Gary B

Dear Hardy, There were, I believe around 4-6 of the specialty patches that were authorized the gold cord. Some insignia will be seen with a gold cord, such as the Flak crew patch, but there was no authorization/order for such modifications to the basic sleeve insignia. Most likely these were unofficial modifications/pieces added by the recipient or some entrepreneurial tailor/business. Although I do not have my references here with me, I recall the gold cords for the drivers and Air technical patch were for "meritorious performance of duty". What that entails is unknown to me. I would imagine for the driver patch it would entail so many miles or months of accident free driving or maintaining a vechicle in operable condition. Probably something similar for the Air Technical patch, although I really dont know what an Air technical patch is for...maintenence personnel? The directional finding Flak insignia and sound location Flak insgina were also authorized the gold cord after 1 year of service in those positions or for particpation of downing of an aircraft (a little more concrete criteria). Hope this helped. Gary B

Dear Hardy, Correct, the citations were only given for the "awarding" of the gold twist piping which denoted meritorious/exemplary service within that particular specialty. Not all sleeve qulaification insignia were authorized gold twist piping. Gary B

Hi, Just thought I would post this interesting photo. Note the GAB worn by this Luft official. Gary B

Hi, Just thought I would post this specialty badge. Although the insignia pictured is somewhat common the document is unusual. Gary B

You just had duty last week...... Looking forward to your new tabs being posted. GAry B

Musikmeister, Flak

Major, Judicial

Obersleutnant, Medical

Hauptmann, Admin (Medium Career)

Leutnant, Admin (Medium Career)

Hauptmann, Engineer This tab completes my collection of this series from Leutnant to the Generalmajor eqiovalent.

Oberleutnant, Flight (Greek Made)

A few more tans that I picked up at this year's SOS. 1st up is Major, Reserve Signal

Hi, Rick and Larry are correct, these are DRK tabs which have a pair of gulls embroidered on them. I should have been clearer in my original posting. This is a picture I was shown which was identified as a cadet at a medical academy. I believe the picture itself to be a post war photo (East German??) but note the "A" cypher on the shoulder strap and elongated collar tab with single metal gull. I believe the identification of the posted tabs was based in part on this picture. If I recall correctly many post war DDR rank insignia were based off of Third Reich era tabs but used metal gulls. Opinions? Gary B

And finally tailor made....

Field made!

Italian

Greek

French

Last one

Dear John, So you were the guy who purchased these! Congrats! A very nice set of tabs. I had been watching these for quite some time and had contemplated buying them but, obviously, waited too long. At least they are in a good collection/home. As I understand it a hoard of the T&S house master samples was found some time ago. Most of the "main stream" insignia went into a/some personal collection(s) never to see the light of day, but some of the items made their way to dealer sites. Most of the T&S house master sample insignia you see for sale these days are Navy sleeve rank/ratings, cap insignia, Heer collar tabs, waffenrock litzen etc. A few General officer cockades/wreath sets came on the market a few years ago but that has been about it. I believe Gottlieb has a pair of Navy Chaplain T&S insignia on display in his Gallery section. Up until recently I did not know the breadth/number of T&S insignia that were originally made. From what I saw on the market I made the assumption that T&S made house master samples for ALL cloth insignia but I was unable to really verifiy this. Recently I was able to see pictures of a collection of house master samples which verfiried my assumption that T&S most likely made samples of almost all insingia. Where all of the samples are now I do not know, but one thing is certain, each house master sample is unique, since there is only 1 pattern per rank/insignia. I believe T&S is still in business although they are not involved in cloth insignia. Please add these to the gallery/data base section. (here are my 2) Gary B

Rvs

Hi, Here is an interesting set of tabs I just picked up. Comments/discussion welcome. They are thought to be Cadet tabs for Doctors attending the Medical Academy. Gray base is the same as are seen on red cross tabs. Gulls are embroidered in dark gray thread. (from the Petersen collection) Gary B

Hi, I tend to agree that these are repro. The gull embroidery is not what I like to see and the shape of that tabs are more rectangular than rhomboidal. Additionally, for as dirty as the white badge cloth is the gilt bullion is pretty sparkly. Gary B

Hi, I hope this works. I am attaching a scan of my Medical Reserve tabs I pulled from the Gallery section. Gary B