SS Original and fake Jerry can information.

Hi everybody.
I thought I would put this in the forum domain, after I searched like mad for info on SS and Wehrmacht Jerry cans that appered on ebay and had been picked up in the Czech rep by a collector now selling them.
After looking in two other forums, I have to say that there is a lot of confusion over the authenticityof these, especially the SS ones.
The information I found out is as follows;
Avoid all jerry cans without a base coat, or internal lining coat of red. The ones with an undercoat to the outside and inner ,which on the outside is under the dark green paint are real and period made. The genuine ones have no air gaps (cut outs)in the handle to the front corners and are fully welded at the time of manufacture. Also the genuine ones can be easily identified by the air vent, which is found to the inside of the cap going down into the can itself,which is round. The fakes air vents are distingiushed by two types, the first which was in production in the 90s is oval and the second type is an integral part of the spout and is a segmented shape. Any can which also has a flower/daisy stamped into the cap itself should also be regarded as a post war reproduction. The handles to the post war 1990s and modern fakes are not welded to the handles rounded corners and have a small production gap at these points. It seems the confusion stems from a company from the original Czech republik who made the Jerry cans for the SS called SANDRIK, who now also make these fake SS cans from original tooling within their factory. It was also suggested in one discussion thread I saw on a different forum that certain fraudsters had been taking good wehrmacht cans and cutting the centre out, replacing it with another centre which had the SS runes, if thats the case, another pointer would be to look for undercut marks where the welding is, as it would be difficult to get the donor sheeting exactly flat and smooth and to the same shape as the recipient jerry can required. As any fabricator knows with thinner sheeting distortion will innevitably happen, when the heat is applied, even with mig welding. The final test is the weight, originals are heavier than their reproduction counterparts, which only makes sense considering in those days things were built to last.
The weight should be about 4.3 kg for an original. I dont know at this time what the weights of a fake SS can will be, but if anyone has one out there it would be interesting to hear. Hope this is all helpful to any prospective jerry can buyers and saves someone picking up one of these grey fakes for mega money.
kind regards John

 

hi john, heres a site about the production of german jerry cans ..

jerrycan

 

Incredible they make fakes from these. Real Wehrmacht ones are still in use here, I sometimes see people at gas stations fueling gas for their mowers with WWII cans....
Many people still throw them away at a regular basis or try to sell them at flea markets for a few euros.

you get French , American and British ones for less than 10 euros at garage sales. I got my real Wehrmacht one, dated 1939 and with original green painting for 15 euros. SS ones will go for 250 though, but they are usually found in cellars by the lucky antique dealers who find these rare items, so their authenticity are beyond any doubt and fake shave not invaded this country yet, at least I think so.

 

I couldnt believe they fake these as well. Unbelievable the lengths some people will go to. Its little wonder they do this though considering the prices involved.
At least these fakes are now out in full knowledge for the collecting community.

kind regards John

 

John, thanks for the heads up.

I too am surprised at this sort of thing being copied...i've never heard of it before.

I almost bought an SS Jerry can at the Malvern Militaria Convention earlier today!

It was priced at £60 and i went away to think about. When i returned later it had been sold and had i known earlier about these being faked i would have looked for the tell tale signs.

Some of the other items on sale at the fair were also fakes, K98 bayonets in particular, two ways these could be spotted were by the size of the 'ball' on the end of the scabard (it was far too big) and the lack of WaA stamps.

 

Thanks John for the info on the bayonets too. The more knowledge against the fakers the better. Looks like you might have saved yourself 60 quid.

regards John

 

Thanks John - very interesting info. I have to confess that these days I am instantly suspicious of anything at all being described as 'SS'.....

 

Great site and, they fake everything, even Hindenburg Crosses these days.