joetauchretter

From the pictures it looks good to me , but remember merchant marine and some early post war navy uniforms look like war time kriegsmarine issue , beware of jackets that " had the buttons fall of and were sewn back on " this is a good clue as to a non WWII vintage jacket made to look like the real item ! Some dealers even state that the buttons were sewn in a different position as the original wearer got heavier ! If The buttons look to have their original threads intact , go for it

That looks like a belt hook found on a German army field tunic bent and added to this ribbon bar !

I agree , IMO this looks like a cast copy . I would stay away from any badge that has a crude , cast looking back to it with a replaced pin assembly . almost all badges that I have seen with a replaced pin or hinge has been a repro , the faker's are are trying to cover up an incorrect pin / hinge by replacing it with a " replacemeent pin " making the badge look like it was damaged and repaired .

I do not have a good feeling on this flag , as with most " original " item's found on ebay . This item looks too new to be over 60 years old , white cloth does not stay white over the years ! One would expect to see the white cloth a yellowish or brownish color . Such bright white is a good indication to it's true age ... new ! Something this old should look used but this looks like it was just made and did not have to survive a world war and 60 years of kicking around etc.

Great looking u-boat clasp

Something to look out for when buying " u-boat " or KM leather clothing , if the cloth tag has the word " Baujahr " lncluded on the tag this is a museum quality reproduction ! The maker added this so a true collector would know that this was a repro . " Baujahr is NEVER used on clothing , this is incorrect German ! You can used " baujahr " for Tanks , cars , airplanes and buildings , but not on cloths . I have seen many U-boat leather items with this tag and they ranged from Fresh " never issued " to very aged " worn " . Watch out for the wear on these cloths , the wear in too even all over ... chemicals and some poker chips or walnut shells in a tumbler and in no time you have aged u-boat leather pants 60 years !

Hello, The grey leather pants and jackets, either long or short version were worn by BOTH the surface fleet and U-boats , there was no difference in leather outfits . The black leather pants and jackets were pre war and was replaced by the grey leathers sometime in 1941 , the black leather outfit was still worn by those that already had them till the end of the war . Watch out ! these leatherpants and jackets are heavily reproduced and are museum quality with the only difference is the grey color is too greenish looking . There is a reason there are more grey leather jackets and pants then there were u-boat crews at the end of the war is that the post war German land police had a very similar leather outfit ! The market is flooded with these late 50's early 60's jackets with real or reproduced gold KM buttons attached , this is why so many dealers said the threads rotted off and the buttond had to be sewn back on ! A lot of these jackets did not have the leather wrist straps on the cuffs and the length is different on the longer version jacket and most do not have the strap along the back of the waist on the back of the jacket .

Hello, I do not have a good feeling on this u-boat badge . This badge is very heavily reproduced and this badge has nice details but still looks like a very good casting to me , the details are not sharp and crisp like the originals that I have seen in the past . The age patina looks odd, as it looks like good aging through chemicals ! This looks like a very good chemically treated repro in my humble opinion .

Hello , What bothers me the most about this hat is the side emblems ! This hat looks very well worn such as the gold eagle and cockade but the side emblems , which just so happens to increase the value of a hat if it can be pinned to a certain u-boat number looks brand new and just added to this hat ! I see no traces of age or wear on any of the side emblems . Even if the sheild was made from white plastic it should have yellowed or show some cracking as is so common with plastics of this era . To me , in my humble opi8nion they stick out like a sore thumb ! They just do not seem to have aged like the rest of the hat , this is just my 2 cents worth .

Hello, Besides collecting German Dr?ger tauchretters I collect books on German U-boats , I now have 953 books printed from 1914 to 2006 ! In all of those books , plus my 40 years of collecting TR militaria I have never seen a picture of a jacket that looks exactly like this . I do not have a good feeling on it . I feel this is some old military jacket with KM buttons on it . The market is even flooded with repro Km gold buttons these days ! At first U-boat crews used captured Britsh battle dress with their own buttons attached then they produced their own version , this looks like neither of the two ! My money is hard earned and if it is not shown in any war time picture I tend to stay away from it . It may be an original military jacket and it may be old but I do not think it is pre May 8th 1945 German Made , in my humble opinion !

