Hallo,

i own a mysterios buckle. The buckle is totaly blank and laque black.

the colour is not new. it is old thick black enamel like laque.

the leather strap is.. so my oppinion...orginal stichted together. Original material... maschine stitched.

The maker on the strap is the well know "Schmölle & Comp. Menden" out of the year 1941.

The buckle bears no stamps or maker marks. The fanghaken shows the big feets.

for schmölle produktion...it is very unusual. normal buckles had other hooks, differnt forms and the SC+arrow stamp.

maybe it is the produktion of a supplier and schmölle had finisched the buckle.

schmöle also made the special luftwaffe buckle without spots.
after 1941 no schmöle examples have been found.

the only commonnes is the thick enamel like laque... aso can be found on luftwaffe buckles (in blue colour).

i found pictures shown Luftwaffe members bears blank buckles... also i know special units or foreign units bears blank buckles. But i find no more informations.

so i hope someone hab more informations about this buckles.

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Well, you seem to have a few good ideas already.. The blank Luft. buckles were for the Legion condor, yes? That would not be a good match because of the dated leather tab..

I have a plain but pebbled buckle that was given to me by a vet for a foreign volunteer unit. Pebbled not smooth though..

Some guesses for you to research:

Some sort of Factory guard
Foreign volunteer
Civilian prisoner/inmate, work detail kit
Disciplinary units

Legion Condor is right... in this case... it isn´t matching because of the year and the materials. Steel buckles were common 1940-1945.

but exist shown Luftwaffe members with blank buckles in normal LW Uniforms in Winter...standing in snow. Legion Condor bears no german insignia.
so i think blank buckles were not used only in the legion condor and after the begining of WW2.

few years ago... i see a blank buckle in LW-blue-grey colour... but without strap.
But i don´t buy it.... this was a mistake.

peppeld buckles were used after the war in the DDR... KVP units.

another aspekt... i forgot to say... the leather strap only used as a holding strap for the amunition ponches until 1943.