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Unread 03-17-2016, 06:36 PM   #6
mrerick
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The WaffenAmt's proof dies were government assets that were carefully controlled and managed by the individual inspector responsible for government acceptance at Nazi military factories. Several sub-inspectors reported to the inspector, but he had the responsibility and the identity for all their actions as identified by his WaffenAmt inspector number.

Inspector 135 was assigned to Mauser from 1941-1945 when the war ended. French troops invading Wurttemberg overtook the Mauser factory in Oberndorf an Neckar just before the end of the war.

There were several sizes of inspector dies used at Mauser. This makes sense because everything from large gun receivers through very small parts were being inspected for military acceptance. All of these dies were very carefully locked away when the inspector working shift ended, and taken from the safe to be distributed to sub-inspectors at the beginning of the next day's shift.

They were all stored in a wooden box, the top of which had an aluminum plate with the sample impression of all the sizes of WaA135 stamps stored in the box. There was only one, since it was assigned personally to the single inspector (along with his number) who had responsibility for the dies' security.

The box with all the dies was saved from French capture by an employee of Mauser along with many company records just before the French arrived.

Ask me how I know all this? I have seen the box and dies (and have agreed to protect the privacy of the collector that is curating them). The set has provenance and is indisputably the original set used by the inspector at Mauser.

It's interesting to see the cache of rusted dies in the photo in this thread. They all appear to be the same size. There are also a lot more of them than the dies of that size I saw in the Mauser inspector's kit.

Marc
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