Hello Paul, As a collector of TR items for nearly 40 years I do not have a good feeling on these tabs . The tab looks too new compaired to the metal death's head , one would expect some of the oxidation of the metal to be on the white cloth . I do not like the metal death's head as it looks like the head and prongs are stamped from one piece of metal and the prongs bent over , I have seen this too many times on repro death's head emblems . The tab it's self just looks too new and looks to have never been sewn on a tunic or worn for that matter ! I would be very wary of any item that is over 60 years old and still looks new . Also , if the head was replaced at some time you should see a strong impression in the cloth from the original head and the prong holes would indicate the addition of this new head . The tab shown here has some form of tape over the prongs which I have never seen on originals and most heads had prongs in further which would make a noticible set of holes in the backing cloth . I see no indication that this was sewn on a tunic , you would still see the threads or at least the needle holes . This is just my humble opinion !

<!--quoteo(post=77123:date=May 4 2006, 09:26 :name=Hinrik)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Hinrik @ May 4 2006, 09:26 ) ←</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--> Interesting photos. Looks like 3 different type of colors in picture 4. Regards Hinrik <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> Hello Henrik, It does look like 3 very different colors but I think the man on the right is standing under a waterproof light which is reflecting off of the yellow canvas tauchretter vest . It is very hard to determine the exact shade of color as these vests used for training were worn by many , many men and worn and faded from constant submerging in water etc. Most tauchretters never left there storeage bag and went to the bottom with their owners or if they were used it was used only once to escape from the sinking/sunk u-boat ! I have both the brown and yellow colored canvas tauchretters and they all seem to be different shades . The brown color can vary between a chocolate brown ( found mostly on Auer made tauchretters ) to a brownish purple/rust color , a strange brown color for want of a better color description ! ( I have found this on many Dräger made tauchretters ) . Like most items made by Germany during WWII there are many variations due to war time demands and supplyers .

wow ! Great pictures I have many pictures of tauchretter training , can someone tell me how to post pictures on this site ? Best Regards, Joe

Hello , Floris is correct that these goggles are not used with the tauchretter . I call these goggles general purpose dust and sun goggles and I have pictures of them being used by Flak gunner crews and regular army troops hanging around their necks or strapped around their helmets . The goggles you show here look very nice and look like an original war time Auer item . These goggles are not water or pressure proof ! Original tauchretter goggles are very low volumn meaning that they rest very , very close to the wearer's eyes and there is little air space between them and the glass lens. You find these on ebay all of the listed as u-boat and or tauchretter goggles . I do not know how to post a picture of an original pair of tauchretter goggles for you to compair with your goggles so if you would please visit my website you will see both original and so-called " original tauchretter goggles " sold on ebay http://joe-tauchretter.tripod.com/

Hello ! You may e-mail me at jbrandt1@optonline.net Thank you for asking about that small black web strap with a metal snap clip on it . The only thing I could think it is used for is a safety clip for the U shaped spring clip that closes the bottom of the bag . I doubt this as you could still slide the clip nearly half way over to the other side and allowing water to fill the bag . Once any water reaches the the Co2 scrubber material it would be ruined . The clip is too small to attach to anything , it is only big enough to clip around the wire loops at the bottom of the bag . It does not seem practical to clip the goggles to it .

I feel this is a reproduction as The detail to me looks not quite as crisp as most originals that I have seen . I have seen that thick, flat edge on the back on reproductions . This cannot be a KM item as few , if any KM item had the RZM mark on it , that was NSDAP party , SS etc.

<!--quoteo(post=74063:date=Apr 25 2006, 14:48 :name=Hinrik)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Hinrik @ Apr 25 2006, 14:48 ) ←</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--> Monsun, Do you have any wartimne photos that show the word "Tauchretter" on the front? I have a nice tauchretter in my collection, but there seams to be a question if its post war due to the style of "a" in the letter writing. Here is a photo of mine: Micheal, still waiting to hear from you. <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> The face of a tauchretter bag may say nothing or it could be stamped Tauchretter ot Tauch-Gerät or kleintauchgerät or sometimes just a numeral such as 5 . Below the name would be work order number . I have never noticed a different " a " from war time to post war tauchretter's , but ! there is a difference in spelling on the Co2 scrubber can , war time can has the name DRAEGER and post war cans are spelled DRÄGER . I have never seen a real war time scrubber can spelled with an umlaut stamped on the top and bottom portion of the can . Also war time cans are stamped steel and every post war can I have seen and or in my collection are from brass .

Hello to my fellow tauchretter collectors ! Wow is all I have to say , great pictures of tauchretters . I would love it if everyone could please send me some more pictures of their tauchretters so I could put them on my website . I would like to devote a whole section of my website to all of the known tauchretters still around in the world . I own 9 pre 1945 tauchretters and 3 post war and I think more shown of other collections would help other fellow collectors .