Hello,

Having far too much time on my hands, I have put together these three examples of the same pattern of Gendarmerie sleeve eagle to demonstrate the three forms in which they were produced from their inception in 1936 until the end of the war.

This unknown producer never changed his design or pattern but did change the format to fit regulations and cloth shortages.

Before the war the eagles were embroidered on an oval of good quality wool with the city or district name embroidered above the eagle.

Early in the war the regulations were changed stopping the use of district names on police eagles except for the Feuerwehr. This company consequently produced eagles on the same oval background but without the name. The wool is a bit rougher, and not of the same quality as the first eagle.

As the war went on cloth became harder to get and the manufacturer finally produced his eagles in a "cut out" form, which allowed many more eagles to be produced on a given sheet of cloth. The quality of the cloth is also considerabley degraded from the first two examples.

The eagles themselves are otherwise identical.

Regards,
William Unland,

Bill, what a Super display, and explanation, of the Evolutionary Changes of our Special Gend. Eagle. A very scholarly discussion.... which Teaches by Example. These 'Simple' appearing Eagle Forms are an Art in their understanding. Thanks for sharing (!) Dave ..... dblmed

Bill

That is an absolutely awesome display of the eagle progression.

Now let me ask an opinion. I have several of the close cropped eagles. Do you think these were specifically cut that way, or did they ever "crop" the unnamed ones? I guess it really has a lot to do with the backing material you find them on.

Andrew