Help with Death's Head holster?

BAAC

BAAC

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Hey folks, I need some of your collective wisdom!

My father-in-law has given me this holster, and I was hoping I might get some info about it.

It's a Death's Head holster (embossing is barely visible in the photo). I'm wondering if anyone might know:

- the gun it usually contained
- what's missing from it (there is a small strap and buckle and then a pocket at the bottom on the outside)
- who usually carried it

I'm hoping it's a natural home for my Luger or P38, but I honestly don't know much about holsters. Especially from this era.

Thanks!

photo.jpg
 
Standard holster issued for the German WWII flare guns.

The Totenkopf.... My initial response is that some entrepreneurial sort added that well after the last shots were fired in an effort to increase the value of the item. That being said, I suppose it's possible.

As to whom carried it, NCO's, specialist troops, etc. The totenkopf, if genuine, could indicate either the Waffen-SS, or a Panzer crew.
 
could you take a few more photos please, of the back and a clearer one of just the embossed area, also need one with the flap fully raised.

It uses the type of closure like a P-38 however looks to long for that. How long is the holster anyway from top to bottom and side to side at the top.

Their is much controversy over the totenkopf insignia and you will find very few serious German collectors that will stick their neck out over the exact origin of the phrase "Death Head"
 
Thanks for those replies - very helpful. Here are a few more images:

photo3.jpg


photo1.jpg


photo2.jpg


It measures about 11 inches tall by 7 1/4 inches wide.
 
Tanis said:
Oh God... That's definitely a faked Totenkopf.

The holster is definitely for a flare gun.
Click to expand...

What kind of an idiot would go to the trouble to add it on later...? Sigh - I don't understand some people.

It makes sense that this would be a flare gun - the length alone suggests that it's not for a standard-issue pistol.
 
For the same reason that anyone would add SS markings onto any item. If it's SS, it automatically adds a rather sizable % onto the price tag over the same item that isn't marked.

Unfortunately, it's a very lucrative business, especially in Europe where they have access to original (or sometimes not) items. Add an SS mark, triple your money.
 
I would have preferred if they had left it alone...

However, I'm very happy I know what it is now. My father-in-law keeps coming across these things by accident. He once found a Ross Rifle bayonet in the scabbard (with frog) in the ceiling of a house he was renovating. I wish I had those sorts of happy accidents...
 
If friend Juster has some more neat pictures lying about, he might post one for us of General von Mackensen wearing that black fur helmet with the Totenkopf in silver across half the front of the thing.

Totenkopf does not always mean Schutzstaffel. It goes back much farther in German military history.

Mackensen, BTW, was commander of the Totenkopf Husaren..... in the FIRST World War: an ancient and highly-honoured regiment.

The symbol also was used by many irregular units, including several Freikorps units. a Totenkopf Feikorps unit was in when they took Berlin back from the Reds in 1919, as was another unit which used the Hakenkreuz. The NSDAP would not be founded for another year.

Just being a nuisance......
.

The word "swastika" originally is Sanskrit: "Sva-stikah": "good fortune". The German word is "Hakenkreuz": "Hooked Cross". In Northern mythology it has no connection with good fortune, but rather is a Pagan/Asa symbol representing Thor's Hammer "Mjolnir" ("Crusher") as it spins in the midst of a throw. "Thor" is proto-Norse for "Thunder" as is Old Germanic "Donar", now the name of one of Santa's reindeer.

So Sva-stikah to all CGNs!
.
 
Interesting tidbits about the totenkopf and the swastika. Didn't know about the WW1 usage of the totenkopf but the swastika has been around for centuries in Germany. I have seen a symbol on Chinese Mausers that looks like a swastika with the hooks pointing in the opposite direction, no idea what it means.
 
When they got busy counterfeiting the Mauser markings they didn't know what they were copying, it just looked good. Some have nonsense-ical marking but they looked right the the guy doing the marking.
 
A sidenote on "Death's Head" insignia;

The Totenkopf (death"s head) was used in 1759 by Colonel John Hale's "Hales Light Horses" a.k.a. 18th Regiment of Light Dragoons, with "Or GLory" banner (hence the "Death or Glory" motto), used in deference to James Wolfe's death on the Plains of Abraham, in the Battle of Quebec. The emblem was still in use in the 1990s by the 17th/21th Lancers Regiment.

In the French Revoultion (1792), Duke Francois Etienne Kellerman raised the short-lived "Hussards de la Mort" company, all dressed in black with the crossbones death head on the cap, using mottos; "To Deafeat or Die", "Liberty of Death" and "Live Free or Die".

Sweden also used the Totenlopf insignia for their Hussard companies.
 
smellie said:
..."Thor" is proto-Norse for "Thunder" as is Old Germanic "Donar", now the name of one of Santa's reindeer...
Click to expand...

Not many people know this, but the word "donar" traveled as far as Lebanon via the French, where it came to mean "log of meat of the Gods", as in "You want more onions on your donair?"

True story.

:D
 
Dark Alley Dan said:
Not many people know this, but the word "donar" traveled as far as Lebanon via the French, where it came to mean "log of meat of the Gods", as in "You want more onions on your donair?"

True story.

:D
Click to expand...

Funny thing, the Flatbread wrapped Döner (or Donair in English) as we know it today, was marketed heavily in 1970's-80's Germany, probably via Turkish immigrants, and became a super popular fast food there!

Best Döner (Donair) I ever had was in Gießen (Giessen) in the state of Hesse in Deutschland! ####in' A!

All the taste, none of the food poisoning!!! :D

There are very few Donair joints in Edmonton and area that I frequent though.... :puke:
 
Oh and.... on the subject of the Toten-Kopfs...

Anton Ludwig August von Mackensen
images
]


Princesses Cecile and Victoria
Austria: The crown Princess Ceclle, Colonel of the King Ferdinand III Dragoons and

Princess Victoria Louise, Colonel of the Death's Head Hussars in the uniforms of their respective regiments
hussar_3.jpg


The Queens Royal Lancers
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queensoenrlancers.jpg


And for some comedic relief.... :p

[youtube]a0YNLLjGh3Y[/youtube]

Cheers! :cheers:
 
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