Which do you think the SS Officer and Himmler held in higher regard the TK Ring or Officers Sword? Also, Which do you all think is more rare? I think the TK Ring on both counts. Any opinions?

Of course the TK ring was held in higher regard ! Why woud otherwize Himmler wont every TK ring return to the Wewelsburg casttle after the recipinets dead, i didnt heard that the sword woud have to be returned !

Matthias

I've believe I've read somewhere that the Totenkopfring was held in the highest regard, more so than the Ehrendegen. Not sure where I saw that, it might have been Don Boyle's book.

Keep you nose clean for 3 years as an SS officer and apply for your SSTK... it was a given Now look at Mollo's listing for what was necessary to be awarded the SS Officers Sword............totally different as only a 1/3 or less received these.

D2

I have both swords and rings. I like the swords the best. Personal opinion.

Mark

Interesting JR. So, Are there more Swords or Rings that exist today? I like the Rings more due to having more mystery to them.

good question Erich, not being a sword collector myself,,approximately how many of these swords are out there?

With the documents,everything being the same,, I've been seeing the sword docs going for slightly higher than the ring docs...,G.

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I asked Don Boyle the same question and he stated that more Swords were given out than rings and he felt that the TK Ring was held in higher regard. He did say that the Sword documents are much rarer than the ring documents.

quote:

I asked Don Boyle the same question and he stated that more Swords were given out than rings and he felt that the TK Ring was held in higher regard.

I disagree with this statement for this reason; ever SS Officer that was a holder of the SS Officers Sword, also held a SSTK, with the exception of the newly commissioned officers from the 2 SS Officer schools. But not nearly every member that held the SSTK was a sword recepient. You can clearly see this by going through the 1944 DL which list "degen/ring" in a column. For all the names that have the degen symbol next to it, you can cross reference it to Patzwall's SSTK book and see that these same officer are also listed as ring recipients. You can even see this in Boyle's book where he show a page from the 37 DL. It has 44 SSTK holders on one page bu only 6 sword recipients. With 3 years service as an SS Oficer, you could apply for a SSTK. Not so with the SS Degen. The requirements were quite different.

THEY ARE BOTH WONDERFULL,LOOK AT THIS BOYS FACE AND SEE THE MAGIC,IF YOU HAVE BEEN BIT BY THE BLACK SS BUG.

While I agree with JRs statement above regarding numbers awarded I think you also have to take into acount survival rates here. More TK rings were awarded but there was a requirement that they be returned upon the recipients death. Many reportedly ended up back in the SSs posession and supposedly were secreted at the end of the war per Himmlers orders. Additionally due to their size they are an easy item to lose.
There was no return requirement for SS degens to the best of my knowledge and, coupled with this fact, there are many police degens that are masquarading as SS swords.
I believe that around 500 is the accepted number of TK rings thought to be in existence. I'm reasonably sure that there are more than 500 SS degens around.
Jim

Very good points Jim. If i had a choice of one or the other it would be a TK Ring hands down. I heard there there is betwwen 500-1000 rings still around which makes them pretty rare. Thanks everyone for all their input! Erich

Now having said that Erich. Here's what's hanging on the wall in my bunker:

Her's another view: The one on the left with the sword knot is a Krebs and the one on the right with the leather hanger is unmarked:

Very nice Jim! With both Ring and Degens you have all the basis covered.

For those who are interested in photography notice the difference in sharpness of the two photos above. I cropped the top picture to get it under 75kb and the bottom picture was compressed.
Jim

Just can't make up my mind . . . . .

Just can't make up my mind . . . . .

I agree with Jim m. The ring gets my vote. There may have been more rings given out but less survived than the Degens. I also think that soldiers would be more watchful to liberate a degen than a ring they probably didnt know exsisted. The degens went home with the soldiers and the overlooked rings went lost to history. Just my two cents.

Well John. As the old saying goes "If you got it hell flaunt it". I was hoping you'd post here my friend as you have the best of the best and I hope everyone else here takes note.
Glowlight: You're and astute observer!
Jim

I vote for the Degen......There was a reason for their oath being taken on a drawn Degen and not a ring............But thats just my opinion..............Jimmy

I choose this time a whole group back in Germany a view days ago

Once again all i can say is WOW John!

I think someone might found the Wewelsburg ringbox. My highest respect John !

The TK ring is yust to handsume to be a lozer !


Matthias Fritz

IF THE RING OR OFFICER SWORD ARE THE TOP ITEMS,WHAT SHOULD I DO WITH ALL THIS SS JUNK?

You can send it to me. I will even pay the postage!

A point of interest after looking at the 1942 Dienstaltersliste I noticed that a lot of Officers received the Degan and NOT the Ring. Both of these awards from Himmler were equally prized by Officers in my opinion.