A Stitch-In-Time

 Germania Cufftitle

Fresh-To-Market

Impeccable Family Provenance

1938 To Date

The provenance to this cuff title is truly exceptional; it is the story of a Danish-German volunteer who joined the SS before the war, and was killed in action in 1943, a mother committed to her son, and a sewing box full of secrets.

Germania OR/NCO RZM machine-embroidered cuff title. Off white machine-embroidered gothic letters on black with silver-aluminium (seven strand) upper- and lower  borders. Machined ends (typical for this cuff title). RZM/ SS black silk label machined to one end confirming  a 1937 manufacture-date.

Condition report: Removed from a tunic cuff/sleeve. Showing some general service wear. One end shortened to fit to sleeve. The cut section retained by the family, and included in the sale. Total length including remnant, 46.0cm thereabouts.

Provenance: The Germania cufftitle being the property of the family by descent (the original owner,  a member of the Germania Regiment). The cuff title consigned by the family to Ulric of England, and offered for sale for the first time. The sale includes  a formal provenance document from the Vendor, detailing the cufftitle and family history, plus  two photograph [copies] showing  Kristen Schmidt, the original owner,  in Waffen-SS uniform.

Background to the provenance: Kristen Schmidt; of German/Danish origin, joined Regiment Germania in 1938. It is believed his mother stitched the insignia on his tunic for him. In the course of sewing the cufftitle to the tunic, Schmidt's mother cut-away a section from the main cuff title body (to enable it to fit to the tunic), and placed the remnant in her sewing box.

When Kristen Schmidt joined Wiking in 1941, his mother removed the Germania cuff title from the tunic, (placed it in her sewing box alongside the remnant), and stitched the  Wiking cuff title to the tunic.

Schmidt was killed on the Russian Front in 1943.

Schmidt's mother died in 1969. The Germania cuff title and the remnant  remained in her sewing box until her death in 1969; her possessions, including the cuff title and remnant,  inherited by Kristen Schmidt's brother, and subsequently to the current family member.