WWII German SS Belt Buckle Find

[KILLER Tn]

I found this out in a field where an old house was . I was shocked to find this , and didn't realize what it was until I got home and washed the dirt off .

 

[McClod]

Amazing find!!! Looks silver! Congrats!

 

[Gridwalker306]

That's crazy, cool find

 

[Goldiver]

Excellent find! Appears to be nickel plated judging from your photo. Nickel plated ones tend to be more valuable. Can we see a photo of the back? Any makers marks on the back?

Steve

 

[Westfront]

Excellent find! Appears to be nickel plated judging from your photo. Nickel plated ones tend to be more valuable. Can we see a photo of the back? Any makers marks on the back?

Steve

Agree, makers mark will help a lot. I think it's aluminum. Pretty sure on this.

 

[against the wind]

Very cool find
Probably a souvenir, brought home by a returning service man.
Congrats

 

[trapperart]

Very nice find congrats

 

[Subterranean]

Very cool find
Probably a souvenir, brought home by a returning service man.
Congrats

True ATW, or there was a German POW camp nearby! Sub

 

[46Wheat]

That's a cool find

 

[Westfront]

True ATW, or there was a German POW camp nearby! Sub

I don't think any German POW had his buckle with him in a camp, Sub. Usually all badges, buttons and so on had to be removed. I detected a couple disarming places here and the finds were stunning. This buckle was a souvenir for sure.

 

[diggummup]

Nice find and correct ID also. I would be interested to know the maker of the buckle. There should be some numbers/letters on the backside that will help identify this. What are they?

 

[Westfront]

These markings can be very difficult to see. Here is one out of my collection to show where to look. It's also the nickel plated version.

Left in the circle is RZM for ReichsZeugMeisterei. In the middle the runes and right the number.

 

[KILLER Tn]

822/38 RZM is on the back , I just found this a few days ago in a field, where corn or soybeans are usually planted . I found a map of the area yesterday that shows a house and probably a barn in the spot where I dug the buckle . There was an old road that once passed by this old home place , and now the only sign of anything ever being there is broken pottery , glass and brick . According to the map the picture of the house was back in 1950 , and the land owner said he never knew a house was ever there , and he has owned that property for many years .

 

[Aquila]

cool find

 

[Worm-Slicer]

Finding one of those here in the U.S. must be more rare than finding a Confederate plate!

 

[Westfront]

822/38 RZM is on the back....

822/38 RZM is Aluminum for enlisted men and lower rank commanders. Here's an auction link for one in (almost) mint condition:
Hermann Historica - Internationales Auktionshaus für Antiken, Alte Waffen, Orden und Ehrenzeichen, Historische Sammlungsstücke

 

[romeo-1]

Don't see those everyday!

 

[Goldiver]

Here is one listed for sale, posting as another example. SS Belt Buckle RZM 822/38 C.T. Dicke - Aluminum WWII (item #1278685)

 

[NOLA_Ken]

Cool find.... As to how it got there, most people don't realize that that kind of thing didn't become particularly valuable until many years after the war. Kids played with dads war souvenirs and lost quite a lot of them I'm sure. When we were kids I remember my friend up the street had a real German helmet that he brought out for our neighborhood war games. (I had a pretty good set of American gear and singlehandedly defeated the Nazis several times) I'm pretty sure there are dummy grenades and a couple bayonets somewhere lost in that neighborhood still....

Anyway, that's my main theory on how these things turn up in strange places, of course it could have just been lost when the house was torn down too