From 28 to 30 July, I attended the Missouri Vally Arms Show held every summer at the Kansas City International (KCI) Airport. I have attended this show for decades and it rarely disappoints. The great thing about this show is that it is a Club Show and is held primarily for the betterment and entertainment of its members. Most gun shows are hosted by promoters with the primary aim of making money. The problem with most of these shows is that there is not a large enough market to support the number of shows being held. This leads to a watering down of the quality of items being offered and potential buyers not having the time and opportunity to save up funds to buy new collectibles. Promoters make money from table rent and admissions regardless of how many items are sold and how much value is provided to the collecting public. Attending many of these shows is problematic if you are attempting to buy quality collectibles at current market value. Most times one will make the drive, pay the $12 admission fee, walk around for 20-30 minutes attempting to find something to purchase, and leave after finding nothing.
Rudolf Souvil Anti-Partisan Badge (APB)
About a third of the tables at this show have military items. This is a much better mix than most gun shows with current firearms, accessories, and a great deal of non-related junk. I was fortunate to find a very nice Rudolf Souvil Anti-Partisan Badge (APB), shown above, and several nice German Army Shoulder Straps to add to my collection. This badge was made during WWII but was unfinished when the war ended. After the war this Vienna, Austria Company realized that they had boxes of similar items sitting around that could be sold as souvenirs. To market these badges they added pins and catches that were available commercially at the time. The original WWII ones had different hardware. In the near future, I will feature a blog on the APB. The shoulder boards came from an old collection in California that one of the dealers purchased and took to this show. I love German shoulder straps and have several hundred in my collection and was excited to find these uncommon examples.
German Shoulder Straps: Unique Variation
This economy M-1944 Signal shoulder strap was made using leftover stocks of dark green badge cloth. I have never encountered this variation. Appears this company used what was available to them. This is the backside of the board that displays the simplified construction utilizing a piece of lining material to reinforce the button holes of the board while eliminating the need for a separate cloth backing.
German Shoulder Straps: Machine Gun Battalion WW2 Variation
This board appears to be a standard late-war Infantry Unteroffizere but on the back, one can see that it was made from an earlier production board that was found sitting around in the factory. This is the rear of the same board that started life as one made for #7 Machine Gun Battalion WW2. The board retains the early white wool piping and has the attaching strap turned over to the field grey side and sewn.
German Shoulder Straps: Russian Foreign Volunteer Variation
This standard German Army Enlisted shoulder strap has had an added rank stripe used by Russian Foreign Volunteer units. Although these units had their own specific insignia it was not always available, so some units used what they had on hand to equip their Soldiers.
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