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 Note the construction of the buckle. The pin behind the buckles are ground flush on every original I've seen. |
PAY CLOSE ATTENTION TO THIS ONE! Look at the picture on the left. Note the rod that loops through the sling. See how either end of the rod is not ground flush? I have personally examined over 60 WWII era German slings and I have not seen this once. I think it is fair to say that this must be post war manufacture. Beware as these look pretty good otherwise. Except for the black leather tone.
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This one might fool some people. The guy selling it called it a reproduction. Generally speaking brass buttons were only used on some very early slings. Most of the early slings (pre1940) had ample markings. This one would obviously have forged or no markings at all. The color of the leather is a bit off as well. Shouldn't be quite this black. A brown or burgundy tone is generally present. I've seen some originals that were somewhat blackened from age and abuse. But they still generally exhibit some degree of a brown or burgundy tone. |
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PAY CLOSE ATTENTION TO THIS AS WELL!
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This one would be tough to spot. Marked "bla 1944". According to my sources in Europe these were post war Austrian slings that were aged and restamped. Note the extra stitching on the Frosch. Other than that they look pretty good. Thanks to Tommy V. for this photo. | |
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An obvious recent reproduction. Far too pristine. Leather on frosch looks as if it does not have the metal insert between the layers. Wish I had better pictures of this one so that I could tear it apart further. |
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Again an obvious recent reproduction. Far too pristine. Looks quite similar to the repro above. Note the two bands near the buckle. Perhaps that was their way of telling the world this is a repro. |
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An obvious recent reproduction. Red color is far too bright as are the two above. Inside looks almost white in color. Haven't seen a real one yet that was red and white in color. Burgundy perhaps...but not red. |
 A picture of an inside stamping supposedly from 1944. Apparently slings aren't the only thing that reproduction artists will try to give "real" type markings to. I've seen reproduction magazine pouches and other items with faux markings. |
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There was a guy recently on EBay selling these as the "Real" from a veterans estate sale. While there is a remote possibility they are genuine everyone I have spoken with who is knowledgeable is such matters believes them to be post war copies/repros. One person has suggested that this is a Czech sling and may in fact be from the correct time period. |
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Who knows where this cheap post war copy was made. Construction is obviously radically different than the originals. No one should be fooled by this. |
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Non standard construction. Notice the lack of a frosch. Relies purely on brass buttons for length. There was a guy recently on eBay claiming that one similar to this was an original. When I confronted him his only response was, "well don't bid on it!" Yeah...I'm going to do that. |
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Again, construction is very different from originals. |
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These were being sold as parts on EBay. Two of these are obvious post war copies/repros. The two with gold buckles are probably post war Yugoslavian. |
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Supposedly found at a yard sale. This one looks pretty good as far as the construction is concerned. The color obviously isn't close. There is at least a possibilty that this is some strange original variant. |
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This apparently is a post war Israeli sling. Obviously a number of differences in construction. |
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The sling itself looks original though in marginal condition. All the frosch's pictured here however are obvious fakes. I have personally examined over 60 original German slings and none of them had a blackened frosch button. |
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Another Israeli copy. Note the construction of the frosch. Radically different than German examples. The buckle is also constructed differently |
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Not even close. |
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If you find other noteworthy examples ...please feel free to email pictures and whatever descriptive info you feel appropriate. Contributions will be noted. Contact me at...
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