Original German WWII SS Officer SS-Untersturmführer Collar Tab Set with Flatwire Runes - Schutzstaffel

Original Item: Only One Available. The SS (Schutzstaffel) was originally formed in 1925, ostensibly to act as a small, loyal bodyguard unit to protect the Führer, Adolf AH. Under the direction of the Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler, the SS grew to be the most ruthless and feared organization of the 20th century. They were the vanguard of Germany eventually controlled nearly every function of German life and much of Occupied Europe.

Here we have a very nice set of SS officer's collar tabs, both of which look to have seen actual use during the war, and were later removed from a uniform. Known as Kragenpatten (Collar Flaps) in German, these were attached to the collars to indicate the rank and branch of the wearer, and in the case of the Waffen SS would also indicate the division.

The right side collar tab in this set is the standard ᛋᛋ doppelte Siegrune (Double Sig/Victory Rune) embroidered insignia, measuring approximately 1 5/8" x 2 1/2". This example is made of black velvet plush material fabric with machine embroidered silver flatwire thread runes and an internal lacquered buckram fabric stiffener. The twisted bullion border around the edge indicates that it is for an officer. The flatwire embroidered insignia are much rarer than the later bevo embroidered type, and this is the first time we have had the officers version.

The left side collar tab indicates the rank of the wearer, and measures approximately 1 11/16" x 2 5/8". This example is made of black velvet plush material fabric with an internal lacquered buckram fabric stiffener, and twisted bullion border around the edge indicates that it is for an officer. The three rank "pips" attached to the tab correspond to the SS rank of SS-Untersturmführer (SS-Second/Junior assault leader), equivalent to a Heer Army Leutnant (2nd Lieutenant).

These originally would have had an RZM tag on the back, and we can see some remnants of the original glue, however the tags are completely gone. Both tabs are in lovely lightly used condition, with a lovely "been there" look. There are still some of the original attachment threads on both, which are black, probably indicating these were used by a member of the Allgemeine-SS on a black uniform.

A lovely set of a rare SS collar tabs, ready to add to your collection!

The Allgemeine-SS, (General-SS), was originally formed in May 1923 as the Stosstrupp Adolf AH, (Shock Troops Adolf AH), and was redesignated Schutzstaffel, (Protection Squad), in April 1925 with the official acceptance of the name verified on the second anniversary of the failed Munich "Beer-Hall" Putsch on November 9TH 1925. On January 6TH 1929 Heinrich Himmler was appointed as Reichsführer-SS, (National Leader {of the} SS), and on July 20TH 1934 shortly after the, June 30TH 1934, purge of the SA, Sturm Abteilung, (Storm Troopers) on the "Night of the Long Knives", the SS was rewarded by AH by being granted the status of an independent organization under direct control of the NSDAP, Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, (National Socialist German Worker’s Party). The SS developed the distinctive SS style cap skull and cross bones on October 6TH 1934 and introduced the SS pattern national cap eagle in February 1936. After their introductions the skull and eagle were to be worn on all forms of SS headgear. In 1944 the SS developed a single piece of cap insignia which incorporated both the skull and eagle on a one piece trapezoid base for wear on the M43 field cap. Originally these trapezoidal pieces of insignia were produced in a machine woven version until a final, embroidered version was introduced in late 1944. The first versions of the trapezoidal cap insignia featured dual rows of teeth in the skull while later versions only had a single row of teeth. Panzer personnel’s cap trapezoids were produced with a black base to match the color of the cap it was to be worn on.