Original Item: Only One Available. This is a very nice black leather SS belt, with a very good condition WWII German Schutzstaffel (SS) EM/NCO's Steel Painted Belt Buckle (Koppelschloß). It is the correct stamped steel box type with an embossed with a high relief, embossed, central motif pattern consisting of an SS style national eagle with out-stretched wings, clutching a wreath, encompassing a static swas. The swas and wreath are in turn encompassed by a circular, simulated, twisted rope border with the Gothic script motto, Meine Ehre heißt Treue!, (My Honor is Loyalty!).

As with others we have seen, it looks like the steel was plated with nickel or more likely zinc before it the silver aluminized paint was applied. Where the paint has worn away you can see the oxidized zinc undercoat, and it also looks like the paint was only applied on the exterior. There is no maker name or marking that we can see, which means it was most likely made by Overhoff & Cie. of Lüdenscheid, who were the exclusive makers of SS buckles and other equipment until the middle of the war.

The included belt is in very good condition, though it definitely has had the leather dry out and become brittle. It measures about 32 inches long, and has the adjustment holes for the buckle made directly through the thick leather of the belt. There are only 4 sets of double holes, instead of the usual 7, and we can see that the 5th set of holes was cut through, so it was probably a few inches longer originally. There is some cracking between the adjustment holes.

Overall a very nice SS EM/NCO Belt from the early - mid war period, ready to add to your collection!

History of the SS

The Allgemeine-SS, (General-SS), was originally formed in May 1923 under the auspices of the SA, Sturmabteilung, (Storm/Assault Detachment), as the Stosstrupp Adolf AH (Shock Troops). It was then 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.

As a subordinate unit to the SA, early SS personnel wore the standard SA style box belt buckle. It is believed that Adolf AH personally designed a new pattern box belt buckle specifically for wear by SS EM/NCO personnel with the manufacturing patent being originally granted to the Overhoff & Cie. firm in Lüdenscheid. This new style buckle was adopted for wear by EM/NCO personnel in late 1931 or early 1932. Generally the early buckles were produced in solid nickel/silver until sometime in 1936 when aluminum alloys replaced the nickel/silver versions. In 1940 the EM/NCO's belt buckles began to be manufactured in steel replacing the aluminum alloy buckles. The steel buckles were zinc coated than painted grey.

The RZM, Reichzeugmeisterei, (National Equipment Quartermaster), was officially founded in June 1934 in Munich by the NSDAP, Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, (National Socialist German Worker's Party), as a Reich Hauptamt, (State Central Office), and was based on the earlier SA Quartermaster's Department. The functions of the RZM were not only to procure and distribute items to Party formations, but also to approve chosen designs and to act as a quality control supervisor to ensure items manufactured for the Party met required specification and were standardized. Starting in late 1934 items manufactured for the SS came under the quality control of the RZM and as a result were to be marked with the RZM/SS approval/acceptance mark. In 1943 the Waffen-SS assumed full control over their uniform item production and no longer fell under the authority of the RZM.