Picked up this Prussian police uniform pin a number of years ago. Not sure where it is placed upon the uniform. It is 1 1/2 inch wide.
Any info would be appreciated.
Joe
Front view
Rear view with attaching prongs. Manufacturer's markings is a 3/4 closed circle with the letters RZ which can be seen at the bottom.
Hello,
Police items were never marked with an RZM (which this looks like) which was the materials control wing of the NAZI party. As the police were a civil and not a party organization their equipment was not under RZM control.
To be honest the eagle looks a bit strange to me as well, but I will leave that to others.
Such badges were worn on the lower sleeve of senior NCO's and on the cross belt of the service/dress uniform, or the cartridge box.
See this thread for some similar stars:
http://www.wehrmacht-awards.com/forums/showthread.php?t...7&highlight=prussianRegards,
William Unland
I'm afraid I recognize this RZM 24 as a known fake/reproduction. Thought I had some notes of approximately when this reproduction appeared, although I'm not finding them at the moment. I'll keep looking.
W & Dave
The "makers mark" had me worried, as it looked too much like the standard RZM.
I aware that the police items were not issued under the approval of the RZM and this eagle appears to be pre Nazi.
Thank you for the info.
Joe
The "police" star pictured is not supposed to be Prussian police. As a repro, it is the collar insignia of the Feldjaegerkorps der SA. The wore one of the stars on their right collar tab as well as on their kepi.The SA received RZM approved equipment and these were produced by Assmann, so they might have been RZM's.
But Dave is correct. They have been reproduced for so many years, the repros have as much age as originals.
Joe
So it is an SA pin, not police. My mistake and I appreciate the corretion. The SA used RZM marked equipment, so that mark is OK on this pin?
Now is this pin a repo? If so, how do we know, or have so many real and repos been made over the years it is now about impossible to tell the difference?
Joe
Joe, Globe was making those pins 30 years ago. The originals are illustrated in the Assmann catalog, both original and reissued copies. The pins were intended for use on the FJK collar tabs. I would think the potential repro number to be significant and most of these are found not mounted on collar tabs. The FJK was a relatively small unit with perhaps a few thousand members that was absorbed into the police by 1935.Survival rate of authentic examples of collar tabs would be extremely small in my estimation. I don't think they were laying around in stores in 1945 for the vets to bring home. My estimation is that most if not all of these are repros.
Joe
Thank you again for your response.
Your conclusion based on the original number needed by that small group of FJK men would lead to the logical conclusion that so few pins survived, that most now are old reproductions.
Joe