Original Item: Only One Available. This is an original German WWII SS Type 2 right side collar tab originally produced in EM/NCO configuration and later upgraded to officer style by the addition of silver perimeter braid. The tab features the standard double Sig rune insignia embroidered in silver gray thread on black wool and retains its internal buckram stiffener.

The SS, or Schutzstaffel, was established in the 1920s and expanded dramatically under Heinrich Himmler during the Third Reich period. Its organizations became deeply involved in policing, security, military operations, occupation administration, persecution, and the regime’s system of mass murder. This collar tab is presented strictly as a historical uniform insignia artifact from that period.

The tab measures approximately:

1 11/16" x 2 5/8"

The black wool face carries the familiar embroidered ᛋᛋ doppelte Siegrune (Double Sig/Victory Rune) embroidered insignia:

ᛋᛋ

worked in silver gray thread. The internal structure includes a buckram fabric stiffener, giving the tab its proper form.

The outside perimeter has been hand fitted with silver braid, stitched in place with silver thread and secured on the reverse. This converts the tab from its original EM/NCO style into the appearance associated with officer collar insignia. The construction is consistent with the type of period upgrade encountered on surviving examples.

No clear uniform attachment stitch holes were observed around the outer edge, suggesting that the tab may never have been sewn to a tunic after the upgrade. It nevertheless shows storage and age wear, including staining, light pilling to the black wool, and general surface deterioration.

With its Type 2 double Sig rune embroidery, original black wool and buckram construction, and hand applied silver officer braid, this is a particularly interesting example of an EM/NCO collar tab upgraded to officer configuration. The light staining, pilling, surface wear, and absence of clear tunic attachment stitching are all fully disclosed. It would display especially well in an SS insignia, officer upgrade, collar tab construction, or advanced German WWII uniform 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.