Rare Two Piece HJ Buckle

Product Description: This rare Two Piece HJ Buckle is an extremely desirable and very hard to find variant. The body of the buckle is made of nickel plated brass, with a nickel plated steel Hitlerjugend roundel soldered to the front. The roundel shows full original detail, and intact bright plating. A very small amount of surface rust is peeking through the plated surface on the roundel. The obverse of this buckle shows only minimal wear, with fully intact plating on the brass box. The reverse of this rare Two Piece HJ Buckle has an integral catch and a plated steel roller bar and prongs assembly. It’s complete and sound, with no issues. Some light wear to the plating on the catch shows that this was worn on a belt. It’s marked near the catch with the round “RZM’ logo as well as the maker code “M/4/27” indicating manufacture by the firm of Overhoff & Cie. The two solder joints on the reverse are all-original, and there are no repairs and no damage to this seldom-encountered buckle. This is a nice example of this type, which is missing from most collections. The condition rates as excellent.

Historical Description: The belt buckle was an important part of the regalia worn by all uniformed military, civil, political, and paramilitary organizations during the Third Reich. The belt (“Koppel”) was part of the uniform and would always be worn while on duty. The belt buckle (“Koppelschloss”) was generally specific to each organization, with many organizations having separate belt buckles for officers and for enlisted personnel, sometimes with different colors and finishes to further denote specific purposes. The buckles were adorned with various mottos and designs specific to the organizations for which they were intended. Many designs used the German national eagle emblem, in a variety of forms. Belt buckles were worn with uniforms ranging from finely tailored officer parade uniforms, to the issue uniforms of enlisted soldiers in combat. Generally speaking, most German belt buckles of the Third Reich were made with two prongs on the reverse, to allow the buckle to be worn and adjusted on a belt. The buckle had a catch that would mate with a hook on the belt, when worn. The earliest Third Reich buckles were often made of brass, or nickel silver. Later, aluminum became very common, and was used on private purchase as well as enlisted buckles of the German military, with or without a painted or plated finish. After WWII began, most enlisted military buckles were steel. Nazi belt buckles were popular souvenirs for Allied troops who served in Europe. Some types were made by the millions and remain quite common today. Others were made in limited numbers and are very rare.

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