early east german militaria

[tony james]

although i've been collecting third reich militaria for 30 years i've branched off in the early 80's collecting american viet nam militaria and started collecting east german army tunic's and hats etc. when the wall came down. i collect the early EG items from 1956 to 1966 when they wore whermacht style uniforms and the quiality is equal to ww2 standards(bouillion insignia and collar piped hats, etc.)the only problem is that militaria from this time period is very very hard to find. my question is are there any other east german militaria collectors that use this fourm? thanks

TONY

[Mike R]

although i am not an east german collector, i did happen to come across a tunic and helmet for what i thought was a very cheap price and bought them both. the tunic has an armband, "grenztruppen der DDR". unfortuanetly i havent had the time i would have liked to do any real research into what i purchased, so couldnt tell you anything about how old it is, value, etc.

-Regards,
-Mike

[Korbius]

I also started collecting early east german militaria, and the only thing that I have as the earliest production of east german militaria is a russian model side cap with the cloth insignia of DDR and its dated 1952. The rest is 70's and up. I always liked to collect DDR militaria because when I used to live in east Berlin, the soldiers did almost every weekend a military parade, and it struck me the most how they helmets looked like, as I was young then.

[Ingsoc75]

I remember in the fall of 1991 my local army surplus store started selling DDR uniforms/hats/etc. I was 16 and a sophmore in high school and I started seeing many people wearing DDR jackets at school.

I always thought the Soviet stuff would start to pour into that store but it never happened.

The only place I ever was able to get Soviet stuff was in Berlin where those street vendors would sell them and they probably charged more than what they were worth.

[DerPanzerkommandant]

although i am not an east german collector, i did happen to come across a tunic and helmet for what i thought was a very cheap price and bought them both. the tunic has an armband, "grenztruppen der DDR". unfortuanetly i havent had the time i would have liked to do any real research into what i purchased, so couldnt tell you anything about how old it is, value, etc.

-Regards,
-Mike

it is a tunic from the border guard

[DerPanzerkommandant]

im only 13 but ivebeen collecting east german stuff since i was about 11 and i love it the early stuff from the ddr is on some occasions raher then waffen SS ww2 in terms of camo

[Sarge]

I collekt a variety of NVA stuff. Kinda got into it by accident. My primary interest is two fold - Fallschirmspringer und early leaf pattern camo items. I have a fairly good collection, but am still missing many items.
I got a lot of this stuff in West Berlin before the wall came down and then at flea markets usv. all over Berlin after the wall fell.
Sarge