BACKGROUND: The Allgemeine-SS, (General-SS), was originally formed in May 1923 as the Stosstrupp Adolf Hitler (Shock Troops Adolf Hitler), and was redesignated Schutz Staffel, (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). Originally members of the fledgling SS had no official uniform or headgear until April 1925 when they adopted, what was to become known as the, "Tradition Uniform" and personnel were outfitted with the same brown shirt uniform and kepi as the SA. In 1923 the Stabswache (Headquarter Guards), were the first SS unit to adopt the old, Imperial, Danziger style Totenkopf, (Death’s Head), to be worn on their headgear. The Danziger style Totenkopf can be traced back to at least the early 1800's when it was utilized on the Busby style caps of the 1ST and 2ND Prussian Leib-Husaren Regiments. In November 1925 personnel of the newly formed SS adopted a black Kepi to distinguish them from their SA counterparts and in 1927 the SS were the first to adopted the national eagle insignia for wear on their headgear. In 1932, the first black SS service visor caps were introduced for wear to replace the kepi as the standard headgear for all ranks. Originally, SS personnel wore the Danziger style skull and the 1927, political pattern national eagle on their visor caps. In an attempt to distance themselves from the SA, the SS introduced a new pattern cap skull to replace the previously used Danziger style skull on October 6TH 1934 and in February 1936 a new SS pattern national cap eagle was introduced. Both these pieces of insignia were worn through-out the war. 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, 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 a RZM/SS approval/acceptance mark. In 1943 the Waffen-SS, (Armed-SS), assumed full control over their uniform item production and no longer fell under the authority of the RZM.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Second pattern, (Circa 1934-1945), silver washed, die stamped tombac alloy construction skull and cross bones features detailed eye and nose cut-outs, two rows of teeth and a bottom jaw, superimposed over crossed bones. The skull also has subtle cranium and bone detailing. The hollow reverse of the skull is a mirror image of the obverse and both of the original soldered, attachment prongs are intact. The reverse of the skull is well marked with the embossed RZM logo within dual, circular borders and the manufacturer’s RZM code, "M1/52", indicating manufacture by the Deschler & Sohn firm of Munich.