$295.00
Condition: Excellent ++ / Near Mint
Material: Wool
In stock
Product Description: This is a textbook, unissued example of the SS Handschar Division Collar Tab, intended for wear by members of the 13. Waffen-Gebirgs-Division der SS “Handschar” (1st Croatian)—the first non-Germanic foreign volunteer division of the Waffen-SS. Unlike their Germanic counterparts, these men were not authorized to wear the traditional SS runes, instead bearing this distinctive divisional emblem on their right collar patch. Executed in silver-grey thread on a field of deep black SS wool, the design depicts a stylized arm brandishing a sword above a swastika, the emblem of the Handschar Division. This late-war variant is of the classic “Dachau” construction, as discovered in the SS clothing depot at Dachau upon liberation by U.S. forces in 1945, and features the coarse tan buckram stiffener and characteristic white double stitching on the reverse, exactly as encountered on untouched Dachau stock. Pristine in appearance and free from wear, this is an outstanding representative of foreign volunteer SS insignia condition is excellent ++/near mint condition.
Historical Description: Regulations for the SS Collar Tab went through quite an evolution in just a short 16 year period. The first SS Collar Tabs were introduced in 1929 by Heinrich Himmler as part of the newly introduced SS uniform code. Initially, tabs were worn by both lower rank SS men and their senior leaders. Lower ranks would wear a rank tab as well as a numbered unit identification tab, with senior leaders wearing their rank tabs on both collars. In 1933 the well known “SS” runic tab was adopted by Hitler’s personal body guard detachment, the “Leibstandarte” or “LAH”. The LAH used this runic tab in lieu of the numerical unit identification tab to identify them as members of the elite unit protecting the “Führer”. In 1934 the runic “SS” tabs were again adopted for use by the early “SS-VT” units. This adoption eventually led to the wide spread use of SS runic tabs by German Divisions; the later non-German volunteer units would not be permitted to wear the runes, and bore their own unit designed patch instead. SS Collar tabs can be found in an extraordinary variety of numbers, designs, and pipings depending on unit and rank, from hand-embroidered tabs worn by officers to mass produced embroidered and machine woven types that were used on combat uniforms.
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