I wanted to share with the community an IJA ID booklet I recently added to my collection. Once belonging to a member of the IJAAF in the 11th Flying/Training Unit under the Gifu Air Division, this booklet has the soldier qualified in airplane guages/instruments. Qualification entries in these booklets can be quite varied, and air unit examples seem to have particularly interesting ones. I have another air unit example with a photography qualification. Infantry based qualifications include radio operators, dog handlers, buglers, wagoneers, the list goes on. Feel free to post examples of qualification entries from your collection. I would be interested in seeing other examples. Thanks for looking.

Tom

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Does the earlier cap insignia command a premium over late war insignia or vice versu.I know cond. is a factor.I have 600.00 in these 2,have prices went down on them or held their value.I know some third reich stuff has taken a hit as compaired to a few years ago.

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Gents,

Here is another recently purchased piece that is unmarked and I have perused many of the other examples and could this piece have a replaced catch? Or, is a variant Duemer? I thank anyone in the know to chime in. I’m in uncharted waters. Thank you!

Joel

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Gents,

I must confess I have never purchased anything related to the SS until now. I certainly have had opportunities over the years and each time I held the item I either felt unsure of its authenticity or didn’t want to spend a lot of money making me think back to the uneasy feeling of the item that I had in the first place. So the cycle of apprehension as I call it steered me away from collecting SS items.
Until now….

I must say that when I entered this antique store I had an almost sixth sense of knowing I was going to find something of interest and low and behold saw this buckle. I was certainly cautious enough to ask the shop keep if I may be able to take a few pictures and excuse myself and went outside to perform my due diligence and research the buckle within our Forum. With spotty cell phone connection and not much time to look over a few other examples I decided to go out on the limb and post it as a presumptive fake. Low and behold, and just a short time later, Ben Evans had instructed me that it actually is an original unmarked Overhoff and Cie! (Thank you again, Ben!)

So after hearing the verdict that the buckle was an original I started to sweat and was fumbling for the phone number of the shop to try and immediately secure the item. Of course, the shop was closed. So, waiting another 24 long hours, I was able to contact the shopkeep and she had confirmed that the item was still available. And so today I was once again able to make the trip and welcome this item into my buckle case.

Thanks to all who make this Forum great!

Joel

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Hello!

I recently bought a pair of (what seems to be) SS officer collar tabs. Although, there has been a bit of debate whether they’re real or fake - people say different things - and judging by myself, the stitching and general construction of the tabs is questionable. Although, there is some indication of aging on the tabs, as well as the backing appears to have been replaced. There are also four small holes on the back of the blank tab indicating there could’ve been pips. I paid a lot for these, could someone please help me out?

Thanks!!

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I’ve had this book for several years and thought that I’d post it. I saw that Nick Komiya mentioned it in a post not too long ago I believe and that’s what brought it to mind. I think that it translates as “The Secret of Japanese Force.” It is a late war (1944) German publication about Japanese culture and the Japanese armed forces. I do not speak or read German (or Japanese) but the photos are interesting (taken early in the war or pre-war period?). The image on the cover is particularly striking to me and makes it one of my favorites books. Thanks for looking.

Tom

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A few sets of shoulder boards recently acquired. Click on pictures to enlarge.

Cheers,
Steve

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