1952 Deutsche Grenzpolizei coat

[nonobaddog]

This is my “YEEEEE HAAAAH !!!” find of 2012. A nice, honest, 1952 dated Deutsche Grenzpolizei Gefreiter’s Dienstjacke. It is my first KVP-style khaki uniform and is now the centerpiece of my budding 1950s collection. In the 3 years I’ve been collecting DDR militaria I’ve only seen a couple of these come up for sale. The prices have always been completely beyond my budget. This coat was totally mis-described and placed in an utterly wrong section of German eBay. There was only one other bidder and I won it for 101. EUR (Icing on the cake!). I get the giggles every time I look at it.
It could be quite a while before I find khaki trousers to complete it. For display, I have all the 1950s field gear to put on a torso mannequin with the exception of ONE ITEM: the gold finished, plain, gekornnt buckle. I have actually won 2 of them recently, only to have both sellers refuse to ship to USA. Unnn-beee-lievable!
It’s a bit rumpled from being tightly packed in a small box

The collar tabs will be easy to steam and straighten out

Tabs are both hand-sewed on


Markings in the inside pocket lining. Just to the right of the button loop is a small /52 which I believe is the date

Bandage pocket inside

Button-less pocket flaps


The right shoulder board has a large moth hole which I may carefully repair

The shoulder board button ties match the lining material and have never been undone


All buttons are rimless, gekornnt, hollow backed, with gold finish. A couple chest button were re-sewed in service, a lo-o-o-ong time ago

I love this early stuff! Wish I could find a way to live and work in Germany. But then I'd be a hopeless addict.

[torstenbel]

I think that this is a very nice looking jacket...well done. cheers, torsten.

[Johelmet]

Nice! I would love to have something like that. I've mostly got 70s and 80s era stuff, and something like that from the 50s would be lovely! Good buy.

[Paul Spain]

Originally Posted by nonobaddog

only to have both sellers refuse to ship to USA. Unnn-beee-lievable!

I know how you feel with that..Happens every now and then, I think (since Ebay is a American owned company) they need to have a clause in the registration that says ALL sellers MUST agree to ship items to U.S.A. reguardless of their locale..Would be better for the site really to have that rule as those not shipping here are sorely out numbered by ones that do..A single uniformality would force ALL to

[SCHUPO]

A very nice early find. Congratulations!

[RedCatcher1986]

Ive yet to have a seller refuse to ship to the United States from eBay Germany. But then again most have it outlined in the article's description where they will and will not ship products. For the most part if you're willing to pay for international shipping most will ship it. While eBay.com is an American company it really can't regulate the rules of buying for Europe. Especially when it comes to legalities and multiple postal services. Face it DHL is scarce in the US and their tracking numbers are technically useless once it's in the hands of USPS and if something were to happen they don't have to deal with the hassle of an international claim or scam artist.

[Gordon Craig]

Gentlemen,

RedCatcher1986 is 100% correct in his comments. No one should be able to direct you to sell, or ship your goods to any location whatever. That is the seller choice. There is a dedicated location on an ebay auction to identify where the vendor will ship an item. It is the buyers responsibility to read all of the conditions of sale and abide by them.
If I wish to bid on something and the auction says they will not ship to Canada, or in most cases the U.S., I send an email to the vendor and ask if he or she would consider shipping the item to me. That is only common courtesy. In only a couple of instances has the vendor refused to ship to North America. By asking ahead of time you are not wasting the vendors time, or money, as he or she has to pay to post their auction on ebay.

Regards,

Gordon

[nonobaddog]

I see the discussion has turned to my comment about the refusal to ship to USA. Until recently I had always sent an inquiry (auf Deutsch) about USA shipping if there was any ambiguity in the listing. Every single time the seller answered with something like “Ja, natürlich!”, so much so that it seemed like “DUH” was implied. In the cases I described, the sellers did not specify “nur innerhalb Deutschland” or ‘nur’ anything. With both people I suggested easy Deutsche Post MaxiBrief shipping solutions. A small belt buckle can be sent in a padded mailing envelope (Versandtasche; polstern Umschlag) from any post office. Neither would consider it and the latest seller said she just doesn’t ship to USA “in principle.” However, the principle involved seems to be greed. Both buckles were advertised as “Condor Legion” and I think the sellers were disappointed with the bidding results. My latest winning bid was a mere 4,94 EUR. The other one went for not much more. NO ONE believed these were Condor Legion. This last one appeared to have been spray painted with grey primer years ago, which is now peeling off in chunks like a bad sunburn.
Anyway, I am now back to sending my habitual cut-n-paste inquiry. Such is life.

[RedCatcher1986]

Ive heard some Germans well not just Germans but anyone in any country use the excuse "out of principle" because they don't want their historical artifacts leaving their native origin. I suppose that makes sense if you're patriotic. Let's face it an American selling an authentic Civil War uniform found in the back of their attic for example would probably be more reluctant to sell to another American than say someone in Europe. I'd question their desire to sell it in that scenario anyway but in the end we may desire things to be shipped places but it's ultimately at the whims of the merchant.

I think it depends on the size of the item too. I bought a steel sign from Germany from 10 Euros but because of the weight it cost 32 Euros to ship. I'm sure some people just don't see the logic in paying more shipping than the item holds in physical value. Again it boils down to the merchant

[friede]

very nice item, an interesting collar tabs, because: these with Kordel and without litze where used by Bereitschaftspolizei from 1958- ca. 1960 for Anwärter - Wachtmeister... never have seen these on an KVP styled jacket. very interesting! and congratulation for this rare item!!!