November 7-8, 2018 Edged Weapons, Armor, & Militaria
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 11/7/2018
The Waffen SS was one of the most battle proven and feared organizations of World War II. Growing from a small elite bodyguard group during the early party years, this paramilitary organization grew to an impressive size during the second half of the war and commanded some of the war's most well known SS divisions. "Deutschland" was one of the early original "Verfunggstruppe" (SS-VT) regiments which later on formed the nucleus of the SS Divison "Das Reich". They were involved in some of the most well known and documented engagements of the second world war such as the 1940 Invasion of France, Operation Barbarossa, Operation Typhoon, Kharkov, Operation Citadel (Battle of Kursk), and the fighting in and around Normandy after the Allied landings. Truly a battle proven unit. The overall condition of this tunic is near mint plus. The tunic is made of a fine quality feldgrau wool which shows almost no wear, aside from minimal nap loss on a few high points. The two collar tabs are applied by machine stitching, but it is unknown if their application was done wartime. The tabs are made of a black badge cloth wrapped base and piped on the perimeter with a double twist silver cord piping. The right collar tab features bullion embroidered SS runes and the left rank tab has four zinc based rank pips, representing the rank of "Standartenfuhrer". The left sleeve has a bullion embroidered SS Officer's sleeve eagle hand sewn into place. The eagle is set higher up the sleeve than usually seen on SS uniforms, and is slightly canted when displayed on a bust. The sleeve eagle is most likely applied after the war. Lower down the tunics left sleeve, is the cuff-title for the SS regiment "Deutschland". The cuff-title's lettering and borders are embroidered in an aluminum thread. The cuff-title has a few areas of wear, where the woven black base has started to fray. There are also two light colored spots on the cuff-title that seem to be from tape or some type of adhesive at one time. The shoulder boards on this tunic are the "slip-on" type for the rank of "Standartenfuhrer". They are made of a black base, piped with red for artillery units, and the top is weaved with a subdued silver. The shoulder board loops attached to the tunic for the slip-on shoulder boards appear to be hastily applied and may possibly be repaired. The front of the tunic has four pleated pockets with scalloped flaps, each of which use a single green painted zinc button to secure. The main front closure of the tunic utilizes six green painted zinc buttons. All ten buttons of the front of the tunic appear in near unworn condition and are securely sewn to the fabric. The second button hole for the main closure has a ribbon for an Iron Cross 2nd Class looped through and sewn to the reverse. The ribbon has a few holes and thread snags as well as a slight brown patina on the white. The front of the tunic has six sets of professionally sewn award loops. Three sets are located on the tunics left pocket, two sets above the left pocket, and one set on the right pocket. This soldier was highly decorated. The interior of the tunic is lined with a grey rayon fabric which is in near mint condition. There is one interior pocket, as well as a small hemmed slit on the tunics left side for the hanger of a dagger or sword to pass through. A cloth makers label was once present on the upper interior, but has been torn out at some point. The inner sleeves are lined with a striped rayon lining which shows some signs of wear and staining near the armpit areas.