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 right side Collar Tab (single tab), with the standard ᛋᛋ doppelte Siegrune (Double Sig/Victory Rune) embroidered insignia. The tab measures approximately 1 3/8" x 2 1/4". Known as Kragenpatte (Collar Flap) in German, these were attached to the collars to indicate the rank and branch of the wearer. This example is made of black fabric with machine embroidered silver flatwire thread runes and an internal lacquered buckram fabric stiffener. The flatwire embroidered insignia are much rarer than the standard silver gray thread, especially for EM/NCO collar tabs. This is the first example of one of these that we have had.

These originally would have had an RZM tag on the back, and we can see where it most likely was, however the tag is now gone. It does look like this tag was installed on a uniform at some point, as we can see stitch holes and some thread in the tab. It looks like the thread is black, so this would have been used by a member of the Allgemeine-SS on a black uniform. The tab is in very good condition, showing light wear and some loss of the silvering on the flatwire threads.

A lovely example of a rare collar tab, 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.