Military Artifacts Research and Sales

ABOUT RARE MILITARIA

I originally obtained my first actual military artifact at the age of seven (7) when a friend of my father, who had been a US veteran of World War II in Europe, was kind enough to give me a German, Artillery NCO's red piped peaked hat that I had been enthralled to even touch. In the almost fifty years that has elapsed since that occasion, I have had numerous opportunities to witness, or be the victim, of efforts undertaken by unscrupulous individuals to sell reproduction items as originals.

While the proliferation of these efforts increased over the years, as the items in question gained in popularity and value, it is a mistake to think that this is a new or recent development. Just like enterprising Romans who reproduced many of the Greek artifacts sitting in museums today to fill a market niche, the demand of thousands of non combat experienced, US soldiers shipped to Germany after May 1945 for national socialist era artifacts served as a catalyst for the creation of an entirely new industry of reproduction and fantasy German military artifacts.

Simply put, what had been laying in the streets and free for the taking in April and May of 1945, had become illegal and hidden only a few months later. Moreover, the actual combat troops, who could be a source of such items, were being quickly returned to the United States for refitting and potential participation in an anticipated invasion of Japan, taking their souvenirs with them.

A COMMENT ABOUT RUDOLF SOUVALL (L/59) MARKED MEDALS

Fortunately for enterprising individuals at the time, Austria had been designated by the victorious allies as being a repatriated country. Consequently, it had no political prohibitions against Nazi items and quickly became a source of newly made German medals, badges and daggers. At fore front of this effort, with the direct help and support of the US Provost Marshall for Vienna, was the firm of Rudolf Souval (L/59) who was able to secure a US government grant to rebuild its facility which had been heavily damaged by the Russians during their brief occupation of that city.

As the Russians had broken most of their molds, the Souval firm was forced to repair them as best he could to quickly get into production. As an example of this, if you look closely at any R.S. Infantry Assault badge, you might see a crack line running through the stock of the rifle identifying where the mold in question had been repaired. This tell tale sign quickly allows a knowledgeable collector to identify one of these post May 1945 remade pieces from original war time produced "RS" items.

ORIGINAL PERIOD REPRODUCTIONS MADE IN GERMANY BEFORE 1945

Ironically for collectors, even the jewelers and RZM approved manufacturers in National Socialist Germany added to the problem by reproducing a number of party awards for domestic consumption even before the start of the war. As an example, the rare and famous October 1931 SA Treffen Badge (meeting or rally) for Braunschweig was originally produced as a hollow stamped piece of tin with a pin. Its main purpose was to be sold at the rally by the Party for a price of 3 to 5 marks each to raise desperately needed operating funds

Once the NSDAP came to power on 30 January 1933, however, this became an honor badge, creating a market for reproductions for those who wanted an attractive new badge to wear with their new uniform(s), instead of the poor looking original tin day badge. This demand resulted in the official sanctioned production by RZM of an approved copy of the original tinnie that would now be solid, thinner and made out of a far superior quality metal material possessing an excellent "tobak" finish. .

The obvious lesson from this example is to never assume the correctness or basic originality of any item simply because of the source. I cannot begin to recount how many times I have been told stories by veterans, from whom I was purchasing items, about how they obtained them only to learn through some simple reference work that their account of events was completely untrue or non credible.

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