113SO3 - SS Totenkopfring (Honor Ring) awarded to SS Untersturmfuhrer Hendrik Wilhelm van Etten SS Ausweis # 62939 dated 9/11/42. SS Totenkopfrings awarded to non-German volunteers in the Waffen SS are extremely rare. This SS Totenkopfring shows excellent detail in the skull and runic panels. The background stippling is also evident in the panels. The ring exhibits die flaw characteristics evident in authentic Totenkopf rings. The joiner seam is apparent beneath the original silver solder on the interior behind the skull. This ring is a medium to large size ( about 10.5). The engraving is typical of what is encountered in a 1940's style ring. The ring comes with a number of reproduced documents of Waffen SS Untersturmfuhrer van Etten's service. Hendrik Wilhelm van Etten (a Dutch national) was born 17.5.1916 in Amsterdam, Holland. He volunteered for service in the Germanische-SS Niederlande in 1941. Included in the documents is reference to Feldpost # 16284 in 1942 according to the research. The number 16284 is associated with the staff of the SS War Correspondents Kompanie/SS Panzer Grenadier Division "WIKING" where Untersturmfuhrer van Etten served as a war correspondent. The ring comes with Certificate of Authenticity from Don Boyle author of "SS Totenkopfring H. Himmler Honor Ring 1933-1945", published by IMAGE GRAPHICS , INC. 1993,1994, 1995.Copyright Don Boyle. $11,000. More Photos

101SO2 - SS Dachau Concentration Camp tunic of Hauptscharfuhrer Walter Miltsch. Witness to one of history's darkest episodes, this SS tunic is perhaps the only surviving example named to a concentration camp guard. Privately tailored, it corresponds in appearance to the Model 1935 standard army tunic which the SS adopted in March 1938. It is fully lined, an upgrade characteristic of private purchase uniforms for commissioned officers and senior NCOs. The liner fabric is light brown, rayon faux satin. Another feature of this tailor-made tunic is the inside button-down pocket on the right side. Below the opening is sewn the name tag reading, " Miltsch W. "

The tunic itself is cut from wool gabardine of officer's quality. Each sleeve has three vertical seams. The use of three vertical panels to form a sleeve instead of a single, broader length of material suggests that only a partial bolt may have been available. Enlisted grade wool was in supply at SS clothing depots, which were often established at concentration camps. Higher quality gabardine however, would likely be scarcer at these rural facilities. The non-regulation construction of the garment may indicate that the tailor was an inmate who customized the uniform according to available resources and his or her visual perception of the Model 1935's physical characteristics. This tunic has a custom tailored collar liner.

Though the surface of the fabric shows mothing, the striking insignia greatly enhances the tunic's overall appearance. The hand-sewn, right collar tab features a horizontal skull wrought in hand-embroidered aluminum wire. The left side rank tab indicates the rank of Hauptscharfuhrer (SS master sergeant). Upon Miltsch's promotion the tab was lifted to add a vertical Litzen strip and then sewn back down. The hand-sewn sleeve eagle is an officer's aluminum flatwire; like the skull tab a private purchase upgrade. The dark green wool felt collar and shoulder straps display the machine sewn silver tresse denoting sergeant's rank.

The matching shoulder straps with black underlay are textbook SS. They are bordered with extremely rare copper-brown waffenfarbe, the service branch color for concentration camp staff. The matching pebbled aluminum buttons are field gray and are all stamped "RZM/SS" on the reverse. Hand-sewn on the right sleeve is the silver-and-black SS Ehrenwinkel, "Old Fighters" chevron which individuals affiliated with the NSDAP prior to January 30, 1933, were authorized to wear. On the lower sleeve is also the dark green wool felt army specialty patch for Oberschirrmeister, or technical sergeant in the motor pool. It indicates the wearer was a senior mechanic and/or driver. "Ref. Cloth Insignia of the SS, by LTC. (Ret.) John R. Angolia Assisted by Stan Cook, Roger James Bender Publishing, Copyright 1983, pp. 432". Qualified SS personnel initially wore army trade patches on their uniforms. The style for Oberschirrmeister is one of the few patterns bordered in silver thread instead of white cotton. The upper left side of the tunic has three loops for a ribbon bar. There are two sets of loops for metal decorations below the pocket flap.

The grouping includes photocopies of original documents from Walter Miltsch's SS personnel file. They list details of his career such as postings, awards and performance evaluation. He was born near Rosenheim in the Bavarian Alps in 1909. Miltsch enlisted in the SA, the brown-shirted para-military organization that protected speakers and kept order at NSDAP assemblies, in November 1927. He transferred to the SS in 1936. Miltsch was posted to Dachau concentration camp where he was responsible for the transportation of inmates to Hartheim Castle where they were executed under the T4 euthenasia program in 1941. Later, Hauptscharfuhrer Miltsch was posted to Konzentrationslager Mauthausen. He survived the war. During the post-war period Miltsch was both a defendant and prosecution witness at war crimes trials of former SS personnel.

A veteran of a U.S. armored division brought Miltsch's tunic home as a war souvenir. Eventually, the veteran sold the tunic to a collector who owned it for the next 35 years. The Miltsch tunic is accompanied by both provenance (an uninterrupted trail of private ownership from the war years until today) and supporting documentation connecting the artifact to the original wearer and period of manufacture. Very few SS tunics of any branch offer both criteria of authenticity. This rare SS concentration camp tunic is completely original and unaltered since the war.$24,900. More Photos