Original Items: One of a Kind Set. Here wee have a great set of two German WWII portraits, both showing Heer Panzer Corps enlisted soldiers, both wearing the Iconic "Panzer Wrap" tunics, and one of which even wearing the scarce "Panzer Beret"! Period portraits like this are great windows into the period, and they make fantastic display pieces.

This wonderful German WWII Panzer portrait set set came to us from the American Armoured Foundation, Inc. Tank and Ordnance Memorial Museum. The AAF Tank Museum was a living memorial dedicated to the Tank and Cavalry soldiers of the world. Before 1981 some of the artifacts that make up the AAF Tank Museum was a private collection belonging to Mr. William Gasser. Mr. Gasser felt that his collection would be beneficial in educating present and future generations to the sacrifices made and the technologies gained during war. Therefore, in 1981 the AAF Tank Museum was established as a non-profit charitable organization, and Mr. Gasser's donated his private collection to the Tank Museum. Mr. Gasser is still active as Volunteer Director and Curator of the Tank Museum and his knowledge of military history has been a great asset to the museum. Unfortunately after 20 years of operation it had to close its doors, which is when the portraits were acquired.

The first portrait in this set measures 20 ½" x 24 ¼", and is in a lovely wooden frame measuring 26" x 29 ½". It looks to be oil on metal or just wood, and shows a Panzer Obergefreiter in a wrap tunic, with the correct two chevrons on the left sleeve. He has a HJ proficiency Badge, Panzer Battle Badge, and Silver Grade Wound badge on the left side of the tunic, an has an EKII ribbon installed on the button hole. The collar tabs both show the Panzer Totenkopf (Death's Head) skull & crossbones, and there is also a cuff title, but we cannot make out what it says.

The second portrait is a retouched photograph, which we assume was done period, but also could have been done afterwards. Unfortunately certain types of portrait photos didn't pick up the finer details at times. It shows an enlisted Panzer soldier in a lovely Panzer wrap tunic, and they are even wearing a Schutzmütze Panzer "Beret" Protective Hat! It still comes with the original tag that was used to display it in the museum, which reads:

Pg. 4137 - .4138
Early W.W.II period, German Heer
(i.e.: "Army), retouched photo of a
Panzer Schutze (i.e.: "Tanker Private").

This is mostly accurate, however the single Chevron on the left sleeve indicates that they would be a Gefreiter, not a Panzerschütze, unless that is actually a specialist sleeve insignia. There is a badge on their left side, but we cannot identify it.

A lovely set of Panzer portraits, ready to add to your collection!