landsknechte

How much would these typically go for?

Therein lies the rub... Do you actually want to give this *@^*$@ your money? Been there, done that. I got in early on the wave of Danzig Cross ribbon bars he started pumping out, before it became quite so obvious that they were bogus.

Cool... Thanks!

Imagine this exact tab, but instead of the red, there's grass green in it's place: Schutzpolizei NCO, or something else? Thanks, --Chris

...and the reverse:

Went back today and grabbed one of the two that they had on offer. One was identical to the original picture that I posted, but I ended up getting the gold one instead:

Found a website that deals with Polizei shoulderboards a bit, and found a pic of the identical shoulderboard. The example I was looking at didn't have any devices attached, but is otherwise identical. The site concurs that it's Bahnschutzpolizei. --Chris

...oh, and by the way, the darker color in the center part of the braid is dark brown, not black.

I picked these up for a song, and I rather suspect that they're probably East German. Nevertheless, I'm a rank newbie when it comes to shouldboards, so I thought I'd run them past the collective wisdom of the group. Are they Third Reich Schutzpolizei (and if so, what rank), or are they East German? For what it's worth, there's a little bit of the white material underneath the silver braid that's visible, and it doesn't glow under blacklight.

Does gold versus silver make a difference?

I wonder if that isn't the trademark of some outfitter in Hohenzollern.

Interesting... The only bar that I've got that's stiched up with heavy red thread:

Huh.... For whatever reason, they definately slapped silver ones on this bar.

Just on a lark, since the mini-EK device is so heavily Saxon in flavor, would that help in any way to narrow it down?

Never really thought about this before, until picking up a bar with a OZL with silver swords. Do silver swords on a Z?hringer L?wen indicate a 2nd Class award, and gold swords a 1st Class? --Chris

If the L-shaped bit of ribbon was a pale gold color, but otherwise identical, what would this represent and how much should I expect to spend on it:

Okay, maybe not grumbling per se. Commenting on my unhealthy fixation with the ID of this ribbon, perhaps.

"somethinortheother" - I think that's the St. Alexander The blue and yellow ribbon in front of it looks like the Austrian Order of the Iron Crown, although I don't know enough about it to know if it's plausable.

AHA! I knew being stuck home after having wisdom teeth pulled would have some small benefit. Answered my own question. Apparently a SA-Sturmf?hrer from Gruppe Niederrhein.

....and, I just found this pic. One of the local surplus shops has an identical example:

Come to think of it, there is one that has had me scratching my head. I'll try my best to describe it in a halfway coherent fashion: Imagine the U shaped pattern of the Russian braid on your typical Leutnant shoulderboard. Instead of the Russian braid, there is a braid that looks more like the way that rope is twisted. Each strand is maybe 3mm wide, and made of some sort of silky looking white material. I couldn't see any evidence of pips or devices having been present. The backing is a pale gray, more sidewalk gray than feldgrau. Remnants of a RZM tag are present, with the printing on the tag in gray instead of the more typical black. I've had trouble finding anything even vaguely similar to this to reference it to. Something DRK perhaps? --Chris

Haven't actually got anything in hand, and I like to have some clue what I'm purchasing in advance of the purchase. Whatever that purchase might be.

Does anyone who specializes in Polizei and similar such organizations have any good links that they might be able to share that would help a casual "outsider" have some sort of clue what they might have stumbled across, when they find shoulderboards and the like that are outside of the standard Heer / Kriegsmarine / Luftwaffe? Thanks, --Chris

This particular photograph is a Third Reich era Schutzpolizei shoulder board: Were there any shouldboards put out later by East Germany that would have looked the same (at least superficially)? Thanks, --Chris

I don't think I even had that one long enough to have taken my own photograph of it.