of the term Wehrmacht when listing a German Army item. TM-E 30-451, September, 1943, page l6, states the Wehrmacht or "Armed Forces" was composed of the Army (Herr), the Air Force (Luftwaffe) and the Navy (Kriegsmarine). There were two classes of soldiers in the Wehrmacht or Armed Forces, officers (second lieutenant and higher) and enlisted men (private through sergeant major). Service or peaked caps came with two types of chin straps, silver cord for officers and black leather for enlisted men. there was no difference in the service cap for privates and that for non-conmissioned officers. Refer to EM-E 30-451. Also this applies to the Army breast eagle and swastika insignia, no difference between the eagle for a private and one for an N.C.O.. The Waffenfarbe or piping color of pink is referred to as panzer most of the time, however, plate VI, TM-E 30—451, March 1945, lists the following units as using pink piping: panzer regiments, tank destroyer battalions, mobile battalions, armored reconnaissance battalions (including motorcycle battalions), heavy tank destroyer battalions (assault gun battalions), armored train personnel and motor maintenance troops.

One of the most common mistakes and widely accepted errors by many collectors is the identification of the letters N.S.B.O. This abbreviation is so widely mistaken that some of the new reference materials mistakenly list them as a National Farmers Organization. The intelligence book "German Military Abbreviations" gives the following translation: N.S.B.O. Nationalsozialistische Betriebszellenorganisation. National Socialist Organization of Cells in Industry and Commerce. German industry was organized in cells under the N.S.B.O. according to "Hitler‘s Second Army" by Alfred Vagts. This book covers not only the N.S.B.O. but other Nazi organizations as well.

In collecting German war relics one should get a German-English dictionary and seek the best of reference materials, then you are on the way to a more accurate identification.

Jack Britton, "Identification Errors", Das Hakenkreuz, 1968