BACKGROUND: The Allgemeine-SS, (General-SS), was originally formed in May 1923 as the Stosstrupp Adolf Hitler (Shock Troops Adolf Hitler), and was redesignated Schutzstaffel, (Protection Squad), in April 1925 with the official acceptance of the name verified on the second anniversary of the failed Munich "Beer-Hall" Putsch on November 9TH 1925. On January 6TH 1929 Heinrich Himmler was appointed as Reichsführer-SS, (National Leader {of the} SS), and on July 20TH 1934 shortly after the, June 30TH 1934, purge of the SA, Sturm Abteilung, (Storm/Assault Detachment), on the "Night of the Long Knives", the SS was rewarded by Hitler by being granted the status of an independent organization under direct control of the NSDAP, Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, (National Socialist German Worker’s Party). The first pattern SS sleeve eagle was officially introduced in May 1936 although photographic evidence indicates that it was in use as early as the summer of 1935. Shortly after its official introduction the eagle underwent minor modifications resulting in the second pattern that was worn for the duration of the war. These second pattern eagles were originally issued in a hand embroidered version for Officer’s ranks and a machine embroidered version for EM/NCO’s until a machine woven version was introduced in 1939. In December 1942 a tropical version sleeve eagle was introduced in a golden/tan coloration for wear on the tropical uniforms. Of Note: The RZM, Reichzeugmeisterei, (National Equipment Quartermaster), was officially founded in June 1934 in Munich by the NSDAP as a Reich Hauptamt, (State Central Office), and was based on the earlier SA Quartermaster’s Department. The functions of the RZM were not only to procure and distribute items to Party formations, including the SS, but also to approve chosen designs and to act as a quality control supervisor to ensure items manufactured for the Party met required specification and were standardized. Starting in late 1934 items manufactured for the SS came under the quality control of the RZM and were marked with an RZM/SS approval tag. In 1943 the Waffen-SS assumed full control over their uniform item production and no longer fell under the authority of the RZM.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Second pattern, (Circa 1942-1945), machine woven, tropical SS sleeve eagle with out-stretched wings, clutching a wreathed, canted, swastika in its talons in golden/tan rayon threads on a woven, black, rayon base. The reverse of the eagle still has it’s original white paper RZM/SS tag with black printed script, the RZM logo and SS runes within circular borders and the ink stamped manufacturer’s numerical code. Mint.