Gordon Craig

[attachmentid=54876]Dan, Just learning to post pictures on the board and that last one didn't work so well. The other book I wanted to tell you about was.

[attachmentid=54875]Dan, The badge you do not know the name of is called the Aktivist der Sozialistischen Arbeit. It was instituted on 28.07.1969. To help learn more about DDR badges and medals I would suggest you acquire the following two books;

Dan, The hat would add about $15.00 to the cost of the uniform. Displaying the tunic on a manequin without pants you could put a black belt on it. The best ribbon to put on this tunic would be the second one from the top. Medals could be worn to match the ribbon bar. For normal service wear IE with the black belt, a blue shirt and blue tie would be sorn. For dress occassion a white shirt and blue tie. Price of shirts and ties are unknown to me. I have never bought any. I use old shirt of my own most of the time. Hard to know just what you will get when you order a shirt or tie from ebay etc. Making holes in the tunic to add screw back badges is an individual choice and I'll have to leave that up to you to decide for yourself. I don't have an answer for aiguilletes for this unit. Shooting cords might have been worn but I have never researched that particular aspect. Regards, Gordon

Dan, The price I quoted was for the tunic and excludes the hat. As far as I know, standard TRAPO pants would work ok with this tunic. You can add pants if you wish but it would not necessarily increase the price of the uniform beyond what the pants cost you. I always like to have shirts and ties with my uniforms but that is not always possible. A side cap would be a part of the regular uniform. If you displayed this tunic with trousers no belt would be worn. If it was displayed with breeches and boots the black belt would be worn. To me, labels, indicating an unissued uniform, detract from the effect and I would not leave the label on the tunic if I were going to display it. Labels do not add to the price of a tunic. Just the opposite. Most collectors prefer to have uinforms that were issued and look a bit used. Makes them more authentic. With this tunic, as rare as they are, it wouldn't hurt at all to remove the label. I don't know about adding thread loops. Unless as you say, you remove them later. I have a few uniforms that have thread loops on them but they are very early uniforms and the thread loops were original to the tunic. Regards, Gordon

Dan, Yes your uniform is from the special unit and is an enlisted mans uniform. The rank is for Wachmeister. This particular tunic is now bringing about five times what you paid for the whole lot. Cheers, Gordon

Hauptman, Sorry, but I should have been clearer in my remarks about collar tab piping. Lets start with your uniforms, the first one you posted, and go from there. Your first uniform is for the "MdI u. Kompanien der Transportpolizei". This was a special group for rapid deployment for major incidents. They wore the blue piped cloth collar tabs as shown on your uniform. These uniforms are getting much harder to get and have gone up in price considerably lately. It was made in the first quarter of 1980. The flight collar tabs follow air force regs are are silver pipped for officers unpiped for EM. On the regular TRAPO uniforms, with the metal collar tabs, standard police practice is followed. Enlisted men will have collar tabs with a single strand of twisted fibre in the centre while officers will have a double strand of twisted fibre. The rank on the two officers uniforms are for Unterleutnant and Hauptman. I'll have to take a closer look at your ribbon bars before I suggest what you could put on what uniform. Regards, Gordon

Paul R and Hauptman, The piping around the collar tabs was for officers. Very nice to have both an EM and an Officers tunic for the Haubschreiber. You don't need sleeve chevrons to put a long servcie ribbon bar on a TRAPO uniform. The sleeve chevrons were discontinued some time before the demise of the DDR. Regards, Gordon

Kevin, Glad to hear that you are going to be able to display your DDR collection in your own room. It really hurt me to put most of my stuff into storage and we have no room for a display here in Budapest. Looking forward to seeing your room once it is set up. Cheers, Gordon

Gents, Thanks for resolving a question that I have abot a tunic in my colletion. I bought a uniform to a senior member of the DAF Werkscharen at The MAX several years ago. On the wearer's left breast, at the botom of the pocket, there was a set of award loops that fit a WWI wound badge perfectly and above that a buttonhole type hole exactly the same as the one shown in the political tunic in this post. I have always been unable to figure out what type of badge would have been worn there. Now I think that I know. Unfortunately, I can not post a picture of the tunic as I have just put the majority of my colection into storage. Regards, Gordon

Kev, Thanks for all the info on this award. I have never seen such a complete explanation of the bars for this medal before. It is very helpful. Regards, Gordon

Master3477, Thanks for posting the uniform pictures and the info on them. Very useful stuff. Regards, Gordon

Gent, Interesting thread. Two points of view here. What is the rarest medal that one could actually have some hope of adding to their collection versus the rarest medal issued. The Bluecher is certainly one of the rarest and I would like to add one to my collection but they have recently been heavily faked so one needs to tread carefully. As for the medal issued that one could hope to acquire as an authentic one, complete with Urkunde etc, I would vote for the Scharnhorst Orden. I have recently been offered a cased one, complete with Urkunde, for 2000 Euros and am consideriing buying it. I would say $3000.00 for a KMO would be a bit high unless it was for one of the first numbered issued types. A gold content marked KMO, complete with Urkunde etc, should run no more tahn $2000.00 to $2500.00. Regards, Gordon

Grant, I believe the uniforms with the bullion accessories were used for parade purposes. I have a number of this type of uniform but can not post pictures as they are all in storage because I am in the process of moving to Budapest for three years. The regular woven accessories appear to be for regular service use. I look forward to seeing the uniform when the the ribbon bar has been sewn back on. A very nice set. Regards, Gordon

Kevin, The green "waffenfarbe" on the shoulderboards and collar tabs is for the Panzer Grenadiers. The arm shield indicates the wearer is posted to a headquarters unit. The arm shield often indicates quite a lot of info on the assigned unit but that is all I can say at the moment as my reference books haven't been delivered to my new apartment yet. The ribbon bar loops on the left breast indicates the wearer was in the Wehrmacht so the tunic probably dates from the late fifties early 60s. Regards, Gordon