UBB.threads Forums Uniform & Accessories German Military Uniform Forum Afrika cuffband, opinions needed.

Hello all,
I found the Afrika cuffband shown below on a well-known dealer's webpage. I'd like to hear any opinions on it. Thanks in advance.

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Welcome to the forum and cute cat. I would love to help on the cufftitle but I'm not a cloth man, but there is some guys here that would surely know.

Adam, thanks for your welcome message. The cat is not mine but I love it.

Its a nice original cuff title in my opinion!

Text and palm trees a bit high, but besides that its got the righ features.

Cheers,

Felix

Hi Guys, Again I'm probably digging myself a whole but, Cuff titles are dangerous and expensive. I agree with Felix that the 'palms' are a bit high(too high IMO)they are touching the 'Russia' braid edges. I also think the fronds are too 'leafy' and the trunks are not properly cut off at their base. Also the over-all wear does not seem to have affected the edges as much as the other features. I'm not trying to be the 'nay-sayer' but, Ive been collecting tropical German uniforms for years and the repro cuff titles have been around before me. I just don't want to see anybody get taken for the $500 to $750 that this type brings these days. I had heard that the Austrian company that produced the Afrika Korps cuffs in green, tan and silver had started making them again in the late '60s. Anybody else hear anything like this? Hope to hear more and to see more DAK.

Compared to the one on Gailan DAVID'S sight right now this is very suspect

Paul

We all know that photos really can trick you but for sure the Trees are high. Several different AFRIKA version did exist and I do agree that I dont ever think I have seen an original with those high trees. Still I have never seen a fake with the fine ribbed velvet base cloth this cuff has. Embroidery looks somewhat different but that might be the light.

Ask to see the back side of this cuff. Im still to the positive side so far.

//Felix

Thank you for your comments gentlemen,

so I believe that the major concern here about the cuffband is the 'too-high set' trees.Has anybody else seen the same feature in other examples?

kind regards
Nakta.

Alright guys, I did indeed personally see and inspect a box full of these type cuffs under a dealer(and a well known and respected member of this community) tables. There were at least 200 of these titles(probably more). All a little more well worn(then this example) and what appears to have been removed from tunics. These items were on the market for only a very short time during a MAX show @1996 and not up on the table top for everyone to pick and choose. While they were very convincing at the time, they were subsequently removed from the'for sale side' and not seen again. At the time the conventional wisdom was that they were indeed original and tunic removed from DAK forces surrendering to US Army units. This has proved to be highly questionable as to the amount of similiiar cuffs and the time frame of who and what surrendered to whom. Again, I'm probably just opening a bigger can o' worms here but, be careful of this type. Have as much fun as ya can under the above circumstances and I hope to have all my DAK stuff out at the SOS for all of us to learn a little. (sorry, I don't have a similiar cuff as to the 1 being discussed here)

If you can access it, the Bender book on cuff titles by Williamson and McGuirl is the best and most comprehensive reference I know of. It has saved my 'bacon' on many occasions.

Thanks for your input Mike,
I haven't handled nor seen many of them but the matter seems quite confusing since many of the titles(believed to be geniune) which I've seen show 'minor' differences(e.g shape of fronds, 'serif' at the end of letters, and positioning of the palm trees and letters)and do not match exactly with one another in many cases, While the base material and the size and shape of letters in general look the same. However,as you said Mike, I must consult more literature concerning the cuffband.

kind regards
Nakta